``Supergirl'' Why didn't Superman appear in ``Supergirl''? [That's when movies were born Vol.2]

What is " Superman III" co-starring Superman and Supergirl?

At the 1980 Cannes Film Festival, an advertisement announcing the completion of `` Superman II '' also included the decision to produce ` `Superman III .'' However, at this point, nothing had been decided upon, other than Christopher Reeve's appearance. Unlike the previous two films, which were shot at the same time, the third film had to be made from scratch.

Ilya Salkind, who produced the series with his father, wanted to try something new with the third installment. The earliest story idea for Superman III , written by Elijah in November 1980, called for the introduction of new characters familiar from the original work, such as Supergirl, Brainiac, and Mr. Mixi's Pitork. . Now, let's take a look at the story that was conceived at that time.

Lois Lane requests a transfer to the Daily Planet's overseas bureau. He is tired of his relationship with Superman and tries to distance himself from him. Clark Kent is depressed when he learns of this, but he becomes attracted to Lana Lang, a new reporter who has joined the editorial department.

Meanwhile, it is revealed that there was one other survivor besides Superman, aka Kal-El, when Krypton exploded. That's Kara Zor-El. She is stranded on a dark and sinister planet inhabited by Brainiac, who surpasses Kryptonian aliens in strength and intelligence, and is raised by Brainiac with love. He begins to develop special feelings for Carla, but she rejects him and runs away to Earth to become a physical education teacher in a small American city. Eventually, as Supergirl solves problems in the city, Superman comes to know of her existence and they meet face to face. The two quickly understand each other's origins, fall in love, and fly together through the night sky.

Meanwhile, Brainiac arrives on Earth in search of Kara. He takes up residence in an old castle in Europe, uses his supernatural powers to discover her whereabouts, and also learns of Superman's existence. Superman, whose personality has been destroyed by a device created by Brainiac, suddenly becomes violent during a rescue mission with Supergirl, confusing everyone. This strange phenomenon also occurs to Clark Kent, shocking everyone around him. Eventually, people start calling for Supergirl to defeat Superman. Brainiac appears before a confused Supergirl and offers her a deal. If he does not agree to marry her, she will invite him to the depths of evil. She disappears on demand.

After defeating the evil within himself, Superman searches for Supergirl, but when he encounters Mr. Mixi's Pitork, who shrinks the city and collects it, he wins. He then engages in a fierce battle with Brainiac, but is unable to overcome his strength and is imprisoned in a cage. Brainiac takes Supergirl to the Middle Ages in a time machine. At the Daily Planet, Clark's disappearance causes his colleagues Jimmy Olsen and Lana Lang to search for him and arrive at an old castle to rescue Superman. The three travel back in time to the Middle Ages in pursuit of Brainiac.

There, the ruthless Brainiac rules as a tyrant, and the three are captured. Having barely escaped, Superman returns to the future and makes a deal with Mr. Mixi's Pitork to ask for his help. The two head back to the Middle Ages, where Mr. Mixi's Pitork shrinks the entire town and sends it to another dimension. In that world, no one can demonstrate superpowers. Superman and Brainiac ride horses in armor like medieval knights and engage in a final battle. After winning the battle, Superman and his friends return to the present, but Mr. Mixi's Pitork shrinks Metropolis into a giant puzzle, and if he doesn't solve it within a minute, he will add this puzzle to his collection. To tell. Superman solves the puzzle with the help of Supergirl and succeeds in saving Metropolis and its people. In addition, Ilya notes that at the end of this story idea, the marriage between Superman and Supergirl will be depicted either in this film or in Superman IV.

If you watch `` Superman III: The Electronic Fortress '' (1983), which was released, you may think that it would have been better to have made it into a movie based on this initial concept. Or perhaps you might find it interesting that the idea of ​​Superman becoming good and evil already existed at this point. Considering that it wasn't until the TV series " Young Superman " that Superman and Supergirl co-starred in a filmed work, this phantom " Superman III" is groundbreaking. There is no doubt that it has become a great book.

“Superman III: Electronic Fortress” preview

Still, it's surprising that Superman and Supergirl were changed to "lovers" instead of the traditional "cousins." The scene where the two fly together in the sky is comparable to the famous scene of Superman and Lois Lane flying through the sky in the first film, but Brainiac's adoptive father figure has romantic feelings for Supergirl. I wonder if this setting was really understood by the audience.

This story idea proposed by Ilya was not well received by Warner Brothers, who had the rights to distribute the series, but also by his father, Alexander Salkind, and was rejected. The reason for this was that in addition to being too sci-fi-like, it was also considered that there were too many elements that needed to be explained to the light audience who came in from the movie. In fact, apart from Supergirl, Brainiac has many elements that deviate from the original work, and Mr. Mixi's Pitork is also a character that is difficult to portray in live-action, and Metropolis at the end of the story becomes a jigsaw puzzle. Although it is easy to express images today, I wonder how much images could have been created in the early 1980s.

What was most problematic was the ``time slip,'' which changed the world view of the series so far. Even though he has a history of manipulating time in the first film, the setting, which goes back and forth between the medieval and modern times, could be confusing. As you can see from reading the story idea above, the second half unfolds quite chaotically. However, this story idea would be inherited in `` Superman III: The Electronic Fortress '' and ``Supergirl'' in different forms.

Failure of Superman III