Until you make your trip out to see The Dark Knight Rises this weekend, the regal image of Superman above will be all you can see from this year’s Comic Con appearance of Zach Snyder and company. And while the poster above isn’t revolutionary by any stretch, to hear an panel-goers tell it, we’re in for some expectation-shattering from the Man Of Steel, at least when you remember who is directing it…

Like the other huge panels from WB this year, the Man of Steel presentation included footage as well as Q&As with the crew and cast. So let’s start with reactions to the trailer, which was apparently a basic montage of shots of a young Clark Kent in Smallville, an accident involving a school bus, some cloud flying, and narration from both Russel Crowe and Kevin Costner.

Let’s see what folks thought.

• “It did not disappoint…. There are a few shots of Clark visiting Krypton (or somewhere; Russell Crowe was there), there’s a massive battle with Superman (Henry Cavill) and Michael Shannon‘s villain flying at each other vertically beside a building, some kind of force that throws Superman into the above vault, Lois Lane kissing Superman, the military keeping watch on Superman, a young Clark saving a bus full of kids and much more.” – /Film

•  “The tone much more reverential, serious, and aiming to be something profound. Indeed this was very much Snyder trying to emulate Nolan’s filmmaking style – a Hans Zimmer meets Vangelis sweeping score (temp), tasteful handheld photography with an emphasis on the real and practical where possible, plenty of stuff about Clark’s journey to determine who he is, and so on. Character beat moments given as much weight as the few big flashy money shots of Clark in the suit flying, fighting, destruction, etc.” – Dark Horizons

• “…the classic red cape waves heroically in the breeze and Superman soars into the heavens per standard iconography, but there’s also contemporary inflections when Superman mixes it up with military troops that look like they could have been airlifted straight out of Iraq or Afghanistan.” – Wired

Not everyone was so impressed though…

• “There’s no levity, joy, or even a sense of triumph.  It’s more of a gritty, realistic take about how would Superman actually deal with the world and how the world will deal with him.  There weren’t any particularly cool shot (and to his credit, none of Snyder’s famous speed-ramping), but we got a glimpse of Amy Adams as Lois Lane, and a half-second look at Michael Shannon as Zod from the neck up.” – Collider

Reports from the Q&A mostly fixate on Snyder’s penchant for the words “awesome” and “cool,” but there’s some information to be gleaned…

• Any plans for a Justice League link? Snyder played it coy, basically saying that once Superman was newly up and running, that “who knows what’s possible.” Which, frankly, means that Cavill’s Superman will totally be in Justice League if it doesn’t flop horribly or something.

• Snyder iterated that they approached this film as if no Superman movie had been made before, and that relating to a new generation is important.

• Cavill cited Red Son as one his big influences in building the character (I’ve always loved that mini-series), with Snyder alluding to Death & Return Of Superman, while emphasizing that no specific comic story/arc was used as a foundation.

• It was Nolan who pitched Snyder an approach, which could point to why there’s a Malicky, regal feel to the material while Snyder still gets to unleash on the action stuff (presumably).

I’m very much looking forward to seeing the Superman trailer (especially in IMAX) this weekend, and since the film is getting deeper into post-production, I’d expect it won’t be long beyond that till we start seeing more material.