Over at Newsarama today, legendary comics writer Cary Bates talks about his involvement in a fifth Christopher Reeve "Superman" movie that never was:

"The intent was to leapfrog over Superman III and especially IV, and return the series to the high mark achieved in 1 and 2," Bates told Newsarama. "[It was] our desire to do a fully developed, balls-out science fiction story pitting Superman and Brainiac against each other mano a mano."

I don't know about you guys, but to me, that sounds pretty awesome. Bates is, after all, a guy who broke into comics at the age of 13 by selling the cover ideas that were turned into stories, which led to him becoming one of the creators who defined DC's Bronze Age with long runs on "Legion of Super-Heroes," "The Flash," and the Superman titles.

And he did it by channeling the same sort of downright crazy energy of the Silver Age comics that inspired him, and while a movie would be a completely different matter, I can't help but wonder if he would've drawn from his own comic book work to incorporate these seven crazy-awesome moments from his Superman work!

#7: Superman fights the animated skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex in space...


#6. Trogar, the giant floating space viking that demands Superman make an accounting of himself.


#5. Terra Man, the cowboy abducted by aliens in the 19th century who was sent back to Earth in the '70s to cause trouble with laser guns.



#4. Superman protecting his secret identity by leaving blackmailers to die on Mars (but not really).


#3. Superman dresses as Smallville Police Chief Parker and fakes his death in order to convince a renegade Superboy robot to commit suicide.


#2. Matricomp, the supercomputer that put Kryptonian marriage counselors out of business


And finally...


#1. Superman battling his deadliest foe: Pigeons that had been given explosives and hypnotized into becoming suicide bombers.







Seriously, you guys: Cary Bates rules.

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