These Color Corrected Versions of the ‘Man of Steel’ and ‘Batman vs. Superman’ Trailer Look So Much Better

For better or worse, Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel took more than a few pages from the Christopher Nolan school of superhero filmmaking, placing Superman and his foes in a bleak, gray world. The video above asks a very interesting question: What if he didn’t? What would Man of Steel (and the upcoming Batman vs. Superman) look like if Snyder let the natural colors of Superman’s costume and his world do what colors do best?

As the video showcases, the bleached look of Man of Steel was created through color correction in post-production. On set, the bright blues and reds of Superman’s costume weren’t so glum and the skies weren’t so overcast. The final look was a very deliberate choice that truly does recall the look of the The Dark Knight. And that makes sense when you consider just how much money The Dark Knight made.

But when the video starts restoring the color to certain scenes, Man of Steel starts to look like a completely different movie. It starts to look like (dare we say it?) a Superman movie. The flight scenes in particular look so much better, with the colorful superhero standing out against a bright blue sky. Superman has always been a more optimistic hero and this look actually reflects that.

It’s too late to do anything about Man of Steel, but the video shows how it’s not too late to preserve the colors in the upcoming Batman vs. Superman. Hell, it even demonstrates how Snyder can bleach the Batman scenes and keep the Superman scenes colorful to provide contrast. Will Snyder and Warner Bros. see this video and change their direction? Of course not. Is it nice to think about. You betcha.