The KANSAS Connection: The Man of Steel and the Land of Oz

The world is full of Oz fans ... but nobody is truly ever JUST an Oz fan only. As many Oz fans as there are in America, there are some that are also fans of "Doctor WHO" from the UK ... there are Oz fans in Australia who are fond of "the Golden Girls" ... and there are certainly Oz fans in the UK that love the American Fairyland. What cannot be disputed is how often and much Oz crosses over with the comics, in adaptations and references ... and, personally, I believe that no other comic in the world has a strong unique and collaborative connection with Oz than DC Comics's Kryptonian hero himself, Superman! Now there are some small subtle yet noticebale similarities between the two: * both have a child - an orphan, basically, because their parents have died - who is transported from one world to another (even if the levels of scope and proximities are different and the points in life when they are relocated), * both are raised on a farm life in Kansas by an elderly guardian couple for years before they move and make their home in a big city (again, their ages and timeline differ), * both have a canine companion - who, funny enough I didn't realise till now, both have their name end in "to" (Toto, Krypto) * both go on adventures with similar or unusual friends - and fighting evil along the way to restore peace and righteousness (though intentions aren't quite the same);

But here I want to focus on the main prominent and more obvious timelines where they share similarities, elements and moments onscreen. Now, while they may not have shared or started their runs 1899-1900 as far as I know (and if I find out otherwise it will be edited with updates), the two franchises did begin to coincide in 1938 when SUPERMAN first appeared in "Action Comics" of April / June ... while MGM was undergoing production for their treatment of L Frank Baum's "Wonderful Wizard" for the musical vaudeville Judy Garland vehicle (Early Stages which included Script Development, Musical Score, hair and make-up tests, contract, special effects and other activities - Filming would not start until October).

This was pretty much it for this time . . . until 1978, when both film versions for "THE WIZ" and "SUPERMAN (the Movie)" came to the big screen (both with opposing points of success, yet sharing the dissappointment at some level in time).

Now we get into the more direct (and back-and-forth) connections between the two: Warner Bros. "SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE" starred Christopher Reeve in dual title role of the hero from Krypton and mild-mannered Daily planet reporter Clark Kent (again, a child who was transported from one world to another, who was raised on a farm in Kansas by foster guardains because their parents cannot) and also acts alongside Margot Kidder as Lois Lane ... who will go on to voice over the narration for the 1986 PanMedia anime series of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" (plus "Marvelous Land", "Ozma" and "Emerald City") that would be translated and dubbed (plus cut) by the Canadian studio CINAR for the US TV audiences before the release to videos as Movies for 1987 (a year which also released "Superman IV: Quest for Peace", the fourth and possibly worst film of the series). Universal Pictures' "THE WIZ" starred Diana Ross as Dorothy and featured Richard Pryor as the title character ... Richard Pryor would eventually go on to be included in "Superman III", a film that would (re)introduce a grown up high school sweetheart of Clark Kent's from Smallville, (a character included in the first film) Lana Lang, now played by Annette O'Toole ... Annette O'Toole would go on to play Maud Gage, L Frank Baum's wife, in the 1990 TV Movie "the Dreamer of Oz" starring John Ritter in the title role ... and then Annette O'Toole would return to Kansas of Superman lore, this time playing Martha Kent, Clark's adoptive earth mother, for the TV Series "Smallville" and throughout the enduring years of the run.

2013 brought a revised, revamped and newer take to both character properties from opposing studios, yet both differed from the traditional original sources): WB gave us Zack Snyder's "Man of Steel" starring Henry Cavill as Superman (so new it neglected the classic red briefs speedo) while Disney presented its attempted prequel with "OZ the Great and Powerful", a film that claimed to be a prequel to the Baum books but repeatedly and constantly referred to using the MGMN imagery as well as attempting to be like "Wicked" without treading too much on copyright infringement [but was still poorly decided and directed regardless] - while both films were relatively successful, Disney's "Oz origin" has mostly fallen out of favour and rightfully so due to its false claims and inaccurape depiction of Baum's world, his writings and the film it's supposedly based upon.

While Disney never continued its proposed trilogy with the fabled fairyland, WB did manage to continue the adventures of the favoured Krypton ... but unfortunately leaned more into the Batman influence and, possibly trying to catch the success of MARVEL's "The Avengers", rushed into creating their long-awaited Justice League with "Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice" in 2016. - The reference to Oz does get a direct line when Perry White (played by Lawrence Fishburne) gets annoyed at Clark Kent's absence and comments "Clicks his heels three times, goes back to Kansas, I suppose." (What's nice about this remark is that not only is it funny, but the shoes are unspecified - so anyone hearing the line can think of the Ruby Slippers or the SILVER SHOES).

In March 2015 there was also a cover variant that had SuperGirl with a MGM/WOz influenced art image. And once again, the worlds of Superman comics and Oz books come together in 2025, with the July release (11th in USA, 10th in Australia) of James Gunn's "Superman (Legacy)" film starring David Corenswet in the title role (with the red briefs restored to costume) between the two "Wicked" films, an alternate perspective of the story. So, there we are; here we have but a basic touch of the multiple times Oz and Superman have crossed paths and shared moments throughout the years. Now of course there is no definite reasoning and the timing could be coincidental, but there seems to be a slight pattern to these two sharing the same cinematic release schedule (1978 and 1987, 2013, 2025) and there was 12 years between the more recent interpretations ... so maybe we'll get another Superman+Oz movie release in the next 12 or so years, more or less. Who knows what else these two will share or join together in the future? Whatever happens and whenever that will be . . . you can be sure that we'll be there to share the joy and the fun union!