Why ‘Man of Steel’ Didn’t Use ‘Superman’ in the Title

Even superheroes need a makeover sometimes. It’s happened before, with Batman and Iron Man and plenty of other comic book characters; even Superman isn’t immune. For the upcoming “Man of Steel,” director Zack Snyder and co-writers David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan made sure to distance their movie from previous installments by not putting “Superman” in the title, and giving the movie some technological tweaks and a grittier vibe.

Goyer explained by in an Empire podcast a few weeks ago. “We always knew we would be using the Superman glyph or the shield as we call it. But ‘Man Of Steel’ was also supposed to represent our take, which was he’s a man, but he’s not made of flesh and blood, metaphorically he’s a man of steel. So that was sort of the whole thing wrapped up in a nutshell.”

It doesn’t hurt that a 2006 attempt to bring Supes back to the big screen, directed by Bryan Singer and starring Brandon Routh, didn’t exactly turn the world on its ear.

Even with a new name, it will be hard for fans to shake the mental image of a lantern-jawed Christopher Reeve as Superman. However, Henry Cavill could do a pretty darned good job of giving us a fresh look at an old friend. And a bad-ass General Zod will be pretty cool, too.

[via Empire]