#Who would end up with Superman? He would be a sought after Host by virtue of his fame

[bet-on-me-13]

Ghostly Host AU

So! Ghosts need a physical Anchor in the living world, or they are liable to fall apart and fade away if they stay for too long.

In Amity Park, this usually isn't too much of a problem. Sure most Ghosts can't stay for a week without a Host, but the ambient Ecto-Levels in Amity Park are enough that they can stay for a few days or so at a time with little worry.

This changes however, during Reign Storm.

When Pariah Dark awakens, Tens of Thousands of Ghosts use the Fenton Portal to escape the Rule of Pariah Dark, running away into the Human Realm.

If Amity Park had stayed where it was, this would have been fine. They could have stayed in the Living Realm for a few days, and maybe the Weaker ones would need to find a temporary Host, but that was fine since Amity was filled with thousands of Liminals.

Unfortunately, Pariah Darks first move was to suck Amity Park into the Ghost Zone, alongside all of the Ecto-Energy that had accumulated there.

Now left trapped in the Living Realm with no way back to the Zone, thousands of Ghosts suddenly needed Hosts or they would start dying off by the Hundreds. In a Panic, they spread out across the Planet in search of viable Hosts.

Any normal Person wouldn't do, they needed a Living Being that could actually handle their Power, or someone who matched their Soul. Preferably both. Liminals were the best since they had a durable Body and a Malleable Soul, so any Ghost could use any of them as a Host.

But outside of Amity Liminals were very rare, and finding someone who matched their Soul was time-consuming and hard. Thankfully, in recent years the population of Aliens, Metahumans, Enhanced Soldiers, and even extra durable baseline Humans had spiked across the world.

All across the planet, People suddenly found themselves stuck with a new Passenger in their Bodies.

Those new passengers thankfully weren't malicious, for the most part, but it was still annoying. The only good thing was that they now had new Powers, which neat.

They could summon the Ghosts in their Body outwardly, and then command the Ghost to use their Powers in whatever way they wanted. Only other Hosts could see another person's Ghost, which meant they looked very awkward to normal people when they fought. Generally, Hosts seemed to act more strangely after getting a Ghost, as if they lost a few of their Inhibitions.

Why did they feel the sudden need to strike a flamboyant Pose? Or over dramatically scream?

[iamjcalvarez]

Given a second viewing with fresh eyes the 2006 movie doesn’t fly as I as expected but one thing is certain, its star made us believe that a man can truly fly and rightly inherited the cape of the franchise’s originator brilliantly.

How serendipitous! It didn’t escape me that pop-culture personality and DC Daily host Clarke Wolfe @clarkewolfe and I were both feeling a little nostalgic and tuned in to the same frequency over the weekend and dove into a “rewatch” of 2006’s Superman Returns motion picture. Directed by Bryan Singer and starring Brandon Routh the film saw Singer exit the third installment of the competing studio’s X-Men superhero franchise and enter into this refresh of the DC Comics favorite. From the beginning it seemed apparent that for the filmmaker was paying homage to Richard Donner’s Superman which turned a then-unknown Christopher Reeve into an overnight sensation; that film also starred Margot Kidder as Lois Lane and film icon Marlon Brandon was cast in the role of Jor-El and made a figure of significant importance that leads young Clark Kent on a quest to become the Man of Steel.

Singer also enlisted Kevin Spacey as his feature’s arch-nemesis Lex Luther, a role that was originated by Gene Hackman in Donner’s vision, and Kate Bosworth stepped into the role of the intrepid reporter Lois Lane. Many of Singer’s themes and notes for Superman Returns appeared to have been drawn from picking up the reigns of a conclusion or a “third act” to Richard Donner’s own first two Superman movies. Casting Routh as the Man of Steel certainly added to the virtual passing of the baton; the relatively unknown actor bore many striking similarities to his screen predecessor Christopher Reeve as both Superman and Clark Kent, which made it very easy for audiences to accept this film (coming decades after the franchise ended) to come in as either a long time fan or fresh recruit. On the cinematic landscape, the “superhero” genre was only starting to catch its swing and Warner Bros. Studio had high hope.

Revitalizing the Man of Steel, or rather the Superman film franchise at the time appeared, the likeliest direction for the studio to take, especially given the success and acclaim it received with the reboot of another of its most lucrative film properties with director Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins. Superman “returning” seemed like the most well-engineered direction for Warner Bros. to take, but audiences didn’t buy into Bryan Singer’s coopting of Donner’s 1970 blockbuster; the fabrication of which didn’t feel particularly authentic, as the story strove to check every box and land every nostalgic note. From Luthor’s plan to run the ultimate real estate scam, aided by a series of bumbling henchmen (Parker Posey the only exception), and Lois Lane hanging onto her heart’s desire while keeping a secret. The only exceptional exception coming in the casting of Brandon Routh.

Still Super!

A near-dead ringer for Christopher Reeve, Brandon Routh settled into the famous cape and curl and with little effort made the role his own. There were only subtle movements and gestures that Routh incorporated into his interpretation of the Man of Tomorrow from the actor of yesteryear that made us believe that a man could fly. All the nobility and virtue, especially the awe that Superman inspired, Routh captured and made apparent, while also going us everything we needed in Superman Returns. Unfortunately, in the age of the cinematic anti-hero, where a darkly haunted caped crusader confronts capitalistic corruption and a hairy Canadian wild man with claws, are what’s selling out at the box office (while a web-slinger net all the rest), the optimism and brightness of Singer’s Superman Returns are lost among the most jaded and cynical filmgoer.

Jott Ottman’s appropriation of John William’s winning story is also among the film’s greatest honorable mentions; when it soars it reaches amazing heights while ringing true. It’s not the Singer didn’t try; his opus to the legend of Superman, one of the most celebrated characters in popular culture, has plenty of heart and soul — it’s perhaps the timing of it that was its undoing. Post 9/11, when the world could have used a Superman, the culture shifted and the public sought its heroes elsewhere. They looked inward, similarly to how Routh looked into the legacy of the character and what it had meant to its fans to bring him into today.

Not surprising that Brandon Routh would reemerge on the slate at Warner Bros. and DC’s table as the highly successful original series Arrow based on the DC heroes cast Routh as Ray Palmer in its third season. Palmer is a billionaire inventor who arrives on the scene to shake things up and has glorified ambitions of his own, that lead him to don a suit of armor that allows him to shrink down and fight crime as The Atom. Palmer (and Routh) would go on to help launch the spin-off series DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and remained a part of the show, recently exiting towards the end of the series most recent fifth season, but not before reprising his role as the Man of Steel in the 5-part epic crossover event “Crisis on Infinite Earths”.

Routh as he appeared in 2006’s “Superman Returns”, reprising the role in 2019 for The CW’s epic “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover.

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow “Crisis on Infinite Earths” Brandon Routh as Superman — Photo: Jordon Nuttall/The CW — © 2019 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

ICYMI | SUPERMAN RETURNS Given a second viewing with fresh eyes the 2006 movie doesn’t fly as I as expected but one thing is certain, its star made us believe that a man can truly fly and rightly inherited the cape of the franchise’s originator brilliantly.