How does one go about establishing a big screen superhero continuity in the opening moments of a blockbuster? For James Gunn and the Gods and Monsters chapter of the DC Universe, the answer is with elegant use of the number three. Echoing the classic Star Wars scroll to an extent, on screen text in the opening scene in Superman offers a very brief timeline of the canon – from three centuries ago (when metahumans arrived on Earth), to three years ago (when the Man of Steel revealed himself to the world), to three minutes ago (when Superman loses his first ever battle).
It’s a simple yet epic intro that quickly informs the audience about the history of the DC Universe. So how did it come together? We got the low-down from the writer/director/co-DC Studios CEO himself for you as Superman arrives in theaters this weekend.
The Number Three Isn’t Specific; It’s Just The Number That Happened To Fit Best
Given the repetition of the number three at the start of Superman, you may think that there is some kind of specific reason that number was chosen. Perhaps as a reference to the DC Trinity, a.k.a. Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman? CinemaBlend’s own Jeff McCobb inquired about this when he had the opportunity to sit down with James Gunn last month during the Los Angeles press day for the new blockbuster – and the answer he got was unexpected: Gunn did take inspiration for the intro from a specific source, but there is no larger significance to the number choice. He explained,
First of all, there’s no reason for the number three. You’re not the first person to ask. It’s something that Alan Moore has done before with the repetitive use of the same numbers. So that’s all it is. And three was just happened to be the one that fit. It really is there for the beginning of our journey in the DCU, just to give us a grounding of the fact that we’re entering a world where metahumans, what we call superheroes, also exist.
As far as the “fit” goes, one figures that it was really just two of the points in the timeline that had to be specific. While it wouldn’t matter if metahumans were discovered on Earth four centuries ago or if Superman lost his first battle six minutes before the opening scene, there is less flexibility when it comes to A) how long ago Superman arrived on Earth, and B) how long ago he introduced himself to the planet as the last son of Krypton. The title protagonist’s age is reflected in the former, and his relationship with humanity is reflected in the latter.
This perhaps takes a touch of the creative magic out of the opening text, but it’s a clean way to establish the world’s timeline regardless.
More Than Just Providing Background On The DC Universe, It Instantly Tells The Audience About The Story That Is About To Be Told
On beyond providing an early dose of structure to the canon, those “three decades” and “three years” points on the timeline also do a nice job at the start of the movie informing the audience about what kind of Superman blockbuster they are about to watch. James Gunn explained that he wanted to make sure that there is nobody in the movie-going populace who is going to think that this is another rehash of the origin story, saying,
And you know that Superman has been around for a little while. For anyone who doesn’t know, for the three or four people in the entire world that don’t know Superman came from Krypton as a baby. We get to tell them that and also as a signal to people, basically, ‘Yeah, we’re not going to explain this is the origin, so you don’t have to worry about getting bored when you’re expecting to see flashbacks in the first act.’ We’ve seen it. We’ve seen his origin enough.
It was an easy call for James Gunn to avoid telling the classic Superman origin tale again… but what wasn’t as simple was dropping audiences right into the middle of an extremely important moment in the character’s life. The intro text also very quickly fills viewers in on an international crisis in which Kal-El has opted to interfere, and that’s a lot to throw at an audience in the first few seconds of a film.
James Gunn explained that it wasn’t easy to figure out how to execute his vision properly, but he’s very satisfied with how it came out:
It was a difficult balance, because I loved the idea of going straight into the action. We see right away that he’s damaged. He’s coming from a battle that, you know, he’s lost a battle for the first time. And so it’s all this weight to it from the very first moment. But at the same time, you have to balance out the story so that people aren’t overwhelmed with all of that stuff happening at one time. I think we have the right balance now after a lot of work.
The end result is indeed an epic scene, and it’s one that you can see for yourself right now. After years of waiting and development, Superman is now playing in theaters everywhere.
