When I think about the missteps made by the DCEU, the one that immediately comes to mind is the lack of a true Man of Steel sequel. The decision by Zack Snyder to immediately jump into Batman v Superman was removing crucial steps in establishing him as the centerpiece of this cinematic universe. While we know that Warner Bros. has a new Superman film in the works, there’s still some hope out there that Henry Cavill will return to the role.
And now Snyder reveals to Esquire that if he had stayed involved, Superman’s story was part of his future plans as the final chapter in his Justice League trilogy…
“I had just assumed that the final movie was going to be very much a Superman movie. The final chapter was going to be a large percentage of Superman to just bookend the whole thing. Because if Batman died, it would have very much fallen on Superman to be the de facto leader. By the way, at that point, Wonder Woman would have been made queen of the Themyscira, and she would be leading the warriors of Themyscira into battle against Darkseid herself. And Arthur would be leading the armies of Atlantians. And Superman basically is going to be the head of the Justice League and the Armies of Men. And so Superman would have gone from this kind of berserker Superman to a benevolent Superman.”
“Superman has the hugest arc of everybody because he goes from like the main villain to like the main hero. And that struck me as just really cool and fun and like a really interesting trajectory for him. Because I think traditionally, Superman is one of those characters that people don’t see as changing a lot. You know what I mean? He’s kind of a rock that everyone props against and I just thought, how cool would it be to make our Superman the character that goes on the most incredible journey.”
Whatever Snyder intended, we’re not likely to see any Justice League sequels of his in movie form. I maintain we could see them as a comic book, because they’ve already got the Jim Lee art sketched out for it. We discuss this and more in the latest episode of Cinema Royale, so check it out!
