At The Daily Planet, we meet the office pool including Perry White, Steve Lombard, Ron Troupe, Cat Grant, and Jimmy Olsen. We also meet intrepid reporter Lois Lane for the first time. What were your thoughts of The Planet staff, and their chemistry among one another as well as with Clark? Does the notion of a great metropolitan newspaper feel too farfetched in today’s world?
Michael A. Burstein: Alas, I feel as if the Planet staff got short shrift in this film. A “great metropolitan newspaper” is still relevant to today’s world, even if that newspaper is now mostly being read online, as the movie acknowledges. But the staff barely had time to be the well-drawn characters they are in the comics. Dare I suggest a Daily Planet TV show?
Robert Greenberger: There are already lots of rumors over a Jimmy spinoff, but he was the only one to actually do anything useful. I was deeply disappointed that an actor of Wendell Pierce’s talent was totally wasted and none of the rest were anything more than window dressing and winks to the comic readers.
Peter Briggs: I liked ‘em. I have fond memories of reading Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen as a kid (although DC’s distribution in Britain was spotty and horrible and almost nonexistent back in the 60s-70s…I actually heard a story, I don’t know if it’s true or not, that a lot of the DC and Marvel comic books that made it over to Britain in those decades were ballast on vessels!). So I especially liked seeing Jimmy so front-and-center. Has there ever been a bad Perry White onscreen? I dunno.
Thomas Lakeman: As Peacemaker was a talking head on one of the movie’s shows, and with word that Gunn is going to have characters going back and forth between properties in films and on HBO Max, I would imagine that a few of them might be getting some streaming time sooner than we think. If not a full series of their own, an episode of Peacemaker or Lanterns where they’re going to be a big part of an episode.
Jon Bogdanove: I love that Olsen’s got game and is boinking Eve Tessmacher! I’ve heard rumors of a Jimmy Olsen TV series in development! Turtle Boy and Jimmy in drag, The Newsboy Legion and The Whiz Wagon. The DNA Project. Simyan and Mokarri (my favorite monster-making odd couple)—so much material that is right up Gunn’s alley!!
I think a Jimmy Olsen series would be a splendid opportunity to feature the rest of the DP staff. Sort of a workplace adventure comedy, starring James Bartholomew Olsen! Great Ceasar’s Ghost!! Even better if Corenswet and Brosnehan make frequent cameos.
Alex Grand: I liked how all the characters in the bullpen had something different to say, and the idea of Jimmy attracting the femme fatale is fun to me. I want to see who else falls for that innocent face!
Peter Briggs: It was immediately funny that the office girls ignore Clark and are eyeing Jimmy.
Will McGuire: Superman, along with Spider-Man, are the last major comic heroes who have maintained substantial supporting casts over the decades and I think this film got the broad strokes of the Planet’s “schtick” across to the audience which is really important because it put a human face to the threat in the final act, and set a really effective tone for how Metropolis is supposed to feel.
If anything, I think that we could have gotten a lot more out of the relationships there. It feels like there was more connective tissue that may have been cut for pacing– only time will tell if we get to see it at some point.
Josh Marowitz: The Daily Planet staff does not have enough to do in this movie. I wish they’d had more because they were all excellent casting choices.
But I’ve heard some of my fellow nerds around the internet take that criticism as far as asking, “If they weren’t going to have anything to do, why did Gunn even include them?”
My fellow nerds, I wish these characters had more to do, but would you really prefer that the characters not be in the film at all? Don’t think of them as characters. Think of them as extras that you know.
Cat Grant talks to Lois a few times. Would you rather some nameless lady talk to Lois? Steve Lombard has a half dozen lines, if that. Would you rather some nameless guy have those lines? Ron Troupe — poor Ron Troupe. He has maybe one line, if that? I can’t remember what the man says. But better that it’s Ron Troupe than just some nameless guy.
Remember how people all assumed that that one Daily Planet woman in Man of Steel was “Jenny Olsen” because she worked at The Planet, her name vaguely sounded like Jimmy, and Jimmy himself was unaccounted for? That seems to be what some of my fellow nerds would prefer. Me? I’m happy to have the comic characters in the film. I’ll hope they get more to do in the sequel or, dare I hope, more to do in a Jimmy Olsen TV series.
Jerry Ordway: The Daily Planet publishing an expose on Lex Luthor’s criminal acts and having the populace turn against him was the most unbelievable thing in this fantasy film, because we know the idea of a righteous press is gone. We’re in a post-truth world. You can’t expect that to work in the same way you can’t expect Superman to change into costume in a phone booth!
I mean, the Daily Planet and that cast are clearly needing a reinvention, in the same way they did in the 70s with making Clark and Lois tv news readers. So, I am agreeing with previous comments of the actors being good, but underused. But what more could they do? They flew around in a plane writing a web story expose, then published it to the internet. It took like, 5 people to do that! While one was piloting the plane:) Also, why was Jimmy Olsen a dirtbag? True, he got the most screen time of all the staffers except Lois, but it kind of bugged me that he was such a shit. I like the actor, though.
Lenny Schwartz: The Planet and the staff got shortchanged. They were PERFECT. But they barely registered. At a certain point, I was hoping they all knew Clark was Superman but let him continue with the ruse. That would have been entertaining.
Dave Jackson: I loved the Daily Planet staff and really wish we could have seen more! I was also disappointed by a significant missed opportunity. At some point, Eve Tessmacher should have said something like, “All I want is to spend the weekend with Mr. Action.” It would have been the ultimate way to acknowledge Jimmy’s old nickname AND explain why the women like him so much.
Vito Delsante: Not enough Ron Troupe. Not even sure what section of the paper he covers.
Thomas Lakeman: There just wasn’t enough time for us to care about the Planet staff. If you already know Cat Grant and Steve Lombard then it’s fun to see them onscreen, but really the movie doesn’t give them much to do.
Andre Bennett: Skylar Gisondo was great as Jimmy. But I’m really disappointed in how little of Wendell Pierce we got as Perry. The Planet staff was ultimately underrepresented, but with so many characters, someone had to get the shaft. Hopefully, we get more of them in the next movie.
Todd Sokolove: I have to agree here there wasn’t enough around the Daily Planet in this tale. Not sure if that’s a sign of the times (hopefully not), but I do want to see more traditional use of the staff of the Planet around both Clark and Superman’s actions. Jimmy was great though, and used well.
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