Not-so-superhero movies

"Steel" (1997)

On the page: Weapons designer John Henry Irons steps into the gap left by the death of Superman to become a new Man of Steel.

How it turned out: Originally meant to spin out of a “Death of Superman” movie that never happened, “Steel” is stripped down to pure comic book movie cliché, complete with puns that Adam West would reject, a cast apparently assembled to make leading man Shaquille O’Neal look like a Golden Globe contender, and a contrived three-way showdown between rivals in clunky, unconvincing suits of armor.