Let's Celebrate 80 Years Of Superman Action!

Hello there my friends, old readers, new readers how is everyone doing? Wait hold that thought what's that in the sky? Is it a bird? No it's a plane! No! IT'S SUPERMAN!

A couple of day's ago Action Comics hit Issue 1000 and it also marked the 80th birthday of The Man Of Steel himself Superman! DA DADA DA DA, NAH NAH NAH, DA DADA DA DA, SUPERMAN! 

There's so much history and inspiring things of Superman to cover however I just want to warn you that I won't be able to cover it all, I aim to bring you a condensed sort of celebration on Kal El. Please comment or message me your fave memories or moments of Superman at anytime! 

Superman, The Man Of Steel, Kal El, The Last Son Of Krypton, Supes, The Kryptonian, Clark Kent or as one Billy Batson exclaimed Big Blue Cheese. Whatever term you use to call him, Superman is a worldwide icon. There's a lot of hero's out there today that we can relate to him in one way or another be it for his origins, his powers, his heroic's, his personality or something else he is one of if not the most popular superhero's ever created. Superman may also be just a fictional hero but he's also a highly inspiring figure to so many people of so many generations, he's inspired people not just from his comic heroics but also from his animated, movie, tv and game outings. Supes is such an instantly recognisable character just remember he's the symbol of hope. 

When did I first see Superman? I think I was introduced to him via Christopher Reeve and from watching Superman movie on tv with my grandparents back when i was like 5 or 6 similarly I was introduced to Batman and Spiderman when I was the same age but what hero came first? I believe it was Spiderman but I could be wrong. If anyone is wondering if I liked Man Of Steel, BVS or Justice League or Henry Cavill as Superman the answer to all of them is YES! I also want to add I loved the Superman animated series and Justice League Unlimited. 

In recent years Supes popularity has decreased somewhat with the increase in interest of Batman that has sprung up over the past decade but unlike Batman, Superman can still find a way to relate to his audience on several levels. Of course many say Supes is over powered and yes if the writers wanted him to be OP they would do it but they do not, they balance it well and they always have. 

In Man Of Steel he could have killed Zod when he first met him if he chose to but Superman does not go all out in his strength or powers because Superman puts on himself mental barriers he does not want to kill anyone he was not raised a killer, he knows on Earth and with his powers that Humans are such a fragile race compared to him. The only time Superman will go all out is when he is enraged or if a particular opponent's strength calls for him to use all of his might to defeat. 

Now you may think when I say that Supes holds back that possibly he held back against the likes of Doomsday hence why he was brutally killed by him but I'd argue that Superman to start held back but when he realised how strong, how brutal just how evil and uncontrollable the destroyer is he had to unleash his best to match Doomsday. Doomsday has protruding bones which can cut and pierce the skin of a Kryptonian and due to the amount of punctures and blood loss Supes suffered during their epic battle of ages Supes managed to kill Doomsday but also died due to his injuries. 

If you want to see a great example of Superman going all out I highly recommend you see Superman Vs The Elite it's one of my all time favourite Superman animated films and there's a scene where Supes loses it admits to himself that he basically can't go easy on them but also he toy's with The Elite, saying how he needs to kill villains he see's it now and he must start with The Elite and he beat them one by one and he made it seem like he killed Manchester Black's friends when in reality he had his robots teleport them to The Fortress Of Solitude to be stripped of their powers and put behind bars and by doing so Superman taught everyone that you cannot solve problems by violence or killing because it is not the right way for justice and that Supes way is best for mankind. It's such an epic moment and fight honestly it's a must see for all Super fans out there. 

Superman has not always been this OP god that some see him as, back in the 1930s when he was first introduced he could only leap great distances and he could run super fast and was also super strong there was none of the he can fly, he can breathe ice, he can see via x ray vision nor heat blasts from eyes he had three powers in his introduction and that was that until his powers got expanded upon in the Silver age of comics. His past and powers are always changing up a bit every decade there seems to be something new with him just because he has been around for 80 years does not mean every mystery with him has been explored and explained just yet. 

Not only is Superman such an iconic character but his allies and love interest are too! Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, Martha Kent, Johnathan Kent, Perry White, Lara Lang, Cat Grant, Kara Zor El, Superboy and Krypto. You surely know all of these and you will know them for starring along side Superman although some of them don't actually fly alongside Supes or fight crime with him but you get my point that these characters and their interactions in and around the world of Superman have made them stand out and as iconic as our man of steel. All of these characters have changed along with Superman through the years too. 

When it comes to other superhero's or playing in teams Supes is typically the one everyone looks up to as the leader and Supes also generally takes the younger superhero's under his wing and tries to be a father figure of sorts to them and Superman can generally connect with other hero's from this world and others with ease which not many can do. Obviously the most dynamic and interesting friendship Superman shares is with The Caped Crusader himself Batman. They have many things in common and many things not in common it's what has made their friend/enemy relationship such on and off over the years. 

One way to measure a hero is via his villains and Superman's are one of the best most known in pop culture. Superman's arch nemesis is Lex Luthor who unlike the alien god is only a human who is really smart which is crazy right who would have ever thought one of superman's biggest threats would be a human. Lex and Supes have not always been enemies, they have been friends also. Other enemies of Superman you will know are Doomsday, Bizarro, Metallo, Brainiac, Atomic Skull, Cyborg Superman, Darkseid, General Zod, Lobo, Mister Mxyzptlk (god i hope i spelt that right), Toyman and Grundy to name but a few. Each of Superman's rogue gallery challenges him in different ways it's what makes them all unique. 

Superman has evolved time and time again over the years and he's kept on up with modern society and the cultures of the world and all this has allowed him to sustain his popularity and relevance for such a long time and it no doubt will continue to do so for 80 more years and hell even longer, perhaps he will last forever only time will tell. 

It's crazy to think words like Kryptonite are quite common place in modern society and it's all thanks to DC to Action Comics to Superman! 

Thank you Action Comics, Thank you DC and Thank You Superman for 80 years of iconic, influential and inspiring moments, hero's, stories, characters and hell even villains because why not give them a thank you aswell because who else puts over the hero's willingly eh? ;) 

PHOTO CREDS TO DC, Warner Bros and ACTION COMICS.

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Action Man: Live Action Dream Casting!

You know for years as a kid i loved and collected Action Man. I collected toys, comics, dvds, videos, books, games and all other memorabilia. Now recently i seen a pic of Henry Cavil and i just was hit with the strong resemblance and memory of Action Man. So i thought i would have a go at casting my own live action AM film. Let me know your thoughts and share it! 

Action Man = Henry Cavill

Just look at this image of him, he is the embodiment of AM. Alex Mann, Action Man's civilian identity, is an extreme sports athlete of Team Xtreme and also works as part of a secret British branch of the military and in MI5 he is known as Action Man. He was adopted by the Exler family. His father was an american rocket scientist and wealthy inventor Dr. Alfred Exler who happens to work with Sir Arthur Strong from the ISD. After the death of his father he was separated and moved with the Mann family in England with a portion of his fathers money. He never seen his Exler family again. As an adult he travelled the world doing extreme sports when one day he was involved in an avalanche which he was found and taken by a mysterious tribe called the Akesh Maharishis living in an remote ashram in the Himalayas and as part of the training he was cut on the left side of his cheek. Journeying there in a final desperate bid for harmony and redemption, he immersed himself for over three years in their intensive regimen of physical conditioning, wilderness survival, mountain climbing, martial arts and ninja-like skills, yoga and meditation. By excelling in these activities, he earned the coveted "A.M." tattoo of the cult. He returned to the Western world with extraordinary mental and physical skills where he helped stop a bomb threat in the london underground which quickly had the MI5 snap him up and recruit him and eventually he worked to gear his own division the Action Force. 

Dr.X = Ben Kingsley

Hard to think of many greats who could play the greatest hero of them all but i think Ben would play the part brilliantly.  Dr. X or Doctor X is a mad scientist who is the arch-enemy of Action Man in its line of toys, introduced in the mid-late 1990s. Despite many changes in appearance, he is easily identified by his mustache, almost-to-totally bald head, and bionic arm and eye (sometimes replaced by an eyepatch). For those wondering, he received his PhD in theoretical physics from University College London in the United Kingdom, having completed his undergraduate and one placement year working as an assistant mad scientist for the NHS. Dr X is a danger to the world and is its most dangerous criminal mastermind. He leaves a trail of death and destruction wherever he goes. During the battles with Action Man, Dr X has constantly been defeated and humiliated. However, the evil scientist never seems to give up and each time he comes back to do battle, he grows stronger. Action Man may think him defeated but Dr X can strike fear and destruction on the world and its people at any time and bring the world to its knees. Who knows he may already be secretly ruling over the parts of the world.

Professor Gangrene = Ed Harris

Ed plays a hell of a villain and i think you need someone as good as Ben to play the supporting villain role with the second in command the ever scheming Prof.Gangrene. Professor Gangrene is a mad scientist who works for Dr X. in most versions he is green-skinned, almost bald and his left eye is bigger than the right one. An interesting thing to note is that he has been shown to be greedy and to have a love for money. A reason for this characteristic could be due to his name and colour scheme - both of which are green (green with envy). He has also been potrayed as unloyal to Dr X and is usually motivated by his own goals and agenda.

Maxx = Jackie Earle Haley

You need someone tough and intense to play this role so i pick Jackie for this. Majorly you get to see a street punk fighter look and a bandaged up face of Maxx and you can only see his eyes and i think Jackie is tough, intense and can play along just with his intense stares. Maxx also known as the man with no name, X, Spike, Freak Face and the Purple Menace is a henchman and a street gang leader and enforcer. He can easily be recognised by his bandaged face and spiky hair. The origin how he got his disfigurement is that one of Gangrenes experiments blew up in his face. He is usually portrayed as a tough but not too bright lead henchman of Dr Xs forces.

Director = Michael Bay - Who else could direct a film with Action in the name?

Written By = Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn

What do you think? Good? Bad? 

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THANKS FOR READING!

How DCEU Should Make Man Of Steel 2! Fan idea for the general plot of the sequel.

Since Lex is free let's have him antagonise Supes. Bring Metallo and Bizarro. Lex is obsessed with Supes can be the main story to why he went and created a bizarre superman and that he also wanted to take down the man of steel so acquired Kryptonite and helped make Metallo come to life.

Have the first half be Supes is back saving lives while Clark struggles getting back to the normal routine and then perhaps fails to save John Corben which is all part of a trap by Lex of course but supes won't know. John is thought to be dead members of Lexcorp take the body away supes is down sad he couldn't save someone's life and have Metallo come alive being brainwashed by Lex saying "It's his fault your like this, it's his fault your a metallic monster, it's his fault your METALLO!" which has Metallo power on snap at Lex holding Lex off the ground angry. Metallo replies to him: "Tell me where he is!" and Lex smiles and we cut to a peaceful day in the city all is well, until a train station is on the news being destroyed with people inside being trapped and killed from rubble and supes see's this and ignores it as he is down as he thinks he failed saving John's life. Louis talks Clark into going to save the people trapped in the train station as details emerge on the news it's some green robot is terrorising the city.

Superman snaps back to being a hero he's determined to stop this robot hurting others because he realises he can't always save everyone and what happened to John was not his fault and he saves those trapped uneed rubble and flies towards Metallo.  He lands near Metallo. Metallo: "So you've finally decided to show your face? Too bad you left it late, so many lives could have been spared if you wasn't so selfish!" Metallo blasts superman who dodges the blast. Superman: "You know greens not a good colour for you" Metallo: "You think so? Well come closer for a better look" Superman: "No thanks I'm good over here. So tell me, why are you causing all this senseless destruction" as superman starts to approach Metallo as the two talk. Metallo: "It's all a show, it's all for you of course, it's the only way to get your attention, for I have been looking for you" Superman: "You villains always like attention but there's a better way to get it without violence" Metallo: "Ok so please do show me, tell me what I have to do and I'll come with you quietly" Superman puts his hand on Metallo's shoulder as Metallo smiles and grabs superman tight as he can as metallo's chest plate goes down and reveals kryptonite to superman, making superman weak and in pain from Metallo's grip. The police see that superman is in trouble and are shooting at Metallo which has Metallo's guard drop and he is getting shot at pretty heavily so he releases superman and goes after the police instead which creates enough distance for superman to gain composure to lazer blast the exposes kryptonite in metallo's chest effectively blowing Metallo up. Of the explosion only metallo's head remains and he mutters to superman: "You've killed me again, you couldn't save me as a human and you couldn't save me as a machine, what hope do you inspire again?" Superman realises it was John the guy he tried to save and looks at him shocked and apologises to him before Metallo shuts down. Superman flies off.

Second half - Lex is mad at the news Metallo has been defeated so he decides to do something so drastic and that's to use the dna on what he has from superman to make himself a clone but he messes up and ends up with Bizzaro enraged at his failed superman clone he torments the clone, tortures him, telling him superman is the enemy and calls Bizzaro names and so on which enraged Bizzaro having him leave Lex's company to go kill Superman. One day whilst saving a family from a fire superman is just speared mid air by Bizzaro causing the two to Duke it out as superman is left reeling as he can't believe he has to fight a look a like of himself and he's trying to talk sense into Bizzaro but its not working so Superman fires back harder hits which does knock some sense into him but then emerges Lex from his limo wanting front row to see his failure actually succeed in killing superman. Bizzaro has superman in a choke hold as Superman tells Bizzaro "please don't do this I'm you, I'm not the enemy, I'm friend, I am brother,  I am family." which has Bizzaro let go of superman and questioning himself whilst Lex is yelling at Bizzaro, lex just bullies Bizzaro calling him useless and a freak and a ugly failure which Bizzaro snaps and picks lex up and goes to snap him in two but lex pulls a controller out and presses a button which causes a small bomb in Bizzaro to go off exploding his head as lex laughs and looks at superman saying "You can thank Amanda for her services there, as I have just saved your life" Superman looks at lex baffled and replies. "What do you mean,why would you do that?" Lex: "Look around you Superman, can't you see all the cameras, they now will all say that I saved you which means to the public I have redeemed myself so my companies stock can rise again!" Superman: "So you set up all this for money?" Lex: "Gee if you'd actually have a brain you'd know it's not about the money at all. If it was up to me I'd have killed you after your family but your a very lucky boy today and very lucky that I have a lot instore for not only you but also your friends, family and the entire world! It's going to be fun so I hope you like chess, because I've made the first move." as Lex gets in his limo and rides off, leaving Superman to have a quiet day and get back to the office supporting Superman of the new public opinion of Lex Luther. And if you want an after credit to my comment story I'd put Lex meeting up with a Mr. Savage ;)

I'd cast Sam Worthington as Metallo, there's a tongue in cheek Terminator reference to be had here :P 

I'd also cast Johnny Depp as Vandal Savage, i'm sure there's a tongue in cheek fragrance reference to be had there also. Why Depp as Savage? The two are quite eccentric and Depp can pull off the look and intensity of Savage easily. 

Thanks for reading this, if anyone did, I got carried away here haha.