Superhero Media: The Death of Superman (2018)

Can we, as comic book fans, maybe stop lauding The Death if Superman as a story? I'm kind of sick of watching adaptations of it that never really turn out that good. Each one has elements of being a good film, or at least telling the story in an engaging way, but none quite gets there. I've talked at-length about Batman V Superman - Dawn of Justice, of which I enjoyed a few moments, and a lot of the animated Superman - Doomsday is perfectly acceptable, but each has its flaws to varying degrees. Where The Death of Superman has some success is in that it keeps the broader elements of the DC universe which made the comic so engaging, though I personally found the "New 52" Justice League to be less interesting when fighting Doomsday than Blue Beetle and Guy Gardner were in the original. I'm honestly not sure why the story needed to be retold for the New 52, as the changes really don't add much to what is already a glorified wrestling match. 

The major differences, aside from the New 52 overlay, are Luthor jumping into the fight in one of his suits of power armour, the time-lines on Steel, Superboy, Eradicator and Cyborg Superman being compacted, and the B-story revolving around Superman coming out through his secret identity to Lois and the lost promise of their relationship beyond that. That emotional element is really where The Death of Superman shines, as it is rare for adaptation to spare any of the violence in favour of emotion, which the comics will do. What is the relationship between Lois and Clark like? I imagine she doesn't worry about him a great deal, as he's indestructible, early issues of Invincible touch on the risks of being off-planet and how that can weigh on loved ones, but I'm struggling to think of a film that's done so. The utter shock and betrayal that Lois must feel seeing Clark die, even heroically, when the thing he is known best for is being unkillable, is a unique pain that tells a story all its own. Of course, we don't get much of a look into Lois' feelings, because there's more fighting to be had. 

Honestly, Doomsday is the biggest problem with both The Death of Superman and any of the adaptations of this story; he's boring and only remembered because he killed Superman once. Even compared to Superman's other "bruiser" villains, like Parasite and Metalo, Doomsday has little personality, just being a rampaging engine of destruction with essentially no lines to speak of; even the worst Hulk villains do better. Once the fight starts, there's little of anything else, and it's reasonably well done for an animated superhero battle, though not quite as good as the finale from Superman Vs The Elite or the better Dragonball stuff, the ending is a forgone conclusion, then there's a mad rush through the funeral to get to the credits and teasers for the next film in the series, Reign of the Supermen. I've said in the past that I believe a good film can be made with the death of Superman story, but now I wonder if that may not be a little optimistic, as we're now three down without a truly good one. Perhaps it's the story itself that's at fault; a boring villain, a dull conclusion and the most interesting elements forced aside for more punching. Hopefully no one tries this again for a while.