Summary
- “Superman: Legacy” sounded like a sequel, but “Superman” is a clear title for the first DCU project, setting the tone for the new universe.
- As the first DCU movie, “Superman” needs to focus on the future and avoid the negative aspects of the past DCEU films.
- The title change to “Superman” signals a move toward a new vision for DC, correcting past mistakes and looking towards the future.
James Gunn recently announced that the previously-titled Superman: Legacy will now simply be called Superman, and the move actually makes a lot of sense. Originally, the title did seem a little odd, given the film’s place in the upcoming DCU reboot. In his post sharing the title change, Gunn made it clear that, while Superman: Legacy seemed like the right title for the movie originally, once he finished its final draft, he realized it should just be called Superman.
Superman, which has just started filming, will be the first live-action project in the new DCU. It will be preceded by Creature Commandos, and other existing DC projects like Peacemaker will continue in the new universe. However, Superman is still going to be a very important movie for setting the tone and world of the new DC Universe. James Gunn’s decision to retitle Superman could be due to its place as the first DCU project.
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Superman: Legacy Always Sounded Like A Sequel
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The title Superman: Legacy seems to imply that something has come before it. This is partially because of the use of the word “legacy,” which implies the movie would have been building off something. While Gunn likely intended the subtitle to refer to the legacy of the character Superman, a meta-textual reference in the title might not have been understood by everyone who read it. Subtitles in general are also typically reserved for sequels in the superhero genre, like Thor: Love and Thunder or Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
Superman: Legacy is also a somewhat similar title to Superman Returns. A sequel to the Christopher Reeve Superman movies, Superman Returns did follow up on what came before. Changing the title to something that sounds less like a sequel was a good move on Gunn’s part. Because Superman is the first major DCU project, it is smart to give it a simple straight-forward title that makes it clear it is the first of the series.
SUPERMAN Needs To Be About The Future (And Kill The Past)
As the first DCU movie, Superman has a big responsibility. It needs to prove that DC’s new direction is the right one. It’s also being tasked with doing so amid renewed talks of superhero fatigue. This is especially true as some hardcore supporters of the DCEU are still lobbying for its continuation and decrying Gunn’s new universe before they’ve seen a single frame of the first DCU movie. The DCEU’s first movie also makes it clear how important it is to start a shared universe off on the right foot.
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Though Man of Steel was retroactively turned into the DCEU’s first movie, it was really Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice that launched DC’s first attempt at a shared movie universe. Though Batman V Superman was a financial success, it was poorly received by critics, and some audiences were put off by an angry Superman and murderous Batman. This bad first impression ended up having a negative ripple effect throughout the rest of the DCEU’s films, something that the DCU needs to avoid repeating.
It’s no secret that DC’s first attempt at creating a cinematic universe didn’t pan out as expected. Following the critical failure of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, the DCEU was plagued with creative troubles and dwindling box office numbers, with the exception of Aquaman. Enthusiasm among general audiences for the DCEU was so low that no sequel in the franchise managed to make more than its preceding movie. For Superman to be successful, it needs to clearly establish that it is not a part of the DCEU that most audiences didn’t like.
Changing Superman: Legacy to Superman isn’t just good for the sake of clarity but is also the right choice for the direction DC should be heading with the new DCU. This reboot is a chance for DC to correct the mistakes they made with the DCEU and move forward with a new vision of their characters. By putting too much emphasis on “legacy,” Superman may have been focusing a little bit too much on the past. Hopefully, James Gunn’s title change signals that he has his eyes on the future with the new DC movies.
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