Watch Zack Snyder’s Superman Animated Short: Obscure References In, ‘Returns’ Out

Condensing 75 years in 2 minutes is an incredibly difficult task, even for a super hero. Zack Snyder and the Warner Bros. animated team did a very good job paying tribute in a new animated short to the artists that, through 8 decades, crafted the most recognizable fictional character.

Understandably so, not everything made the cut. But why featuring a Super Cat, a Super Monkey, and Andy Warhol, among other references while at the same time ignoring other prominent moments in Superman’s history?

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For example, I am not a fan of the ‘Lois & Clark’ TV show, but that and the radio show deserved the spotlight for a couple of seconds.

The biggest omission though is undoubtedly Superman Returns. Bryan Singer’s take on the Kryptonian isn’t the best super hero film but is far from being the worst. And even if it was as bad as some people claim it is, that movie brought Superman back to the big screen when many other projects tried and, for different reasons, failed.

I get that Snyder wants people focusing on HIS Man of Steel instead of a relatively recent version -maybe that also explains why we just see a glimpse of Lex Luthor on the cover of a comic- but Superman Returns was key to this year’s blockbuster. The movie starring Henry Cavill is, in more than one way, a response to Brandon Routh’s: the amount of action, the less saturated and stylized visuals, etc.

DC/WBros. and the ‘300’ director used ‘Returns’ to avoid some pitfalls and creative choices to arrive to the latest, and very successful, cinematic adventure of Kal El. At least they should have recognized its existence. I am sure that Giant Turtle Jimmy Olsen would have understood.