With all this talk about Robert Pattinson taking on the role of the Dark Knight, it seems many have forgotten about 2013’s Man of Steel starring Henry Cavill.
In fact, there was about to be a sequel, but it’s unfortunately fallen by the wayside. As of now, there don’t seem to be any Superman films in the pipeline for the DCEU.
But luckily, thanks to the loose lips of Man of Steel 2‘s director, Matthew Vaughn, we have some idea of how the said sequel would’ve turned out.
In an interview with gaming website Polygon, the English filmmaker revealed that his film’s ideas stemmed from a trilogy he proposed to the WB way back in 2008. As it turns out, it would have drawn from the same creative pool as the original Man of Steel, with the first film taking place “almost entirely on Krypton”. Here, it would focus on the ‘Russel Crowe’ section of the first movie, focusing on Jor-El and the impending destruction of planet Krypton.
Although commonly the first thing to happen in Superman lore, Vaughn would have the event occur “much later in the timeline, allowing Superman to grow up on his home planet and gradually become familiar with Earth”. From this point, the Last Son of Krypton would have to wrestle with his loyalties between Earth and his birth planet.
Since Man of Steel 2 is no longer on the cards, there’s no way of knowing how Vaughn’s vision would translate onto the silver screen. The first DCEU Superman flick was helmed by Zack Snyder, who would go on to direct 2015’s Batman v. Superman and a little bit of 2017’s Justice League. The portrayal of Superman is noticeably darker than his usual portrayals, something which was criticized by film journalists at the time.
Darkness could very well sum up a great deal of the early DCEU. Man of Steel was just the beginning, with BvS also being criticized for the same thing as its predecessor.
That said, films like Wonder Woman and Shazam! seem to have broken this trend.
When asked about signing onto a Superman movie in the future, Vaughn admitted it would be hard to refuse.
