 Kevin Smith (I) (qv)s original script, to which  Tim Burton (I) (qv) was immediately attached, was based on a 1993  story arc in the comic books in which Superman was killed by a  creature named Doomsday and then brought back to life more powerful  than before. After a lengthy development process, Warner Bros. chose  not to go with Smiths script and hired other writers, such as  _"Alias" (2001)_ (qv) creator J.J. Abrams (qv), to revive the  series.