Hollywood Road

"Making superhero movies dark and heavy is just laughable."

In the front row of the New York State Theater, Stan Lee wore a dismissive smile as he spoke to Kevin Feige, "Does he think he's making a crime documentary?"

Kevin Feige just smiled. Marvel Studios had opted for a lighter, more humorous approach to their superhero films, targeting a younger audience—a strategy proven to be commercially successful. Though he was skeptical of DC's darker approach, he knew what Murphy Stanton excelled at. If Murphy could integrate Superman with his own unique style, it was hard to predict anything but success for 'Man of Steel.'

Moreover, from the previews, the film seemed to be well-received in all aspects. Although some of this was Warner Bros' influence, the low proportion of negative reviews indicated some positive aspects.

Even without seeing 'Man of Steel,' Kevin Feige felt that Marvel's superhero films might soon face fierce competition. The Avengers, lacking X-Men and Spider-Man, might not necessarily outperform a fully assembled Justice League.

"What's Spider-Man compared to this?"

From the back rows, a young man passionately told his friend, "You didn't see the preview of 'Man of Steel.' Forget everything else; just the action scenes alone outdo all other superhero movies."

His friend, skeptical, scoffed, "Yeah right, Doug, you're exaggerating!"

As more people entered the New York State Theater, the front rows filled with industry peers and hundreds of media reporters and well-known critics, while the most numerous group, the general audience, took the rear seats.

As expected, the nearly 3,000-seat New York State Theater was packed.

Meanwhile, 'Man of Steel' was showing early screenings across 3,500 theaters in North America. By tomorrow, Friday, it would expand to 4,250 theaters.

Attendance at premieres across North America was far from low, with full houses in major urban and commercial areas like Manhattan, Santa Monica, and Hollywood Boulevard.

As Murphy had said, Superman, being globally the most renowned superhero in terms of fame and tenure, never lacked fans. Even the disappointing 'Superman Returns' had solid initial attendance, although the film itself faltered, unable to avoid a significant drop after a high opening.

For sequels of blockbuster summer films, reviews didn't impact much. However, the 'Superman' series was an exception. Past failures had left indelible scars. Without a film that was both a box office and critical hit, it would be difficult to erase the negative impacts of 'Superman IV' and 'Superman Returns.'

Since the premiere was in New York, Daisy didn't attend but stayed in Los Angeles, organizing a discussion group of nearly a hundred members to watch at the Hollywood Chinese Theatre.

Inside the New York State Theater, many critics took out notebooks and pens, a professional habit. Like 'Spider-Man 3' and 'Shrek 3,' 'Man of Steel' garnered significant attention from the critics' community.

"Murphy Stanton is a very thoughtful director," Roger Ebert commented from his private cinema in the Chicago suburbs, addressing Richard Roeper beside him. "Although this is ultimately a summer blockbuster, do you think he's just making an ordinary popcorn flick?"

Without hesitation, Roeper shook his head, "Murphy Stanton has a distinct style and is a very ambitious director. It's impossible for him to just make an ordinary commercial film."

Roger Ebert glanced back at two Warner Bros staff preparing for the screening before turning back to the screen, "We'll have the answers soon."

Due to recent health issues, Roger Ebert couldn't go out, but his reputation ensured that filmmakers would bring their movies directly to him.

Despite the significant time difference between the East and West coasts, all early screenings of 'Man of Steel' were scheduled to start simultaneously.

As the Warner Bros and DC Comics logos flashed on the big screen at the New York State Theater, the film began.

Under a dark sky, a group walked onto a developing site in Metropolis, a bald man notably prominent among them. They took an elevator down to the deepest level of a pit, where a dark gray spaceship appeared.

The bald man was Lex Luthor. A few simple lines of dialogue revealed his strong government connections and a project involving human genetics. The mysterious spaceship was crucial to his corporation.

Lex Luthor opened the spaceship and found a woman in black armor inside...

Back on the surface, Lex Luthor instructed his team, "Build the new LexCorp Tower here."

Simultaneously, a streak of light flashed across the sky, resembling a meteor. Luthor looked up, and the camera switched to his point of view. When it switched back, the perspective had changed to a stunning woman standing on a balcony.

Tall, slender, beautiful, and sexy—Doug thought of a string of adjectives as if he were seeing Aphrodite descend from Mount Olympus.

This tall, black-haired woman stared intently at the

 meteor streaking across the sky, sensing something unusual.

"Miss Prince..." a waiter approached her, "The art auction is about to start."

A brief line of dialogue revealed this woman's dual identity. Anyone slightly familiar with DC would recognize her as Diana Prince, Wonder Woman, whose public persona was an art dealer.

Diana Prince walked into the auction house, and as she passed through the entrance, the scene timely switched to a black colonel in military uniform entering his superior's office.

"We've detected a meteor entering the atmosphere," he reported, "But we haven't tracked its descent."

Meteors are typically complex in composition, and this was not treated as an unusual occurrence by his superior, who regarded it as just another ordinary meteor.

In the darkness of Kansas, a fireball suddenly fell from the sky, disturbing the peace of a vast farm. A regular couple found the crash site and discovered a small dark spaceship. When they opened it, they found a baby inside, next to a dark blue suit with a large "S"!

The camera zoomed in on the "S" until it filled the screen, then the title appeared—'Man of Steel.'

The opening didn't reveal much, but the information conveyed was sufficient: Superman's arrival on Earth, found by his adoptive parents, with Lex Luthor as the villain, and the stunning appearance of Wonder Woman.

Though brief, the content was engaging enough to make one want to continue watching.

This film tells the story of Superman's origins, naturally focusing on Clark Kent's journey from living under the radar to becoming Superman.

Initially, Clark Kent, despite his robust physique, seemed ordinary, indistinguishable from any other person, but his actions continuously reminded the audience that he was no ordinary man.

Facing a blazing building, he saved people single-handedly; bullied by a truck driver in a bar, the driver found his truck twisted into a pretzel when he returned...

These incidents reminded the audience of Clark Kent's extraordinariness.

Each time Clark did something remarkable, his first instinct was to leave, to escape quickly because he knew his presence would cause fear and trouble for most people.

Where did this awareness come from?

Clark Kent traveled northward, performing acts of kindness followed by flashbacks of his childhood.

Regardless, this was not an art film. Murphy, for the sake of simplicity in viewing, deliberately used color to distinguish the past from the present.

The present was depicted with dark, gloomy, teal skies, while Clark Kent's childhood was filled with sunlight.

Each segment of childhood memory that appeared was followed by scenes where the sunshine was noticeably reduced, and the skies became progressively gloomier.

"Using color tones to symbolize Clark Kent's world," Roger Ebert nodded approvingly. "Murphy Stanton is indeed savvy and experienced. Clark Kent was also filled with sunshine in his youth, not hiding as he is now. Why has he become so desolate? What is the root cause?"

Not just Roger Ebert, even ordinary viewers could sense this. Daisy easily deduced that the source of Clark Kent's predicaments stemmed from his unique abilities, which, each time they surfaced, caused those around him to view him with increasing wariness.

Yet, he was powerless to change this situation, continually forced to hide and flee.

The camera followed Clark Kent as he traveled north, helping others and hurriedly departing. His childhood self showed various sides, even once saving an entire busload of classmates from a river...

However, these acts didn't bring approval or acceptance but panic.

His classmates were scared, leading to his encouragement and isolation; teachers disliked him, seeing him as a harbinger of disaster; parents feared him, worried this "monster" would harm their children...

Aside from his adoptive parents, Clark Kent couldn't receive fair or kind treatment from those around him. As he grew older, he began to doubt and despise his differences, but this didn't aid him.

After rescuing his adoptive father from a tornado, the surrounding people's panic towards Clark Kent peaked, and after a sudden eruption of father-son conflict, Jonathan Kent revealed Clark's origins and took him to a barn hiding the spaceship.

Clark Kent found a Kryptonian suit and a key bearing his family's crest with the spaceship. The ship's display indicated that it had been launched in an emergency with limited recorded content. He needed to find a spaceship launched thousands of years ago by Kryptonians to Earth, containing a genesis chamber, to unravel the mystery of his origins.

Lost and confused, Clark Kent set off to find his true self.

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