When Henry Cavill debuted as Superman in Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel back in 2013, many of us imagined the actor embodying the role for years to come. However, Cavill has only since reprised the role in 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and 2017’s Justice League. Are we ever going to see our much-awaited Man of Steel 2? A new Warner Bros. shakeup is offering up the latest information about the character’s future.
WarnerMedia is now owned in part by Discovery Communications after a $43 billion deal with AT&T, making current Discovery CEO David Zaslav in charge of the combined companies to be called Warner Bros. Discovery. With the massive studio under new management, we’ve learned a bit about some of the early goals for the future of the DCEU.
As Discovery executives become part of the development of DC films moving forward, they reportedly believe “top-shelf characters'' such as Superman “need to be revitalized,” per Variety. In this report, it's said the major issue the new WarnerMedia management has is the DC movies’ lack of “coherent creative and brand strategy.”
Zaslav is reportedly looking for candidates to fill a position within WarnerMedia similar to Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige that could keep the “different factions at DC working more harmoniously” as well. Over the past few years, the DCEU has run amuck in tone, with projects ranging from the more family-friendly Aquaman and Shazam! to more tonally-dark visions in Joker and The Batman. It sounds like Discovery is going to help the DCEU become more like a multiverse again.
Where does that leave Man of Steel 2? For years, Henry Cavill has shared his love for playing Superman and interest in returning to flesh out his character further. However, his version was very much tied to the SnyderVerse, which the filmmaker is moving on from as he develops other projects, such as his coming sci-fi epic Rebel Moon.
It's also worth mentioning that in early 2021, word came in about a Superman movie in the works from J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot Production company. The project, which has been described as a "reboot," was being written by Ta-Nehisi Coates, leading to theories that the movie would feature the first Black Superman in a DC movie.
This new report shows that Superman is high on the mind of executives as WarnerMedia enters a new chapter. We’d expect to see another movie about the Kryptonian given this source’s comments, but “revitalized” could mean many things, including a complete overhaul of the character without Henry Cavill. That certainly seems like that'll be the case if Ta-Nehisi Coates' Superman movie gets off the ground.
There’s also specific mention of Todd Phillips’ Joker and Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn as “shining” examples of ways DC Comics “can and should” be implemented in feature films. Looks like there could be some change in strategy moving forward, but Discovery is very aware of what has worked. Superman being a key name added into the fold could get interesting as Warner Bros Discovery begins to develop more projects.
Until then, we’ll be thinking about all the incredible directors that could helm a Man of Steel sequel and getting ready for the many upcoming DC movies headed our way.
