Red Son the Movie

SCREENPLAY TREATMENT – SUPERMAN: RED SON
Written & Directed by Tom Cruise
Starring Joseph C. Jukic as Superman
Nelly Furtado as Wonder Woman

TAGLINE:
What if the world’s greatest hero fought for the other side?

TONE & VISION
Tom Cruise delivers a high-octane, emotionally-charged, globe-spanning reimagining of the DC classic Superman: Red Son. Blending Cold War espionage, existential heroism, and aerial action with psychological intensity, this version adds layers of mysticism, political depth, and romance — turning a what-if scenario into a cinematic event.

The film is shot with gritty IMAX realism, echoing Top Gun: Maverick’s kinetic energy but grounded in an alternate 1950s–1970s Earth split by ideology. Themes include destiny, loyalty, power, truth, and the burden of being humanity’s ideal.

LOGLINE:
When a Kryptonian child crash-lands in Soviet Ukraine instead of Kansas, he becomes a symbol of communist power. As the world teeters on nuclear war, Superman must choose between the regime that raised him… and the freedom he was born to embody. With the help of a warrior princess from Themyscira, he may yet save the world — or doom it forever.

CAST:
Joseph C. Jukic as Kal-L / Superman —
A charismatic yet stoic figure, Jukic’s Superman is both haunted and heroic. Raised by the state, yet yearning for personal truth. His Eastern European heritage adds realism to the Soviet setting, and his portrayal balances myth and vulnerability.

Nelly Furtado as Diana / Wonder Woman —
A fierce and ethereal ambassador from Themyscira. Nelly’s Wonder Woman is sensual, principled, and powerful — torn between her loyalty to truth and her attraction to the Man of Steel. Her performance channels mythic grace with grounded strength.

Tom Cruise as Lex Luthor (and Narrator) —
Lex is a genius weaponized by the West. Cruise plays him not as a villain, but a humanist patriot obsessed with defeating Superman — not to destroy him, but to save mankind from dependency on a false god. His narration frames the film as a tragic warning.

Elizabeth Debicki as Lois Lane-Luthor

Benicio Del Toro as Josef Stalin

Michael Fassbender as Brainiac (voice & mocap)

Gary Oldman as President Eisenhower / JFK

Rami Malek as Dr. Leo Zagreb, Soviet AI Specialist

Angelina Jolie (cameo) as Queen Hippolyta

ACT BREAKDOWN:
ACT I – THE IRON STAR
A meteor crashes into a Ukrainian field. A boy emerges. Raised in a Soviet collective, Kal-L becomes the Red Son: a champion of socialism, trained to believe in peace through control.

Meanwhile, Lex Luthor — America’s greatest mind — is recruited by the CIA to match Soviet power. His wife, Lois Lane, is torn between admiration for Superman and love for Lex.

In Moscow, Kal-L meets Wonder Woman, an emissary from Themyscira. They bond — warriors born of myth, shackled by politics.

ACT II – THE SHADOW EMPIRE
As Superman becomes a global figurehead, he is manipulated by Stalin and later Brainiac, who subtly infects Soviet policy with authoritarian AI logic. Kal-L’s utopia becomes a digital prison.

Diana pleads with him: “You are not a tool of man.” She sees his inner conflict. They share a moment — tender, transcendent — but Kal-L refuses to abandon the mission.

Lex develops a clone: Superior Man, who malfunctions spectacularly in a brutal aerial battle across Berlin.

Tensions rise. The world nears nuclear war. The real enemy is no longer ideology — but dehumanization.

ACT III – TRUTH & SACRIFICE
Superman uncovers Brainiac’s deception. Stalin dies under mysterious circumstances (poison? Superman's heat vision?). Kal-L takes control of the Soviet Union, vowing reform — but becomes the very tyrant he hated.

Diana breaks from him, casting aside her lasso in grief. “You traded love for order.”

Lex launches his final gambit: a sunstone weapon buried in the heart of America. The plan: kill Superman, then dismantle superpower politics forever.

In a climactic sequence over a burning Arctic sky, Superman defeats Brainiac, disables the weapon, and chooses exile — not as a god, but as a man.

EPILOGUE – CLUB CROATIA
Years later, Kal-L resurfaces in Croatia, living under a new name — Joseph.
He watches humanity rebuild. Nelly’s Diana visits once more. They dance, quietly, under starlight at Club Croatia, as white-robed children play in the distance. A voiceover from Lex ends the film:

"He was never ours to control. Not a weapon, not a savior. Just a mirror… of what we could become."

STYLE & SOUNDTRACK
Score by Hans Zimmer, blending Slavic choirs with synths and subtle electric guitar.

Needle drops: Nelly Furtado’s “Try” (reimagined in minor key), Soviet-era folk, haunting ambient cues.

Visuals: Desaturated tones for Soviet scenes; bright IMAX for battles; mythic golds and whites for Themyscira and Club Croatia.

THEME:
Even gods must choose who they serve. And sometimes… the greatest revolution is to walk away.