In 1938, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster debuted the character of Superman on the printed pages of Action Comics and watched it grow into one of the most popular characters worldwide. As of now, with hundreds of comic storylines and dozens of live-action movies, the DC icon has become a symbol of heroism and boasts recognition across the globe.
In many ways, the 1978 big-screen version of the superhero with Christopher Reeve at the helm and Margot Kidder as Lois Lane, kicked off an insatiable love for more of such outings.
In the years to follow, the red cape passed down the hands of several actors with equally acclaimed actresses complimenting him as the character’s love interest. However, one of the biggest changes that Superman underwent was in 2013’s Man of Steel starring Henry Cavill and Amy Adams.
The film had its director Zack Snyder adopt a more grim and darker version of the hero and in the process make several creative changes. Out of those, Kidder once registered a strong protest for a specific one involving her successor.
Margot Kidder once slammed Man of Steel for wasting Amy Adams
Portraying the 21st-century version of Lois Lane, and the last to have appeared on the big screens, Amy Adams played her part as intended by the script that had Henry Cavill as Superman. However, Margot Kidder, in talks with Hey U Guys in 2016, called out the aforementioned duo’s outing for reducing her to a mere damsel in distress, when she could have had a much more prominent role in the storyline.
In her nine years as Lois Lane, the veteran actor vastly differed from Adams’ version and unlike the latter, had her moments of action. Thus, her comments on diminishing the character to a stereotypical version from the ‘60s, moving completely away from its job to depict women as more independent and progressive.
They took one of the best American actresses’ around, Amy Adams, and didn’t give her anything to do! I mean, how stupid is that? They made her what used to be the girlfriend, which kind of ended in the 60s with women’s rights.
Scenes involving Kidder’s character facing off a mugger by herself and even holding on to a helicopter while dangling from it draw a sharp contrast to the Man of Steel outing and even its follow-up movie, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, featuring Lois Lane in need of Superman in almost every scene she found herself in need of help, a dire waste of an actress with six Oscar nominations and two Golden Globe wins.
Christopher Reeve’s Superman films are not famous for their actors
In the same round of talks, Margot Kidder denied that the reason people preferred hers and Christopher Reeve‘s iteration of Superman and Lois Lane was not because of them. Rather, she credited the writing and acting for the production as being the actual reason.
The late actress summed up that the sore thumb for the current generation of movies is their lack of a “basic approach”. Additionally, she blamed studios for targeting a “millennial demographic” and diluting the original essence of the character.
They go back to them because they were so much truer to the comic books. Kids learn the morality tale of Jesus in a way; a guy away from his dad, floundering around on Earth and is this purely good person.
Drawing parallels between her criticism and the scathing ones still faced by Man of Steel, everything checks out. Zack Snyder turning the character into a serious and broody superhero, in a movie filled with mass destruction scenes, still haunts the outing and makes up for its mixed reception.
Taking note of such missteps, the new DC co-chief, James Gunn, has vowed to rectify the wrongs in his next big-budget live-action outing starring David Corenswet as the new Superman.
