These incidents of “Abrams over-explaining” are peppered throughout the draft. Ty-Zor is, essentially, General Zod…but instead of a mere rival, he’s Superman’s angrier cousin. Clark’s glasses aren’t a disguise, they’re custom made with “lead-specked” lenses to help the young boy control his vision powers. Clark Kent is a college senior with an undeclared major until he runs into a feisty journalism student named Lois Lane at a frat party, thereby changing the course of his career (as if the “stalker” criticisms of Superman Returns weren’t pointed enough). Jonathan Kent drops dead of a heart-attack when news of Clark’s first excursion as Superman reaches him. Jor-El visited Earth decades earlier to determine whether the Kents were worthy of raising his son…you get the picture.

Like Man of Steel, Superman: Flyby shows off a Krypton full of giant robots, warsuits, and toy-ready weapons known as “Blastaffs” wielded skillfully by a decidedly pro-active Jor-El (described as a “king” at one point in a draft). Abrams offers copious notes throughout the script, going beyond commentary, characterization, and stage directions into musical cues and other suggestions. In what would have been a refreshing twist, one of his notes reads that “all scenes on Krypton are spoken in Kryptonian…an actual language we will develop” and calling for subtitles during important passages of dialogue.

When summaries of this draft hit the internet, the backlash centered on a number of deviations from the established mythology. At the top of that list is the fact that Superman isn’t sent to Earth in order to escape the destruction of the planet, but rather to protect him from his evil uncle (Jor-El’s brother), Kata-Zor. You see, folks…it was 2002, and Hollywood was drunk on the success of films like The Matrix, the Star Wars prequels, and the Lord of the Rings films. This meant that Superman: Flyby was intended as the first act of a trilogy; one that centered on Kal-El as an heir to the throne of Krypton, with a mysterious “Prophecy” he must fulfill. There’s more of this throughout the draft, as we’re introduced to minor Kryptonian characters like Predius, who Abrams promises “we won’t get to know…until the next film of the series.”

Of course, Ty-Zor finds his way to Earth, and the expected mayhem ensues. In fact, given what’s on the page here, Man of Steel (and, for that matter, the Transformers movies) would look like a plucky little indie film in comparison. Superman’s battle with Ty-Zor (and his ninja-like Kryptonian cronies, Baz-Al, Caan, and Alta) and their giant robot war machines isn’t confined to Metropolis or Smallville (and Gotham City, which also gets a mention) but do considerable damage to the pyramids at Giza and the cathedral of Notre Dame! And, let’s just say that the controversial ending of Man of Steel had some precedent here, as well.

If you found Abrams’ Star Trek films too subtle, then you would likely have been in heaven watching his Superman. The first draft is 139 pages, and certainly tries to do too much…including a Doomsday-less “death and resurrection of Superman” sequence which feels so shoehorned in that it could only be a result of a Warner Bros. studio edict insisting that the best-selling Superman saga in decades should somehow make it to the screen. Wait…that sounds familiar. Think about how certain sections of Star Trek Into Darkness were crowbarred into the narrative, and you’re on the right track.