MAN OF STEEL 2 Ain’t Happening For a While

Man of Steel wasn’t that great (in my opinion). The movie didn’t deliver on a lot of the thematic material which was promised, but over-delivered on action, to the point of pain-inducing boredom. Fortunately, Batman v Superman looks bloody brilliant – we would expect no less from the writer of Argo. At the end of the day, though, it did its job; a cinematic universe was created and a decent gross of $600m-ish was brought in. The crossover movie will deal with the stuff that the first film set up (the world’s reaction to Superman etc) but that doesn’t mean there won’t be a ton of things to explore in a straight-up sequel, although it looks as if that won’t be happening for a while.

A week or so back there was a rumour floating around that George Miller – the genius behind Mad Max: Fury Road – would be directing Man of Steel 2. The source was fine, but it seemed like a questionable rumour so we didn’t run it, however Den of Geek has since stepped forward to stir the pot even further.

We’ve since heard from two sources that there might be substance to this rumor. They tell us that Miller is indeed in talks with Warner Bros. about the possibility of taking on one of its future DC movies, though exactly what that movie is hasn’t been decided as yet.

One source said that what Miller directs will depend on what story most interests him, his take on it, and everyone’s availability.

That was backed up by tweets from other journalists at the time of the original rumour. The idea of a George Miller-directed DC movie is something that most fans could have guessed since Fury Road was made with the studio and was one of the biggest films of the year. His kinetic and practical action skills and ability to create strong characters without relying on too much dialogue could work well with most of DC’s upcoming film slate – although he might have to include some more talking. He was also supposed to direct Justice League: Mortal after Superman Returns came out – the tale of that movie is well-told across the interwebs. Personally, I think he would be a great choice for Wonder Woman but that already has a director in Patty Jenkins.

The most interesting part of the article is where the source also states that the sequel is on “permanent hold”. Now, neither Den of Geek or anybody else really seems to know what this means. Has it been abandoned? Delayed for years? There doesn’t really seem to be any space for it between now and 2020, which means the closest release date could be winter of that year or 2021 – potentially eight years after Man of Steel. Fortunately, Supes will have appeared at least three times in that gap with next year’s Dawn of Justice and both Justice League flicks. We’ll get our Kryptonian fix.

I’m not terribly surprised this is the case. Man of Steel has a loyal fan following but it didn’t receive the greatest reviews, and given that there hasn’t been a truly great Superman movie in decades Warner Bros may put that down to the character’s inability to work on screen for modern audiences which is bullshit. He can totally work but it just takes an actual good script – something that he hasn’t had for years and years. They also want to focus on Batfleck right now (apparently) and introducing other superheroes to the world like Flash, Wonder Woman and Aquaman. There’ll be just enough Superman over the coming films to affirm his status and still develop the character further. At the moment, he really doesn’t need a solo movie.

Plus, we want Fury Road 2!