Nuclear Man II = Dr. Manhattan

[Kamdan]

After hearing Rosenthal’s description of how Nuclear Man II was to be “more of an effect” with his ability to grow in size, I immediately thought, “That’s Dr. Manhattan!” That would have been neat…

[Jor-L5150]

Mar 11, 2009 12:06:51 GMT -5 downwithrouth said:

Watchmen wasn't even finished at the time the movie was made. He wouldn't have been a frame of reference for Konner and Rosenthal. The DVD commentary references Silver Age comics where Superman tried to fight opponents bigger than he was. That would have been the reference, not a book that didn't exist yet.

Besides, if Nuclear Man is based on any one particular comic book character, it's Bizarro. Aside from the additional powers, it's pretty much who he is already.

yeah they " borrowed " bizzaro for SIII and SIV , and to be frank evil supes and nuclear man are better ideas. imo.
bizzaro would be very hard to do right , and the superboy series made it so corny ...

[Metallo]

But STAS made it interesting. Even Lois & Clark did a decent show with "Bizarro" despite ripping off an entire episode of THE FLASH to do it.

We've come to a point were the make up can be done easily and interestingly. it all depends on the writing and framing of the story.

Nuclear Man has more in common superficially with Captain Atom (an inspiration for Doc M I believe) and Firestorm as well as the "modern" Bizarro than he does with Doctor Manhattan and even that is pretty thin. You could toss in any man mad monster like Frankenstein's in there too.

[Valentine Smith]

I wouldn't hang an entire MOVIE on Bizarro (unless it was like the 4th or 5th in the franchise, and even then I'd pair him with Mxyzptlk), but the character itself is great, and any time he showed up on STAS or L&C he was great.

The Superboy show practically did adaptations of his earliest silver age appearances, so of course he was a bit...corny.

[Kamdan]

Nuclear Man I is more like Bizarro. II has more enhanced powers, a la Dr. Manhattan.

[crazy_asian_man]

After hearing Rosenthal’s description of how Nuclear Man II was to be “more of an effect” with his ability to grow in size, I immediately thought, “That’s Dr. Manhattan!” That would have been neat…

That's a great point- IF they were able to do that fx-wise in 1985 (??) - and I think tech-wise, it might have had a lot of trouble to look right. I have a hunch that the writers were over-reaching, even if they had the $$$ behind them.

And...I totally agree with the other points. Why not just make it a more horrific version of Bizzarro instead? Hopefully Hollywood is learning, but.....