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In the early \u201900s, Warner Bros. was desperately trying to get a Superman <\/em>reboot off the ground. This was after the studio canceled Tim Burton\u2019s Superman Lives<\/em> in the \u201990s, and they were back at square one. They went to Alias<\/em> and Lost<\/em> co-creator J.J. Abrams, who developed a script called Superman: Flyby<\/em>, that would have reintroduced the Man of Steel<\/a> for the 21st century. Most of the biggest actors of that era auditioned to play Superman, including Brendan Fraser, fresh off the success of The Mummy<\/em> films. While promoting his film Rental Family<\/em> on the Happy, Sad, Confused<\/em> podcast (via Deadline<\/a><\/em>), Fraser talked about what it was like almost being Clark Kent, and the \u201cShakespearean\u201d J.J. Abrams version he loved:<\/p>\n I loved that screenplay. They let me read it. They locked me in an empty office in some studio lot, I signed an NDA. It was printed black on crimson paper, so you couldn\u2019t photocopy it or sneak it out the door inconspicuously. I mean, it was Shakespeare in space. It was a really good screenplay.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n Despite all the security around the script, details of it leaked online anyway. The fan reaction was not<\/em> kind to the changes in Superman lore.<\/a> In Abrams\u2019 version, Krypton did not explode. Superman\u2019s father, Jor-El, who ruled the planet, sent him to Earth to fulfill a prophecy. Jor-El and his brother, Kata-Zor, were locked in an endless civil war. Eventually, Kata-Zor\u2019s children would come to Earth and battle their cousin, which resulted in Superman\u2019s (temporary) death. Ever since the 1992 Death of Superman <\/em>storyline, every cinematic iteration of the character has tried to replicate this story. This version reimagined Lex Luthor as a CIA operative, and the last-minute twist would reveal him as a Kryptonian sleeper agent. It would have begun a trilogy about Superman trying to liberate his birth planet.<\/p>\n\n