I.V SUPERMAN
SUPERMAN (2011)
Jim Lee, DC Comics ©
Logline
When their home planet of Krypton is destroyed, Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van send their infant son Kal-El to the nearest inhabitable planet, Earth. There, he is raised as Clark Kent and learns to harness his Kryptonian abilities to become Superman.
Source Material
The Man of Steel Vol 1 #1 - From Out the Green Dawn
Superman Vol 2 #1 - Heart of Stone
Plot Summary
On the planet of Krypton, Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van place their infant son Kal-El in a spaceship with coordinates set for Earth after realising that their planet will soon be destroyed. After traveling through space, the Kryptonian spaceship lands in a field in Kansas, US where it’s discovered by Jonathan and Martha Kent. The two raise Kal-El as their own son, naming him Clark. Emmett Vale, a pioneer in robotics, observes the landing of Kal’s spaceship from afar and becomes obsessed with finding it, believing it to be a scout ship sent to Earth in preparation for an invasion. He finds radioactive debris in the field, a mineral known as kryptonite.
Jonathan and Martha teach Kal-El aka Clark how to control his Kryptonian abilities when they begin to emerge during his youth. Abilities such as superhuman speed, strength, flight and heat vision. Clark grows up with Lana Lang and Pete Ross, the former of which he shares his secret abilities with. Clark and Lana remain close into adulthood until she moves away to pursue a career at The Daily Planet in Metropolis. Clark stays in Kansas to work on his parents farm. Over the years Emmett Vale, with the help of John Henry Irons, builds a robotic suit designed to combat Kryptonians in the event of an invasion.
Clark takes a trip to Metropolis to visit Lana when overhead a plane’s engine blows, Clark, now a young man, intervenes and using his abilities is able to bring the plane to a safe landing. Whilst he’s able to keep his identity hidden, he does attract a lot of attention and is dubbed Superman by the media. Emmett Vale deduces that Superman must be the alien occupant of the spaceship from all those years ago. Even after seeing Superman’s heroics, he still believes that he must to be destroyed.
Whilst in Metropolis, Lana convinces him to pursue a career in journalism as it’ll allow him to keep an ear to the ground and further his ability to be able to help people as Superman. She puts in a good word for him at The Daily Planet. When Clark returns home, Martha creates a costume for Clark to wear as Superman using material from the spaceship he arrived in. Irons decides he can no longer be a part of Vale’s operations after seeing Superman heroics and doesn’t want anything to do with manufacturing a suit designed to kill him. Vale finds a willing participant to don his Metal-0 armour in John Corben, an unhinged former military man. Once integrated into the Metallo suit, Corben kills Vale and sets his sights on Superman.
Corben begins causing havoc and destruction in Metropolis in an attempt to attract Superman. Clark receives a call from Lana about Corben’s antics. He dons his new suit and flies towards Metropolis to confront Corben, only to find his abilities are ineffective in the presence of the kryptonite suit. Superman is pummelled by Corben. Irons witnesses the fight taking place via a broadcast from The Daily Planet and makes his way to Vale’s laboratory where he’s able shut down the suit remotely. Superman uses his heat vision to nullify the kryptonite’s effectiveness and is able to recover. Corben is left in a catatonic state as the suit shuts down with him inside it. In the aftermath, Vale’s employer and parent company LexCorp collects the Metallo suit. Clark moves to Metropolis after getting a job as a reporter at The Daily Planet.
Post Credits
John Henry Irons destroys Vale’s research on Superman and takes over the laboratory as his own. Inspired by Superman, he begins working on his own suit of armour.
Cast
Lee Pace (Guardians of the Galaxy) … Clark Kent / Kal-El aka Superman
Michael Keaton (Spider-Man: Homecoming) … Emmett Vale
Don Cheadle (Iron Man 2) … John Henry Irons
Gwyneth Paltrow (Iron Man) … Lana Lang
Robert Redford (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) … Jonathan Kent
Jenny Agutter (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) … Martha Kent
Michelle Pfeiffer (Ant-Man and the Wasp) … Lara Lor-Van
John Slattery (Iron Man 2) … Jor-El
Callan Mulvey (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) … John Corben aka Metallo
Wyatt Oleff (Guardians of the Galaxy) … Young Clark Kent
McKenna Grace (Captain Marvel) … Young Lana Lang
Dakota Goyo (Thor) … Young Pete Ross
