Why the DCEU Superman Can’t Wear the Cooler Black Suit in Future Movies
Superman has a black suit in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, but a more heroic Superman should go back to his red and blue suit sooner than later.
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HBO’s upcoming release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League and brings the opportunity to see Superman in his new black suit, but the future of Superman should be the red and blue suit. While Joss Whedon eliminated the black suit, using only the blue and red suit for the theatrical cut of Justice League, Zack Snyder’s original vision for the movie is now getting released and will finally bring the black suit to live-action.
The black suit used by Superman in Zack Snyder’s Justice League is a reference to the legendary Death of Superman year-long DC Comics event. Known as the Regeneration Suit, Superman wore it for a short time after he returned to life following his seemingly fatal battle with Doomsday. The suit imbued Superman with the ability to absorb more solar energy than usual, helping to recover his full range of powers more quickly. Unlike the suit we will see in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, the comic book version doesn’t sport a cape and the S-Shield is bright silver. Whilst it makes for a striking image, thematically it just doesn’t fit with Superman’s long-term DCEU arc.
For Snyder’s Superman, unlike in the comics, where Superman was never truly dead, Justice League leads us to believe that he truly is resurrected. However, it takes some time for our hero to truly regain his previous faculties. His journey through initial confusion, anger and ultimately a return to heroism is a transitional phase. It’s a common trope in Superhero movies for the protagonist’s costume to evolve as they do. In a sense, by returning from death, the cinematic Superman is emerging from darkness.
However, for a time anyway, part of that darkness remains imprinted upon him, hence the black costume. Snyder has also specified the black suit is a more personal suit, not meant for public display, whereas the heroic symbol Superman will become needs to be the red and blue suit. Over time, as he again fully embraces his heroic nature and is ready to stand before the world, he can cast aside the black costume.
As Superman’s father Jor-El said himself in 2013’s Man of Steel, his costume is a symbol of hope, an ideal for the people of Earth to strive towards. To humans, when they see a Kryptonian in black, it doesn’t mean hope, it means fear, destruction and death, as that’s what Zod and his minions war when they attacked Earth. Superman’s red and blue costume shows he is different from these other invaders.
Cinematically, a black costume doesn’t quite have the same impact as it did in the comics either. Think back to some of cinema’s greatest villains: Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine, The Wicked Witch of the West, and of course Superman II’s original take on General Zod, they all wore black. Even Die Hard’s Hans Gruber wore a black suit! In a simplistic way, when you see someone on-screen dressed in black, you naturally assume it’s a villain. Hence, having Superman adopt a black costume long-term when he is supposed to be the ultimate good guy just doesn’t make sense from a visual standpoint.
Of course, some heroes wear black. Batman is an obvious example here, but Batman is fundamentally a different hero than Superman, as shown in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. While Superman is meant to be a heroic figure to inspire the world, Batman is more brutal and operates from the shadows. Having Superman remain bright and positive while Batman embraces the dark is an integral part of the dynamic that makes interactions between the two so interesting. While Snyder is putting Superman in the black suit for Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Superman’s time in the black suit has an expiration date. For Snyder, that expiration date is the end of the Superman arc he started telling in Man of Steel, but if another filmmaker gets Superman next, the red and blue suit will likely return more immediately.
Link Source : https://screenrant.com/dceu-superman-blue-suit-future-snyder-hope-symbol/