Costume Images from Tim Burton's Superman Lives | The Worst Superhero Movie Never Made

The Worst Superhero Movie Never Made

By Steven Lloyd Wilson | Posted Under Trade News | Comments (35)

So back in 1997, Kevin Smith wrote a script for a Superman reboot called Superman Lives. Then Tim Burton got involved and thought Smith’s script was stupid. Warner Brothers decided that the guy who made Mr. Mom the Dark Knight and said “I was never a giant comic book fan, but I’ve always loved the image of Batman and The Joker. The reason I’ve never been a comic book fan—and I think it started when I was a child—is because I could never tell which box I was supposed to read” well, you know, that guy obviously was the one to reboot Superman and not the silly fat guy who had been reading comics obsessively since youth, because Burton did the only thing that mattered. He made money with Batman.

So what happened with Superman Lives? Well basically they went into pre-production and then dicked around for year, signing Nic Cage, rewriting the script, and designing toys at the behest of producer Jon Peters. Peters was reportedly very insistent about having Superman not be able to fly, and having him fight a giant spider. After burning through $30 million in pre-production, Tim Burton left the project and it finally got flushed.

But flash forward twelve years and we get the real payoff, images posted on Facebook of the costume that Jon Peters and Tim Burton wanted for Superman.

There are 22 pictures up on Steve Johnson FX’s facebook page, but here are a couple just to get you going:

Crap on a stick, is he from Krypton or Tron? Does that thing come with a light cycle? And best of all, check out the mannequin that they’re using with Nic Cage’s face (a cagequin?). It’s acting at least fifty percent better than Cage.

(source: SlashFilm, Steve Johnson FX Facebook)

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Comments

Ahhhh! My eyes! There are bees in my eyes!

Oh wait, sorry. It's just glitter. Nevermind.

Posted by: BWeaves at November 2, 2010 10:06 AM

Would it be really tacky if I said, "That's so gay," because that's really what came to mind?

Posted by: BWeaves at November 2, 2010 10:08 AM

Wow I almost wish they had dropped that massive pile.

Hilariously awful

Posted by: BarbadoSlim at November 2, 2010 10:10 AM

This movie was actually released in an alternate universe. Everyone killed themselves there. True story.

Posted by: superasente at November 2, 2010 10:11 AM

Superman: New Moon

Posted by: admin at November 2, 2010 10:24 AM

and yet Tim Burton still has a license to make movies....

Posted by: logan at November 2, 2010 10:24 AM

Does the costume have built in jazz hands? Would that be redundant?

Posted by: Mrs. Julien at November 2, 2010 10:26 AM

About the only comment I have is a giant, "WTF"?????

Was Edna Mode (No capes!) the designer?

That has to be one of the most astonishingly poor decisions (along with "BatNipples") I have ever seen.

And "Superman doesn't fly???"

Ok, so in the original he was able to jump great distances but still.......

All in all, I'm glad that one got lost. It should have stayed lost!

But it does answer one question. Perhaps this is why Nic Cage named his spawn "Kal-el".

Posted by: Uncle JR at November 2, 2010 10:32 AM

It’s acting at least fifty percent better than Cage

That made me lol.

Posted by: EricD at November 2, 2010 10:43 AM

It’s acting at least fifty percent better than Cage

and has 50% more hair.

Posted by: mswas in NJ at November 2, 2010 10:48 AM

Superman On Ice!

Posted by: Mrs. Julien at November 2, 2010 10:49 AM

So was Johnny Depp going to be Lex Luthor?

Posted by: Mrcreosote at November 2, 2010 10:51 AM

Are we sure these aren't the costumes for the movie version of Starlight Express?

Posted by: Mrs. Julien at November 2, 2010 10:54 AM

Judging by those threads, I bet his "friendship" with Jimmy was taken to a whole new level in the rewrites:

I renamed my lair "The Fortress of Solidude" for you, Jimmy, because you're a solid dude.

Lois doesn't understand me like you do, Jimmy.

Does this outfit make me look gay? It does? Good.

Your anus is my kryptonite.

Posted by: Kballs at November 2, 2010 10:56 AM

Superxanadu

Posted by: Mrs. Julien at November 2, 2010 11:02 AM

Johnny Deep, no. Johnny Weir? Maybe.

Posted by: Tracer Bullet at November 2, 2010 11:02 AM

"Dancing With the Superheroes"

Too bad this never made it to the screen, it would have killed a lot of terrible (most of them) superhero movies in the womb. In the sperm stage, even.

Posted by: , at November 2, 2010 11:13 AM

The "S" is for Shitasticrap!

Posted by: Mrs. Julien at November 2, 2010 11:13 AM

Burton is just one of "those" guys that has to smear his vision all over everything. Fucking nerd.

Posted by: BarbadoSlim at November 2, 2010 11:28 AM

I would have to agree that this film would not have worked well.

Posted by: Tchadensis at November 2, 2010 11:38 AM

Word Barbado Slim. The Juliens are still recovering from Alice in Wonderland and Willy Wonka. We are also still recovering from the betrayal of Brutus.

Posted by: Mrs. Julien at November 2, 2010 11:49 AM

@Kballs, a friend of mine calls his apartment The Fortress of Solidude. Nothing particularly homosexual goes on there, but it is a place where bromances flourish.

Also, this super suit is effed in the A.

Posted by: RobP at November 2, 2010 12:20 PM

I don't want to alarm you, RobP, but your friend may desire carnal relations with you. And many, many other men.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Posted by: Kballs at November 2, 2010 12:35 PM

What the screaming fuckshit is that supposed to be?
Is it Disco Superman?:
"Look up! It's a Mirror Ball! No it's Track Lighting! No It's Stupidman!"
Please, someone, unfuck my mind!

Posted by: The Internet. at November 2, 2010 1:20 PM

it looks like they repealed don't ask don't tell in the justice league

Posted by: BigTodd at November 2, 2010 1:24 PM

Is anyone worried about what the bottom of the costume was going to look like? Does it even have a bottom, or is it just a jock/thong thing?

Posted by: BWeaves at November 2, 2010 1:43 PM

why are you people surprised? Tim Burton is a fucking hack, and a fucking moron as well. he is so full of himself, im sure that he believed that this was going to be a masterpiece.

Posted by: Taylor Kozakar at November 2, 2010 1:56 PM

actually the way I heard it it was a studio exec that demanded the changes to iconic costume in light of neon Batman because he thought the tights looked "faggy"

Posted by: BigTodd at November 2, 2010 2:01 PM

I'm desperately fighting off an image of Tim Burton's "Fight Club".

Posted by: Odnon. at November 2, 2010 2:28 PM

Seriously: FUCK Tim Burton. Visionary, my ass. That thing looks like a reimagined Rainbow Brite.

Posted by: figgy at November 2, 2010 4:38 PM

If I had a penny for every time I've heard the phrase, "your anus is my kryptonite"...

Posted by: Peter G at November 2, 2010 7:43 PM

Peters got his giant spider anyway when he made Wild Wild West, and what a gem of a movie that was. Too bad Kevin Smith didn't have those images when he told that story in An Evening with Kevin Smith. His impression of Burton cracks me up just thinking about it.

Posted by: Uda at November 3, 2010 12:27 AM

I can't... I just can't... I'm gonna forget this ever happened.

Posted by: Sarah Barkai at November 3, 2010 2:34 AM

Looks like Super Elastic Bubble Plastic.

for the youngsters:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Elastic_Bubble_Plastic

Posted by: b003 at November 3, 2010 4:27 PM

If Tim Burton had done this we would never see another movie from him again.

So: It's worth the sacrifice of Superman. I say let him resume it.

Posted by: JLRoberson at December 23, 2010 2:59 AM

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The Worst Superhero Movie Never Made

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