Bryan Singer had done as much as anyone to bring the superhero movie into the 21st Century. His two "X-Men" films were well-crafted, nuanced and filled with good actors. And just one year before "Superman Returns," Warner Bros. scored with Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight reboot "Batman Begins." So fans were primed to see the Man of Steel back on the big screen for the first time since 1987's disastrous "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace." "Returns" opened to decent reviews and solid box office, but couldn't match expectations. It only got worse from there as the movie suffered steep box office declines and crawled to $200 million in the U.S. (on a reported budget of $270 million, far above "Batman Begins"). With a sluggish running time over two and a half hours, a torpid love triangle and cheesy son-of-Superman subplot, "Returns" simply wasn't the reboot audiences were hoping for. Warner Bros. cancelled plans for a sequel and eventually decided to try again: Zack Snyder's "Man of Steel" with an entirely new cast and creative approach is due in 2013.

-Geoff Berkshire