After the recent release of the Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice trailer, the common refrain was that the material might be too dark for Superman. Some of that is the hangover from Man of Steel, the 2013 Superman reboot that took its gloomy color palette inspiration from Christopher Nolan’s Batman flicks. And it’s part of a larger trend (see: the X-Men franchise) where the bright colors of superhero comic books have been muted to make the live-action movie more “real.”
This video is proof that Superman shouldn’t be a dark character
Alex Abad-Santos is a senior correspondent who explains what society obsesses over, from Marvel and movies to fitness and skin care. He came to Vox in 2014. Prior to that, he worked at The Atlantic.
While that works for certain characters, grayscaling Superman seems unnatural. He’s a bright character who represents hope, courage, and kindness. And perhaps because that comes off a bit cheesy or corny, there’s a preoccupation with giving him grit and darkness.
The team at Videolab wanted to see what would happen if you restored color to the dark, grim world of Man of Steel. They put blue back into the sky and crimson into the hero’s cape. And what they found was that adding color and brightness back to Superman actually looks … like Superman should look.
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