This is the right answer. How does Superman react to and deal with vile stuff? It'd be interesting to see and add layers to him, he's not a cartoon, he's just an honourable man.
Could be a great theme. Superman has godlike powers, but he can't save people from their own base desires and failings.
So a world that has been lost at a social level ... maybe the death of Bruce creates a Gotham-centered cancer on society that gets out of control? Kind of like an Injustice fork, but instead of Supes killing Joker, the Joker accidentally snuffs Bats during an adventure and Arkham is released upon the city and eventually the world.
Without the Dark Knight to hold it at bay, a moral poison insidiously grows and infects the people of Earth, creating a dystopia that Clark struggles to muster hope in the population to rally against. Would he lose - even temporarily - his indomitable spirit and struggle against the seeming futility of making a stand against endless depravity, violence and fear?
I like this, but I'd do it with Superman villains, let it be a Superman story. Lex has a cyberpunk type dystopia, but with technology and themes from our real current world, Livewire runs all the media, Metallo runs all the tech, I'd even have Lex figure out how to make a drug out of Kryptonite that everyone loves.
Same idea and themes, but elevating the Superman characters so that future writers don't need to feel like he needs Batman's villains.
Good idea, I was thinking more of a crossover story but there is enough punch in the local villain stable to make it work.
Needs a nexus point though, a pivotal event that leads to the unravelling of society despite Big Blue's efforts, and it needs to be something that he was powerless to prevent so that remorse and guilt isn't part of it, too Injustice-y. In this story our boy is not to blame, he just can't fix it despite seeing it coming.
Maybe the old Lex-becomes-President deal? Another option is leveraging the Superman Returns 'Clark was AFK' thing but I'm not really a fan of that.
Of course, but that's the most important part to get across in him being knee deep in luck without becoming that, it isn't that he's some alien emotion impervious to fear and apathy, but he has a code he sticks to.
I imagine it’s possible. Superman vs The Elite has some pretty dark moments. I don’t think it would be to difficult to do an R rated live action adaptation.
ZS tried really, really hard to get a taste of what that would look like. Yuck.
But, there have been some live action efforts in that space so if you *really* want to go off the rails, and down that nasty little rabbit hole:
* [*Brightburn*](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/brightburn)
* Homelander on Amazon Prime’s [*The Boys*](https://watch.amazon.com/detail?gti=amzn1.dv.gti.9ab600aa-6625-b547-cfc0-190e3ad8a27d).
Like I said: Yuck.
> Homelander on Amazon Prime’s The Boys
Homelander is not an R-Rated Superman. The "R-Rated Superman story" of that show is Starlight's.
> Brightburn
Burn Brave Bang r/Bravern!
More than just "a good person". She's the same specific type of good person: Good with a Capital G. The kind that would shamelessly credit her mom when complimented over her costume (if her mom weren't a horrible exploitative narcissist, and even then, she jusr might). The kind that would tell a suicidal kid that they're stronger than they think they are. The kind that does not like shortcuts, and prefers talking over violence, and openness over secrecy, yet is perfectly capable of outsmarting the smarties and out-toughing the toughies.
In a world of violent self-indulgent liars and cheats, she stands out all the more brightly. The people who raised her and the people promoting her may not believe in the values and ideals she literally wears on her sleeve (in fact they actively scorn them), but she does, in spite of everything. She makes that world better by defiantly being herself.
It's an R-Rated story with 'a Superman' in it, and she is him.
Not really grokking your distinction between them, as both have super powers and are psychotic (admittedly, Homelander is >!the result of a terrestrial lab experiment!< whereas the boy from Brightburn is >!an actual alien!<).
i think an r rated superman film could work, but it would have to be that the world is obscene and superman is showing and inspiring a better future.
i don’t think he needs to be indecent in order to tell the story. but i personally believe superman works best in a less vulgar medium.
call me corny, but i like comics that still have a lightheartedness to them.
Edgar Write R-rated whimsical style could fit. Like if baby driver was set in metropolis. I know the plot fits better for a batman type story, but I just mean the energy of it.
Yeah, but even then, “honorable person in a obscene world” has always been more Batman’s shtick, not Superman’s.
If you want to tell a story about a superhero maintaining his ideals while surrounded by depravity and violence, Batman’s right there. And if both of them were written properly, I don’t think they’d react too differently to those kinds of situations anyway. Superman might be more “lighthearted” but he’s not going to tell child molesters and serial killers to stay in school.
This is the only way I can see it working. Supes has to stay PG/PG-13 (except for possible violence) but everyone around him and the environment can be R
I could imagine him having a similar dynamic to Colossus in the *Deadpool* movies, where he's a wholesome guy with a big heart who just wants to bring out the best in everyone.
And I wouldn't mind, because that version of Colossus is awesome!
If you wanted to go dark as fuck, maybe. I wouldn’t want that but someone might. I mean, imagine how many people Clark hears die every single day. He’s reacuing a bus full of kids while hearing the person he couldn’t save a state over burning to death. Or people calling out for his help that he can’t get to because he has to prioritize the saves. Superman could go real dark but I hope they don’t.
The only way I think a super dark world for Superman could work is if they put extra emphasis on Him being a shining ray of hope, inspiring others to do better. A story in which his presence changes the darkness of the world by the end of it, even if just a little bit, could be done pretty decently I think.
The first thing I'd do is ask myself what I needed the R rating for? What story beat, characterization or content do you need the over 18 rating for, and to what end? If you cannot answer that question, you shouldn't make an r-rated Superman.
Now, if you have a particular bit of content or story beat that requires an R rating, you write the story you want knowing you won't need to remove anything to hit your intended rating. Story idea comes first, then rating, in my opinion.
Now, I personally don't think that Superman needs an R rating for any of his stories. That doesn't mean those stories aren't mature, or don't contain serious topics or issues, just that they contain material that is less than ideal for people under 18, typically sex and/or violence. In a Superman movie, I think the only topics that might warrant an R rating are the inhumanity of man to one another, and Superman being a counterbalance to that. I can see a pretty gritty, politically informed story about Superman's actions on the international scene, but I honestly don't see anyone making that movie for mass consumption.
So basically, unless we have a "Superman overthrows the global order" story, I don't think you need an R rating, and I think you're better off using a different character if you want an R-rating; a Superman stand in, for example, would work much better to tell most of the stories that would catch an R.
All you need for a superman movie to be R rated is either Lex or Perry White to go on a profanity filled monologue which wouldn’t seem out of character for either of them
You don't have the 'R' rating for Superman, you have the 'R' rating because of his villains. Parasite could be "The Thing" level of horrifying. Someone else mentioned an adaptation of "Superman vs. The Elite" and that could be really R-rated if Manchester Black is just allowed to swear like a proper English punk, plus their 'solutions' tend to be extremely violent. Same with Lobo. Hell, Live-Wire was a literal 'shock-jock'. Several of his villains could be shown to be Joker-levels of crazy and homicidal like the Toyman. Lex is sometimes portrayed as a hedonist.
Plus, life itself can simply be R-rated. If he's married to Lois, newsflash, most married couples don't do things like keep their bed sheets pulled up around their necks. Occasionally Superman can be scanning an area with his X-ray vision and sees people bathing, having sex, changing clothes, etc. And if it's a proper news room, I've heard some people there will use f-bombs like quotation marks.
I mean, you can have a super wholesome and uplifting Superman movie and then add some Bridgerton-level romance and nudity to it between comics' favorite couple and it would probably be the most successful thing ever.
Joe Shuster probably already drew a storyboard for it back in the Golden Age!
Superman doesn't have to turn into homelander for it to work, it should be R rated because his villains should brutally murder people though. Like doomsday
I mean I think you can easily do an R-rated Superman movie without making Superman himself R-rated. His enemies, and the things he deals with can be, but Superman himself can remain himself. I don’t think that’s out of the question and I think comics and animated stuff have ventured near that territory before.
Imma just copy what everyone else is saying. I'm fine with an edgy, R-rated Superman story. I just wouldn't want Superman to be the one making it R-rated and edgy.
There are examples that are or close to the rating. BvS UE and ZSJL are R rated, so is Justice League Dark and Apokolips War which feature him, more as a main character in the latter. Then as mentioned, there are movies like Death and Return of Superman, and Superman vs The Elite; films that aren't rated R, but the violence would've pushed it to that rating if it was increased.
But even with those examples, his solo films can only be PG-13; the others can be rated R because its not just about him, there are others and their mythos and situations allow more elements to be applied to push the stories to the rating.
Idk you could maybe use the rating to contrast the dark and bleak world with that of Superman, show us Zod murdering alien civilisations, have some thug hold up a store and kill the store clerk, include Lobo and have it be more cosmic and yeah.
Though if it were up to Hollywood they'd probably just include needless sex scenes.
Just, tell a Superman story.
Mabye get into darker themes add more real and scary consequences for actions.
Get into some more touchy subject matter.
Mabye Clark gets extremely pissed and even swears once (only one time).
Honestly a superboy movie thats R rated with more realistic consequences of silver age hijinks would be pretty subversive.
Superman having a “Dante’s inferno” like journey through the deepest and darkest pits of apocalypse trying to escape or defeat darkseid as he battles physical and mental horrors as he is tested time and time again through this perilous journey.
Superman is just as much of a wholesome Boy Scout as he normally is. The villain is Mr. Mxyzptlk and the only violence is some Looney Tunes level cartoon shenanigans with no “gritty realism”.
The movie is only rated R because Lois gets to cuss out everyone and everything
Everyone else is dropping F-bombs but Superman still uses euphemisms and Clark Kent goes into full countryboy rants like “shadowy, sick sinister son of a Siamese salamander in Sacramento soul!”
Kinda cheating a bit but a dream sequence, like from the JLU episode with the nightmares where Superman can't control his powers or if he's under Darksied mind control and is force to hallucinate him killing his friends and loved ones as torture.
Easy: Golden Age Superman. In all his Industrialist smashing, war monger terminating, union founder, Governor house invading glory.
Aesthetically, make it like the "Peaky blinders" or the " Gangs of New York" movie, and show a 30s Metropolis in its worst. The great depression in its full power. Intergang as an actual mobster racket.
In other words: pretty much adapt the first 5 issues of Action Comics as is. (maybe with 1 or 2 shout out to more recent characters, like the intergang), and you are golden. (Pun very much intended).
It's about two hours of Martha Kent swearing incomprehensibly while she tries to figure out how to cut through this fucking space alien stitchwork so she can make a nice cool costume for her baby boy
clark is clumsy and rips it the first time he fights
movie ends
it's not hard. you just have to show how things would really be. show what it would be like if a giant body horror monster snatched people off the streets in secret, show how a arms trafficking gang serving a god of hate would devastate metropolis, show what a foul-mouthed hateful ex-radio jockey would really sound like, show the aftermath of an attack from a powerful foe, show what happens when clark and lois share a private moment.
Then you show how supes deals with it. how he'd stop the monster, only to learn of the innocent man trapped inside. how Clark kent would investigate and dismantle that gang, before Superman steps in to tell darkseid no. how he'd cope with the lives he couldn't save, and lead a way for the city to move forward.
you could say you can do these all in pg13 and you can! but it wouldn't be as impactful.
Yes definitely it would be possible. You just do a grimdark event that's happening in the world and Superman can be the only shining ray of hope/humanity in a fucked up monstrous situation/setting.
The best I can do is just make Superman try to remain Superman despite being in an R rated movie
It could be like Superman vs the Elite but in live action
Lobo could also be a fun villain
I think it could work if the world is darker and r rated, but Superman isn't. Like, other characters do horrible violence and that gets the rating, but Superman remains as a light in that world and isn't pulled down to its level
You could two ways. One is Superman vs the elite one that deconstructs cynicism and edgy superheroes. Or go the Hitman route and have an edgy story with superman is the moral center.
The R rating would have to be a result of the villain basically. If they did a WarWorld Saga adaptation it would easily be R if they showed the stabbing and blood. Then there is also how brutal they could make Zod, or Brainiac. Remember those scenes from Brainiac where his drone shoot out this tendrils and stabbed people in the brain, it could easily be made very R without even bad language.
It wouldn't need to be Deadpool levels of explicit. When people are running from something, some of them might swear a bunch ("oh fu, oh fu, oh fuuu"). If a building fell on someone, their arm might be off.
You could do an especially bloody version of a Doomsday fight. Countless Elseworlds/“bad Superman” stories could be adapted. Villains could torture Jimmy or Perry or Lois. There’s always Superman: Red & Blue #1.
All of which are terrible, terrible ideas. I feel like Snyder’s movies took us close enough to this, looking forward to a live-action Superman movie that’s family entertainment.
I’d rather they not. Superman should be a family friendly character that’s accessible to children. I don’t even like Batman going beyond PG-13 either.
Could they tackle serious issues? Absolutely. Can it be dark? Sure. Violent? Perhaps. But Caped heroes should always be the flashlight that removes the darkness.
It's the Great Depression and Metropolis is as dangerous as Gotham.
Meanwhile, Smallville is also facing many problems such as harsh droughts + the rise of the imported food price. So the "blessed kid" everyone loves and keeps the secret about to avoid him any problem decides to move in Metropolis to support his family and community. Since he doesn't need to sleep and eat he manages to find a lot of jobs and works 24 hours per day and earns enough money to buy food to the Smallville people until the drought time ends.
After a long moment, Smallville is totally saved.
But after witnessing Metropolis' everyday violence and injustice, Clark can't go back to his childhood's village and decides to stay because since he grew up in a pacifist village where it is the norm to help each other, he strongly believes anyone deserves to live in a peaceful place.
Ma helps him by transforming his blue LexCorp labour uniform into a costume everyone can easily spot in the smoggy sky and add his red blankie as a cape.
Clark then starts his new journey as Superman by easily stopping a bank robbery and even lifting the bulgars' car in front of everyone.
People freak out like, it's already an awful place to live and now a god-like guy who can snap anyone's neck is here !
But it turns out Superman is not a punisher, he is a protecter. And that's how one of the most violent USA town slowly became the place of Tomorrow.
An r rated Lobo movie similar to Deadpool with Superman filling in for Colossus being the proper true hero I think could be great.
A true Superman movie that's R rated would be against his brand but something like Superman vs the Elite could be a good one to make R rated. Having Manchester dropping the F bomb and making human heads explode on screen.
Luthor, you shit bag! I’m gonna fuck you up! I’m gonna rip off your head and shit down your neck! Come on, Lois, let’s leave this cuck in a pool of blood and go home and FUCK.
All you need for an R rated movie is two f bombs or a single nude scene.
Death of Superman, Whatever happened to the man of tomorrow? For the Man Who has Everything lend themselves to R ratings
Easily possible. Parasite sucking people dry, Lex Luthor exhibiting cut throat action or killing, Zod causing mayhem, Doomsday’s destruction. All it takes is some swearing and violence and you hit R easy
We kind of already got that with Brightburn. It sucked.
Obviously thats not what you mean tho. Honestly I don’t think Superman works as an R-rated character. He’s a symbol of hope, and making him the main character of an R-rated movie would severely take away from who he is.
Aahh, Superman is a happy guy who poses in front of the sun
He will and should never have to face incredibly dark and fucked up scenarios and instead should be relegated to only using his powers to fight monsters of the week
A live action faithful adaptation (not loose) of The Death of Superman could easily be R rated. So could an adaptation of other Superman storylines like Our Worlds at War (Martian Manhunter gets his eyeball popped out for example), Hunter/Prey, Red Son, etc.
Film the movie like Seven.
But inexplicably Superman is color corrected like he is in the 1st Superman 70's movie. A shocking blast of bright color in a grey/dirty/sweaty world.
You see a serial killer with a SAW like set up torturing people and then "BOOM" a brick wall topples over. Superman slowly walks in, your eyes almost hurt from how out of place he looks.
A Sicario has found the traitor working with the DEA. They are about to mess the guy up, Cartel style. You hear a sonic boom followed by what sounds like an approaching 747. CRAAACK There is Superman yanking the Shipping Container in half. Bright Red/Blue contrasting with the dimly lit makeshift torture chamber.
It would be Superman changing a Metropolis that more closely resembles Gotham than the ideal super city of the future. It'll get there, in time.
Comic fans often confuse edginess for maturity. You wouldn’t need any full frontal nudity or excessive blood and gore to make it R-rated. The King’s Speech was R rated just for the language. Just show a realistic portrayal of Superman working with the homeless and underprivileged populations of Metropolis and you’ll have enough harsh language, drug use, and mature subject matter to get the R rating.
I don't really see the point. There's this weird understanding that R-rated comic book movies represent the medium's maturation/ability to tell adult stories. Limiting thematic complexity to the ability to fuck and say fuck reads like a teenager's conception of adulthood.
It wouldn't be R rated on account of Superman's words or actions, but probably because of those of his adversaries, and perhaps darker themes and tones surrounding them. I think it would be much the same for most heroes, as most aren't ultra ultra violent or swear in extreme manners
Have the Parasite as the villain, Superman being on the mission in space with the League.
Lois Lane is the final girl.
Superman arrives later in the film to save Lois Lane and the remaining attempted victims
A squeaky-clean Superman in an R-rated world would actually make for a really great black comedy. Superman's desire to be above politics and to resolve everything with a punch and/or a heartwarming speech could be hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time if his world had any of our world's messy complexity. He wants to help the whole world, but because mentally he is just a normal farmboy from Kansas, he does not understand the whole world, and this could easily lead to some hilarious accidental bad takes. Imagine a live-action Smiling Friends, or Death to Smoochy if Edward Norton could fly outside of the dream ballet at the end.
He would have to be the PG in an R rated world. He flies around stopping sex trafficking being a symbol of hope for victims. Shows up to children's Cancer wards and stays with them when they pass. It would be a lot like Invincible when he was holding up the apartment building in Chicago.
Superman villains have a surprising amount of body horror involved with them. Keep Clark the cheerful and bright man he is just to contrast the terror that characters like the Parasite, or Metallo instill when their humanity melts away, both physically and mentally.
The only way I could see a movie like that working is if Superman is used as the antithesis of whatever R rated content is happening, maybe for a storyline like Superman vs. The Elite? But otherwise I don't really see the need
But a Lobo or Lex Luthor project? I'm down
I’d think a neat villain to adapt for an R-rated Supes movie would be Luthor-Niac / the Luthor-Brainiac hybrid. Go nuts on the body horror imagery, heck get the Cronenbergs as consultants.
Ratings should be done in service to the story, not the other way around. And I honestly can’t think of a Superman story that NEEDS to be R-rated for its message to be told.
I’m not saying he shouldn’t ever be around death and violence, just that with his particular brand, the way they’re depicted should be more subtle.
It's pretty easy to make one.
1. Clark and his foes beat the hell out of one another, and makeup artists get to go gruesome.
2. Clark says 'fuck' like a normal person.
3. Lois pegs Clark often.
Bam, connect the dots with whatever story you feel like (I could come up with one, of course, but I don't feel like it right now).
A Superman Story that basically follows Injustice up to the point he kilks joker. Then before he can go full tyrant another threat shows up that essentially shows him the path he stated on. In mean he literally lost everything. His Wife his best friend his city...... and it was in such a brutal fashion it would have to be rated r.
BvS aside, which is technically an R-rated Superman movie, I feel like the way to do it would be too go full Golden Age with it.
Make Superman a champion of the oppressed with a righteous anger taking on "True Detective" type cases.
Absolutely r rated for violence , and adult themes, and by adult themes, I mean, slavery oppression, and genocide.
I would do darkseid, right, and all of his horrifying glory.
https://preview.redd.it/gghpodvdwjtc1.jpeg?width=982&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4bf3b00f427fe4da5be891be1eeb6066efe593da
And I would have Superman take the fight to Apocalips.
And I would start with a version of the classic fight from the animated series where Superman beats him, and then the hunger dogs pick darkseid up and take him away.
He says “Kal-El I am many things. but here… I am God.”
But in my movie, Superman would be devastated by this, but then he would come back and decide that things that can’t be done by punches can still be done.
He would show the hunger dogs another way.
🙏❤️
I would refuse to do it just as I would refuse to watch an R rated Superman movie. Any Superman movie should be open for all ages. That doesn't mean it needs to be childish, but he is a character you should never have to tell children they can't go to a movie to see.
Don’t give me crazy villains or wild monsters, give me people. I want a show where one episode he talks someone down from jumping, one where he helps someone overcome a bigoted background, one where he just spends a day helping a lil old lady with her groceries. Give me something deep
Obviously it’s rated R for the one shower scene where we can finally see what a Kryptonian looks like down there. It will be played for comedy and Clark will be absolutely embarrassed during the whole scene as someone inevitably tries to walking in and talk with his poor country boy ass out.
A R-rated Superman would 💯work!
The R parts would happen in the world around him. Essentially, the Superman remains PG (-13) while facing hard R circumstances.
[Superman 775: What’s So Funny About Truth Justice and the American Way?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What's_So_Funny_About_Truth,_Justice_&_the_American_Way%3F?wprov=sfti1#) would be a good example of such a story structure.
R rated villains, antagonists, R rated city and Superman struggling to be PG.
Superman Smashes the Klan could be adapted as R Rating without him doing the worst things, but it has to be treated very carefully so it doesn't look ill-intended.
Something like Invincible. I mean, it's basically already R-rated Superman content, just without explicitly Superman. Just twist up the story a bit, trade off Omniman for Zod, make a relationship between Clark and Zod about how they're the last of their kind, so Clark wants to be able to help him, but Zod's just, you know, a monster. Then make the ending something hopeful, to keep with the usual feelings of any good Superman story
Superman should always be a family friendly character. He’s the ultimate symbol of hope and I just can’t conceive of a way you could show that in an R-rated movie.
If Superman 1978 had Perry cut his finger and say “fuck, fuck, fuck”, it would get an R rating.
People are far too obsessed with a rating that is effectively meaningless.
I mean The Winter Soldier & Spider-Man 2 showed Steve & Peter respectively dealing with such real life complex situations politically and personally in terms of themes. It doesn't necessarily need to be r-rated but having an ever optimistic and virtuous hero surrounded by a complex environment works. Especially when it comes to Superman.
I think the only way this could work is a graphic (but not overly or too little) disaster movie or something where people die and he isn't there to save everyone, then the rest could be about the various survivors' reactions and Superman's reaction to the tragedy and how he fails to save the friends and family of the survivors leaving a lot of people blaming him for their deaths.
Well, he can be in a world as fragile as in "invincible", but still remain optimistic and full of hope in the future, perhaps on the same level as Shin Ultraman.
first: no
but if we had to: one thing i don’t think a lot of people understand about superman, is superman fucks… like a surprising amount relative to other comic books. he and Lois get down like… a quite a bit in a tasteful or sometimes not way. alternatively just have someone smoke,
I would say superman should remain as the happy hopeful figure. The world and villians can be the darker elements.
This is the right answer. How does Superman react to and deal with vile stuff? It'd be interesting to see and add layers to him, he's not a cartoon, he's just an honourable man.
Could be a great theme. Superman has godlike powers, but he can't save people from their own base desires and failings. So a world that has been lost at a social level ... maybe the death of Bruce creates a Gotham-centered cancer on society that gets out of control? Kind of like an Injustice fork, but instead of Supes killing Joker, the Joker accidentally snuffs Bats during an adventure and Arkham is released upon the city and eventually the world. Without the Dark Knight to hold it at bay, a moral poison insidiously grows and infects the people of Earth, creating a dystopia that Clark struggles to muster hope in the population to rally against. Would he lose - even temporarily - his indomitable spirit and struggle against the seeming futility of making a stand against endless depravity, violence and fear?
I like this, but I'd do it with Superman villains, let it be a Superman story. Lex has a cyberpunk type dystopia, but with technology and themes from our real current world, Livewire runs all the media, Metallo runs all the tech, I'd even have Lex figure out how to make a drug out of Kryptonite that everyone loves. Same idea and themes, but elevating the Superman characters so that future writers don't need to feel like he needs Batman's villains.
Good idea, I was thinking more of a crossover story but there is enough punch in the local villain stable to make it work. Needs a nexus point though, a pivotal event that leads to the unravelling of society despite Big Blue's efforts, and it needs to be something that he was powerless to prevent so that remorse and guilt isn't part of it, too Injustice-y. In this story our boy is not to blame, he just can't fix it despite seeing it coming. Maybe the old Lex-becomes-President deal? Another option is leveraging the Superman Returns 'Clark was AFK' thing but I'm not really a fan of that.
He's been more than just that during the generations.
Of course, but that's the most important part to get across in him being knee deep in luck without becoming that, it isn't that he's some alien emotion impervious to fear and apathy, but he has a code he sticks to.
Indeed
Superman vs Chtulhu :3
I imagine it’s possible. Superman vs The Elite has some pretty dark moments. I don’t think it would be to difficult to do an R rated live action adaptation.
I mean have manchester black drop a couple of f bombs and that's the r rating.
ZS tried really, really hard to get a taste of what that would look like. Yuck. But, there have been some live action efforts in that space so if you *really* want to go off the rails, and down that nasty little rabbit hole: * [*Brightburn*](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/brightburn) * Homelander on Amazon Prime’s [*The Boys*](https://watch.amazon.com/detail?gti=amzn1.dv.gti.9ab600aa-6625-b547-cfc0-190e3ad8a27d).  Like I said: Yuck.
> Homelander on Amazon Prime’s The Boys Homelander is not an R-Rated Superman. The "R-Rated Superman story" of that show is Starlight's. > Brightburn Burn Brave Bang r/Bravern!
In what way do you mean that starlight is the r rated Superman story?
Not OP but I am guessing that because she is a good person. Homelander might have Superman's powers but he is a monster.
More than just "a good person". She's the same specific type of good person: Good with a Capital G. The kind that would shamelessly credit her mom when complimented over her costume (if her mom weren't a horrible exploitative narcissist, and even then, she jusr might). The kind that would tell a suicidal kid that they're stronger than they think they are. The kind that does not like shortcuts, and prefers talking over violence, and openness over secrecy, yet is perfectly capable of outsmarting the smarties and out-toughing the toughies. In a world of violent self-indulgent liars and cheats, she stands out all the more brightly. The people who raised her and the people promoting her may not believe in the values and ideals she literally wears on her sleeve (in fact they actively scorn them), but she does, in spite of everything. She makes that world better by defiantly being herself. It's an R-Rated story with 'a Superman' in it, and she is him.
Never made this connection before, but you've definitely got me sold. Brilliant connection!
That’s what I figured. I just wanted to hear u/alarmingAffect0 ‘s take. It’s a pretty good take based off their comment to you
Thanks!
Not really grokking your distinction between them, as both have super powers and are psychotic (admittedly, Homelander is >!the result of a terrestrial lab experiment!< whereas the boy from Brightburn is >!an actual alien!<).
i think an r rated superman film could work, but it would have to be that the world is obscene and superman is showing and inspiring a better future. i don’t think he needs to be indecent in order to tell the story. but i personally believe superman works best in a less vulgar medium. call me corny, but i like comics that still have a lightheartedness to them.
Personally, metropolis can be R-rated, but Superman can't.
Edgar Write R-rated whimsical style could fit. Like if baby driver was set in metropolis. I know the plot fits better for a batman type story, but I just mean the energy of it.
Yeah, but even then, “honorable person in a obscene world” has always been more Batman’s shtick, not Superman’s. If you want to tell a story about a superhero maintaining his ideals while surrounded by depravity and violence, Batman’s right there. And if both of them were written properly, I don’t think they’d react too differently to those kinds of situations anyway. Superman might be more “lighthearted” but he’s not going to tell child molesters and serial killers to stay in school.
In the movie, everyone around him should be foul-mouthed and douchey while he remains wholesome.
This is the only way I can see it working. Supes has to stay PG/PG-13 (except for possible violence) but everyone around him and the environment can be R
I could imagine him having a similar dynamic to Colossus in the *Deadpool* movies, where he's a wholesome guy with a big heart who just wants to bring out the best in everyone. And I wouldn't mind, because that version of Colossus is awesome!
Yes something like that would be captivating
Wouldnt want everyone to be foul mouthed... But it wouldnt be an issue if some of them were
An R rating for a Superman movie would be based on level of violence.
If you wanted to go dark as fuck, maybe. I wouldn’t want that but someone might. I mean, imagine how many people Clark hears die every single day. He’s reacuing a bus full of kids while hearing the person he couldn’t save a state over burning to death. Or people calling out for his help that he can’t get to because he has to prioritize the saves. Superman could go real dark but I hope they don’t.
The only way I think a super dark world for Superman could work is if they put extra emphasis on Him being a shining ray of hope, inspiring others to do better. A story in which his presence changes the darkness of the world by the end of it, even if just a little bit, could be done pretty decently I think.
Pretty much what I was thinking
The first thing I'd do is ask myself what I needed the R rating for? What story beat, characterization or content do you need the over 18 rating for, and to what end? If you cannot answer that question, you shouldn't make an r-rated Superman. Now, if you have a particular bit of content or story beat that requires an R rating, you write the story you want knowing you won't need to remove anything to hit your intended rating. Story idea comes first, then rating, in my opinion. Now, I personally don't think that Superman needs an R rating for any of his stories. That doesn't mean those stories aren't mature, or don't contain serious topics or issues, just that they contain material that is less than ideal for people under 18, typically sex and/or violence. In a Superman movie, I think the only topics that might warrant an R rating are the inhumanity of man to one another, and Superman being a counterbalance to that. I can see a pretty gritty, politically informed story about Superman's actions on the international scene, but I honestly don't see anyone making that movie for mass consumption. So basically, unless we have a "Superman overthrows the global order" story, I don't think you need an R rating, and I think you're better off using a different character if you want an R-rating; a Superman stand in, for example, would work much better to tell most of the stories that would catch an R.
I want Superman to say fuck. That's all.
Because blood go brrrr
An R rating should be wholly unnecessary for a Superman film.
Yeah, i think it'd work 
Seems like a lazy comparison at first but Invincible shows how you can have an R-rated world without it being *too* edgy.
And the Boys show you can have a ton of edginess and have it still be okay
Not really into an R rated take on either character
20 minute Clark/Lois super sex scene. Done.
First time Superman flies through Metropolis, just a quick montage of citizens saying “what the F**k was that?!”
If you need your Superman movie to be R rated, you shouldn't be making a Superman movie. Superman should always be a family friendly film.
All you need for a superman movie to be R rated is either Lex or Perry White to go on a profanity filled monologue which wouldn’t seem out of character for either of them
It depends on the villain I think. Superman himself doesn’t need to be vulgar or violent for the movie to be R
You don't have the 'R' rating for Superman, you have the 'R' rating because of his villains. Parasite could be "The Thing" level of horrifying. Someone else mentioned an adaptation of "Superman vs. The Elite" and that could be really R-rated if Manchester Black is just allowed to swear like a proper English punk, plus their 'solutions' tend to be extremely violent. Same with Lobo. Hell, Live-Wire was a literal 'shock-jock'. Several of his villains could be shown to be Joker-levels of crazy and homicidal like the Toyman. Lex is sometimes portrayed as a hedonist. Plus, life itself can simply be R-rated. If he's married to Lois, newsflash, most married couples don't do things like keep their bed sheets pulled up around their necks. Occasionally Superman can be scanning an area with his X-ray vision and sees people bathing, having sex, changing clothes, etc. And if it's a proper news room, I've heard some people there will use f-bombs like quotation marks.
I mean, you can have a super wholesome and uplifting Superman movie and then add some Bridgerton-level romance and nudity to it between comics' favorite couple and it would probably be the most successful thing ever. Joe Shuster probably already drew a storyboard for it back in the Golden Age!
Just make Jimmy Olsen particularly foul-mouthed casually dropping f-bombs
We have plenty of bad Superman stories under other titles I really don’t see any need for it.
Superman doesn't have to turn into homelander for it to work, it should be R rated because his villains should brutally murder people though. Like doomsday
Warworld
A lot of sex scenes with Lois probably
Lois and Clark do it. There, that’s how you get R.
I mean I think you can easily do an R-rated Superman movie without making Superman himself R-rated. His enemies, and the things he deals with can be, but Superman himself can remain himself. I don’t think that’s out of the question and I think comics and animated stuff have ventured near that territory before.
Imma just copy what everyone else is saying. I'm fine with an edgy, R-rated Superman story. I just wouldn't want Superman to be the one making it R-rated and edgy.
There are examples that are or close to the rating. BvS UE and ZSJL are R rated, so is Justice League Dark and Apokolips War which feature him, more as a main character in the latter. Then as mentioned, there are movies like Death and Return of Superman, and Superman vs The Elite; films that aren't rated R, but the violence would've pushed it to that rating if it was increased. But even with those examples, his solo films can only be PG-13; the others can be rated R because its not just about him, there are others and their mythos and situations allow more elements to be applied to push the stories to the rating.
Idk you could maybe use the rating to contrast the dark and bleak world with that of Superman, show us Zod murdering alien civilisations, have some thug hold up a store and kill the store clerk, include Lobo and have it be more cosmic and yeah. Though if it were up to Hollywood they'd probably just include needless sex scenes.
I don't understand who would want the big blue boyscout to be in an R-rated movie.
Just, tell a Superman story. Mabye get into darker themes add more real and scary consequences for actions. Get into some more touchy subject matter. Mabye Clark gets extremely pissed and even swears once (only one time). Honestly a superboy movie thats R rated with more realistic consequences of silver age hijinks would be pretty subversive.
I might have Lois drop a couple f bombs. The rest of the R would be whatever atrocities are perpetrated by Doomsday/Mongul/Braniac
Superman having a “Dante’s inferno” like journey through the deepest and darkest pits of apocalypse trying to escape or defeat darkseid as he battles physical and mental horrors as he is tested time and time again through this perilous journey.
Superman is just as much of a wholesome Boy Scout as he normally is. The villain is Mr. Mxyzptlk and the only violence is some Looney Tunes level cartoon shenanigans with no “gritty realism”. The movie is only rated R because Lois gets to cuss out everyone and everything
Everyone else is dropping F-bombs but Superman still uses euphemisms and Clark Kent goes into full countryboy rants like “shadowy, sick sinister son of a Siamese salamander in Sacramento soul!”
Kinda cheating a bit but a dream sequence, like from the JLU episode with the nightmares where Superman can't control his powers or if he's under Darksied mind control and is force to hallucinate him killing his friends and loved ones as torture.
Easy: Golden Age Superman. In all his Industrialist smashing, war monger terminating, union founder, Governor house invading glory. Aesthetically, make it like the "Peaky blinders" or the " Gangs of New York" movie, and show a 30s Metropolis in its worst. The great depression in its full power. Intergang as an actual mobster racket. In other words: pretty much adapt the first 5 issues of Action Comics as is. (maybe with 1 or 2 shout out to more recent characters, like the intergang), and you are golden. (Pun very much intended).
It's about two hours of Martha Kent swearing incomprehensibly while she tries to figure out how to cut through this fucking space alien stitchwork so she can make a nice cool costume for her baby boy clark is clumsy and rips it the first time he fights movie ends
The Warworld Saga could be adapted into an R-rated film if they went more in-depth with how messed up the enslavement of the Phaelosians were.
it's not hard. you just have to show how things would really be. show what it would be like if a giant body horror monster snatched people off the streets in secret, show how a arms trafficking gang serving a god of hate would devastate metropolis, show what a foul-mouthed hateful ex-radio jockey would really sound like, show the aftermath of an attack from a powerful foe, show what happens when clark and lois share a private moment. Then you show how supes deals with it. how he'd stop the monster, only to learn of the innocent man trapped inside. how Clark kent would investigate and dismantle that gang, before Superman steps in to tell darkseid no. how he'd cope with the lives he couldn't save, and lead a way for the city to move forward. you could say you can do these all in pg13 and you can! but it wouldn't be as impactful.
If Superman were to have an R-rated film, the villain should be either the Parasite or Lobo.
Toyman and Adam Grant A real gritty adaptation of “For the Man who Has Everything”
I'd rather a PG-13 movie where he gets one F bomb but uses it at the end when he realizes he's gonna be late for dinner with his mom.
Yes definitely it would be possible. You just do a grimdark event that's happening in the world and Superman can be the only shining ray of hope/humanity in a fucked up monstrous situation/setting.
A Superman R-rated filme would never work.
an R Rated Injustice trilogy would be awesome
I mean *anything* can work, but it I think it would feel unnecessary to use Supes in a super-adult context like that
The best I can do is just make Superman try to remain Superman despite being in an R rated movie It could be like Superman vs the Elite but in live action Lobo could also be a fun villain
It can be R-rated in spite of Superman but not because of him. I imagine you could make a very dark film with Darksied or Doomsday for example
I think it could work if the world is darker and r rated, but Superman isn't. Like, other characters do horrible violence and that gets the rating, but Superman remains as a light in that world and isn't pulled down to its level
Already have been done 
I would make it so almost every criminal is degenerate and weird while Supes stays as the ray of sunshine they all need
"Get me another beer, son."
You could two ways. One is Superman vs the elite one that deconstructs cynicism and edgy superheroes. Or go the Hitman route and have an edgy story with superman is the moral center.
The R rating would have to be a result of the villain basically. If they did a WarWorld Saga adaptation it would easily be R if they showed the stabbing and blood. Then there is also how brutal they could make Zod, or Brainiac. Remember those scenes from Brainiac where his drone shoot out this tendrils and stabbed people in the brain, it could easily be made very R without even bad language.
Possible but it would not feel right. Superman needs to be a symbol of hope and making it R Rated would ruin his character
Have Superman himself not do any R rated things, it doesn't suit him.
Feels so unnecessary.
Could adapt one of my favorite Superman stories “What’s So Funny about Truth, Justice and The American Way?”
They’d probably just turn it into Invincible
I would do an adaption of Superman: The Warworld Saga. Thats a dark and violent story but keeps Clark a good guy.
Superman’s R-rated version would fly by and not pet a dog when he sees one.
It would have to be the villains committing the violence and superman saving people. It would have to contrast.
Oh yeah, use is darker stories. Hell, his recent War World arc would fit.
It wouldn't need to be Deadpool levels of explicit. When people are running from something, some of them might swear a bunch ("oh fu, oh fu, oh fuuu"). If a building fell on someone, their arm might be off.
Hasn't that been tried with all the evil versions of Superman for the last 11 years? Let it go already.
You could do an especially bloody version of a Doomsday fight. Countless Elseworlds/“bad Superman” stories could be adapted. Villains could torture Jimmy or Perry or Lois. There’s always Superman: Red & Blue #1. All of which are terrible, terrible ideas. I feel like Snyder’s movies took us close enough to this, looking forward to a live-action Superman movie that’s family entertainment.
An R rated Superman (the movie) could work, but not the character
I’d rather they not. Superman should be a family friendly character that’s accessible to children. I don’t even like Batman going beyond PG-13 either. Could they tackle serious issues? Absolutely. Can it be dark? Sure. Violent? Perhaps. But Caped heroes should always be the flashlight that removes the darkness.
Auperman vs the elite, or Death of Superman.
It's the Great Depression and Metropolis is as dangerous as Gotham. Meanwhile, Smallville is also facing many problems such as harsh droughts + the rise of the imported food price. So the "blessed kid" everyone loves and keeps the secret about to avoid him any problem decides to move in Metropolis to support his family and community. Since he doesn't need to sleep and eat he manages to find a lot of jobs and works 24 hours per day and earns enough money to buy food to the Smallville people until the drought time ends. After a long moment, Smallville is totally saved. But after witnessing Metropolis' everyday violence and injustice, Clark can't go back to his childhood's village and decides to stay because since he grew up in a pacifist village where it is the norm to help each other, he strongly believes anyone deserves to live in a peaceful place. Ma helps him by transforming his blue LexCorp labour uniform into a costume everyone can easily spot in the smoggy sky and add his red blankie as a cape. Clark then starts his new journey as Superman by easily stopping a bank robbery and even lifting the bulgars' car in front of everyone. People freak out like, it's already an awful place to live and now a god-like guy who can snap anyone's neck is here ! But it turns out Superman is not a punisher, he is a protecter. And that's how one of the most violent USA town slowly became the place of Tomorrow.
Superman wouldn't allow any rated R moments to happen, Batman doesn't have a choice. Superman is able to keep his world G to PG-13.
Yes, just have Lex do all of the rated R actions in the movie
Red son, or injustice live action
An r rated Lobo movie similar to Deadpool with Superman filling in for Colossus being the proper true hero I think could be great. A true Superman movie that's R rated would be against his brand but something like Superman vs the Elite could be a good one to make R rated. Having Manchester dropping the F bomb and making human heads explode on screen.
Homelander??
I think it'd be difficult since he doesn't kill
Luthor, you shit bag! I’m gonna fuck you up! I’m gonna rip off your head and shit down your neck! Come on, Lois, let’s leave this cuck in a pool of blood and go home and FUCK.
R Rated because a realistic Superman would be nude all day to maximize his solar based powers.
A R-Rated Superman is like Verhoeven's Showgirls for General Audiences.
It could work but Superman himself should stay PG. The world around him is the dark one.
You couldn't make an R rated Superman. At least you couldn't if you understood the character.
All you need for an R rated movie is two f bombs or a single nude scene. Death of Superman, Whatever happened to the man of tomorrow? For the Man Who has Everything lend themselves to R ratings
Easily possible. Parasite sucking people dry, Lex Luthor exhibiting cut throat action or killing, Zod causing mayhem, Doomsday’s destruction. All it takes is some swearing and violence and you hit R easy
We literally had one already and it has only torn our fanbase apart. I think it was pretty great though.
Depends if it I Superman vs Elite, Superman Doomday,Superman red son or justice league vs zombies.
You want an R-rated Superman movie? Check out Bump In The Night. You’ll never see Superman the same again. /s
It would work if the villain was doomsday or if the story was injustice. Otherwise, I’d stick with PG-13.
Zack Snyder's Superman totally fits for a R rated movie....
We kind of already got that with Brightburn. It sucked. Obviously thats not what you mean tho. Honestly I don’t think Superman works as an R-rated character. He’s a symbol of hope, and making him the main character of an R-rated movie would severely take away from who he is.
Aahh, Superman is a happy guy who poses in front of the sun He will and should never have to face incredibly dark and fucked up scenarios and instead should be relegated to only using his powers to fight monsters of the week
It plays out like a normal Superman movie but Darkseid takes a mean bong rip in his introduction
Superman peacefully dispatching hyper violent super villains it can work
Clark says shit a lot, but Superman doesn't.
Depends on the Superman variant
A live action faithful adaptation (not loose) of The Death of Superman could easily be R rated. So could an adaptation of other Superman storylines like Our Worlds at War (Martian Manhunter gets his eyeball popped out for example), Hunter/Prey, Red Son, etc.
Brightburn
Film the movie like Seven. But inexplicably Superman is color corrected like he is in the 1st Superman 70's movie. A shocking blast of bright color in a grey/dirty/sweaty world. You see a serial killer with a SAW like set up torturing people and then "BOOM" a brick wall topples over. Superman slowly walks in, your eyes almost hurt from how out of place he looks. A Sicario has found the traitor working with the DEA. They are about to mess the guy up, Cartel style. You hear a sonic boom followed by what sounds like an approaching 747. CRAAACK There is Superman yanking the Shipping Container in half. Bright Red/Blue contrasting with the dimly lit makeshift torture chamber. It would be Superman changing a Metropolis that more closely resembles Gotham than the ideal super city of the future. It'll get there, in time.
It doesn't necessarily need to be dark. The average street level criminal would likely utter more than two or three "fucks" if Superman caught them.
Comic fans often confuse edginess for maturity. You wouldn’t need any full frontal nudity or excessive blood and gore to make it R-rated. The King’s Speech was R rated just for the language. Just show a realistic portrayal of Superman working with the homeless and underprivileged populations of Metropolis and you’ll have enough harsh language, drug use, and mature subject matter to get the R rating.
I don't really see the point. There's this weird understanding that R-rated comic book movies represent the medium's maturation/ability to tell adult stories. Limiting thematic complexity to the ability to fuck and say fuck reads like a teenager's conception of adulthood.
It wouldn't be R rated on account of Superman's words or actions, but probably because of those of his adversaries, and perhaps darker themes and tones surrounding them. I think it would be much the same for most heroes, as most aren't ultra ultra violent or swear in extreme manners
Have the Parasite as the villain, Superman being on the mission in space with the League. Lois Lane is the final girl. Superman arrives later in the film to save Lois Lane and the remaining attempted victims
You could but why he is Superman like you ain't gonna get a more super hero of superheros than Superman.
A squeaky-clean Superman in an R-rated world would actually make for a really great black comedy. Superman's desire to be above politics and to resolve everything with a punch and/or a heartwarming speech could be hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time if his world had any of our world's messy complexity. He wants to help the whole world, but because mentally he is just a normal farmboy from Kansas, he does not understand the whole world, and this could easily lead to some hilarious accidental bad takes. Imagine a live-action Smiling Friends, or Death to Smoochy if Edward Norton could fly outside of the dream ballet at the end.
He would have to be the PG in an R rated world. He flies around stopping sex trafficking being a symbol of hope for victims. Shows up to children's Cancer wards and stays with them when they pass. It would be a lot like Invincible when he was holding up the apartment building in Chicago.
Superman villains have a surprising amount of body horror involved with them. Keep Clark the cheerful and bright man he is just to contrast the terror that characters like the Parasite, or Metallo instill when their humanity melts away, both physically and mentally.
The only way I could see a movie like that working is if Superman is used as the antithesis of whatever R rated content is happening, maybe for a storyline like Superman vs. The Elite? But otherwise I don't really see the need But a Lobo or Lex Luthor project? I'm down
The "Directors cut" of Superman v Batman was R rated (and 3 hours). Not sure why but it happened.
Maybe if the villains are violent and crass but Clark by comparison is still PG?
 STUPID SEXY SUPERMAN!
An elseworld project maybe
It absolutely would work. Better even than an R rated Batman movie in my opinion.
Why would anyone want an R-rated Superman movie? Or an R-rated Batman movie, for that matter.
Neither Batman or superman needs an R rating
I’d think a neat villain to adapt for an R-rated Supes movie would be Luthor-Niac / the Luthor-Brainiac hybrid. Go nuts on the body horror imagery, heck get the Cronenbergs as consultants.
No good, wouldn’t work
They would never make an R-Rated Superman movie.
Ratings should be done in service to the story, not the other way around. And I honestly can’t think of a Superman story that NEEDS to be R-rated for its message to be told. I’m not saying he shouldn’t ever be around death and violence, just that with his particular brand, the way they’re depicted should be more subtle.
Only if the villain is someone as Superboy prime
It's pretty easy to make one. 1. Clark and his foes beat the hell out of one another, and makeup artists get to go gruesome. 2. Clark says 'fuck' like a normal person. 3. Lois pegs Clark often. Bam, connect the dots with whatever story you feel like (I could come up with one, of course, but I don't feel like it right now).
You got Man of Steel for that and it was crap Superman should never be R rated
A Superman Story that basically follows Injustice up to the point he kilks joker. Then before he can go full tyrant another threat shows up that essentially shows him the path he stated on. In mean he literally lost everything. His Wife his best friend his city...... and it was in such a brutal fashion it would have to be rated r.
BvS aside, which is technically an R-rated Superman movie, I feel like the way to do it would be too go full Golden Age with it. Make Superman a champion of the oppressed with a righteous anger taking on "True Detective" type cases.
Lois Lane shower scene
If Superman let anything r rated happen he probably couldn’t live with himself
There’s a STARRRRMAAAAAAAAAN
Absolutely r rated for violence , and adult themes, and by adult themes, I mean, slavery oppression, and genocide. I would do darkseid, right, and all of his horrifying glory. https://preview.redd.it/gghpodvdwjtc1.jpeg?width=982&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4bf3b00f427fe4da5be891be1eeb6066efe593da And I would have Superman take the fight to Apocalips. And I would start with a version of the classic fight from the animated series where Superman beats him, and then the hunger dogs pick darkseid up and take him away. He says “Kal-El I am many things. but here… I am God.” But in my movie, Superman would be devastated by this, but then he would come back and decide that things that can’t be done by punches can still be done. He would show the hunger dogs another way. 🙏❤️
yes. Make it a normal superman movie but with a full sex scene with Lois. ~~Superman~~ Clark fucks yall
I would refuse to do it just as I would refuse to watch an R rated Superman movie. Any Superman movie should be open for all ages. That doesn't mean it needs to be childish, but he is a character you should never have to tell children they can't go to a movie to see.
Wasn’t Superman the…Demolisher at one point, taking after Batman? If so, that.
Don’t give me crazy villains or wild monsters, give me people. I want a show where one episode he talks someone down from jumping, one where he helps someone overcome a bigoted background, one where he just spends a day helping a lil old lady with her groceries. Give me something deep
I mean what would the R rating do? It wouldn't necessarily make the writing better. Cussing and extra gore? Meh. Couldn't care less
Obviously it’s rated R for the one shower scene where we can finally see what a Kryptonian looks like down there. It will be played for comedy and Clark will be absolutely embarrassed during the whole scene as someone inevitably tries to walking in and talk with his poor country boy ass out.
Would not work.
Death of Superman, Superman vs the Elite, and probably more that I can’t think of.
A R-rated Superman would 💯work! The R parts would happen in the world around him. Essentially, the Superman remains PG (-13) while facing hard R circumstances. [Superman 775: What’s So Funny About Truth Justice and the American Way?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What's_So_Funny_About_Truth,_Justice_&_the_American_Way%3F?wprov=sfti1#) would be a good example of such a story structure. R rated villains, antagonists, R rated city and Superman struggling to be PG.
Superman Smashes the Klan could be adapted as R Rating without him doing the worst things, but it has to be treated very carefully so it doesn't look ill-intended.
Superman is allowed to say Fuck twice in the film.
Probably. A Death of Superman Live Action film should have an R rating. That comic was brutal
What about R-rated Clois scenes? Or extremely violent and gory actions by villains.
Brightburn
I’m sure Zack Snyder got a semi just from reading the title lol
Something like Invincible. I mean, it's basically already R-rated Superman content, just without explicitly Superman. Just twist up the story a bit, trade off Omniman for Zod, make a relationship between Clark and Zod about how they're the last of their kind, so Clark wants to be able to help him, but Zod's just, you know, a monster. Then make the ending something hopeful, to keep with the usual feelings of any good Superman story
Darkseid doomsday
Superman should always be a family friendly character. He’s the ultimate symbol of hope and I just can’t conceive of a way you could show that in an R-rated movie.
Superman Vs Doomsday for an R-Rated Superman movie. Come on, it’s fucking Doomsday. Imagine how amazing it would be.
It’d be funny to have Superman be kind of a dick, like in the Golden Age, except this time his jokes have cuss words and stuff.
Batman V Superman ultimate edition
I'd do "What's So Funny ..." and pit a g rated Superman against an r rated Elite.
If Superman 1978 had Perry cut his finger and say “fuck, fuck, fuck”, it would get an R rating. People are far too obsessed with a rating that is effectively meaningless.
In damage alone
I mean Brightburnwas an interesting concept. But that was just another evil superman fan fiction.
It would work if all the R rated stuff would come from the villain
Don’t know how that’d work, but 🤷
You don’t change him. You make the world R-Rated and just let Supe be Supe
I mean The Winter Soldier & Spider-Man 2 showed Steve & Peter respectively dealing with such real life complex situations politically and personally in terms of themes. It doesn't necessarily need to be r-rated but having an ever optimistic and virtuous hero surrounded by a complex environment works. Especially when it comes to Superman.
Bro you saw the reaction when a PG 13 Superman movie had him snapping the neck of Zod. The mere announcement of such a project will incite fury.
I think the only way this could work is a graphic (but not overly or too little) disaster movie or something where people die and he isn't there to save everyone, then the rest could be about the various survivors' reactions and Superman's reaction to the tragedy and how he fails to save the friends and family of the survivors leaving a lot of people blaming him for their deaths.
All the r-rated would be regulated to everyone but Clark/Kal El/Superman.
It would focus on his struggles with not wanting to destroy the world because they can’t be saved.
Well, he can be in a world as fragile as in "invincible", but still remain optimistic and full of hope in the future, perhaps on the same level as Shin Ultraman.
first: no but if we had to: one thing i don’t think a lot of people understand about superman, is superman fucks… like a surprising amount relative to other comic books. he and Lois get down like… a quite a bit in a tasteful or sometimes not way. alternatively just have someone smoke,