Where Batman was very successfully rebooted by Christopher Nolan after the original series went wildly off the rails in Batman & Robin, the Superman franchise hasn't restarted with quite such success. Expectations for Bryan Singer's Man of Steel reboot were sky high given his track record with the X-Men films, but it never really quite got its act together. It's hard to pinpoint exactly what's wrong with it, but with its moniker as the most expensive film ever made - unofficially, of course - expectations were naturally ludicrously high. It was unlikely that John Williams would return - after all, he didn't score any of the sequels - but it was certain that John Ottman would take over given his working relationship with Singer. Ottman is a fine enough composer, but I've never been convinced that epic, orchestral scores are his forte. However, unlike Messrs Zimmer and Howard who didn't refer to Elfman's Batman music, Ottman used most of the major themes from Williams' classic original.
Much though he did fine work using the main theme and its simple, but memorable rhythm, which is a perfect lead in to any heroic act, Ottman did make the odd choice to reharmonise the love theme. Ottman is reported as saying that he felt it sounded rather old fashioned. Possibly, although he could simply have made it a little less sweeping and more delicate but retaining Williams' original harmonies. Any theme can be made more sensitive and understated with the right approach but just simplifying the harmony does nothing but make it sound, well, simple. Having said that, his decision not to use the original March of the Villains was decidedly sensible and his Lex Luthor material is far more dramatic than Williams' and gives Luthor the kind of menace he deserves.
After the relative failure of Singer's film, the franchise is being re-rebooted by Zack Snyder, he of 300 and Watchmen and, erm, that Legend of the Guardians film about talking owls. It's unclear who Snyder is likely to ask to write the music. His favourite composer is Tyler Bates, whose work, I have to admit, I have found to be largely risible. The only time it seemed decent was 300 and that's only because Elliot Goldenthal wrote it, but called it "score from Titus". Perhaps Bates can pull one out of the hat should Snyder go with him, but I have strong reservations and certainly doubt it would be done with the general reverence that Ottman brought to the material. Needless to say, I don't think John Williams is in any danger of being surpassed.
Spider-Man is another franchise that rather lost its way on part 3. The same could be said for the music, to some extent, although the problems began during Spider-Man 2 when Danny Elfman, for the first time ever, walked. Christopher Young took over for Spider-Man 3, but basing his music on Elfman's in large part, but the film was a critical failure and enough of a commercial flop that the plans for a fourth were canned. Instead, we have a Peter Parker: The Teenage Years type take on the material. Could be interesting (probably won't be). It seems unfortunate that Sam Raimi appears to have gone a bit off the rails as the original two films really were superb entertainment. Give me them over Nolan's self important Batman films any day, but also occupying a world that seems rather more plausible than Burton's. The choice of composer isn't exactly clear as reboot director Marc Webb (who is about 12) has only 500 Days of Summer on his CV and that was scored by Mychael Danna. A Mychael Danna superhero score could certainly be interesting, although my hunch is that they will go for a lot of songs and rather more incidental score. Elfman's material seems unlikely to make a return.
Next time, Treks through the Stars and time travelling Doctors.
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