Welcome to the Countdown!

Hello everyone!  Welcome to the first entry of my blog, in which I will be counting down to the release of the film, Man of Steel.  Flying into the United States on June 14th, 2013, the film is directed by Zach Snyder (300, Watchmen) and stars British actor Henry Cavill as Superman, with a supporting cast that includes Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Russell Crowe as Jor-El, and Michael Shannon as the villainous General Zod.  While not many specifics are known about the plot, we do know that the film will be a modern-day retelling of Superman's fabled origin story, and will show how a young Clark Kent tries to find his place in a world that will likely fear his powers and everything of which he is capable.  In the remaining four months leading up to its release, this blog will cover various aspects of the film, including any and all new footage/trailers released, cast and crew profiles, and other bits of news from various media outlets.

Man of Steel marks a reboot of all previous Superman films, and if successful, will likely span its own set of sequels.  It has a lot riding on its super-powered shoulders, however, given the history of the troubled franchise of years past, a set of four films whose behind-the-scenes turmoil included, but wasn't limited, to fired directors, a consistently divided cast & crew, tens of millions of dollars spent on productions later shelved, and in one case, a knife-drawn restaurant confrontation, a tense situation suffused by none other than Marlon Brando.  2006's Superman Returns was a recent attempt to bring the character back to the screen, but its shaky connection to the previous installments (was quietly marketed to take place after the events of the first two Christopher Reeve-starring films) resulted in a critical disappointment, and ultimately, a failed attempt to reinvigorate the brand.

Man of Steel thus has much to prove in the hopes of kicking off the first promising Superman franchise in over three decades.  At the end of the first full-length trailer (see below), Henry Cavil's Superman explains how his adoptive father, Jonathan Kent, was certain his alien son wouldn't be accepted by a fearful world.  "What do you think?" he then asks someone off-screen, but essentially the audience itself.  So, what do you think, world?  Are you ready for a fresh Superman back on the big screen?  I know I am.