FilmmakerMatthew Vaughnhas already offered up a few superhero movie reinventions in the form of 2011’s outstandingX-Men: First Classand 2010’s hyper-violentKick-Ass, and he may be putting his talents to the most famous hero of them all: Superman. Collider exclusively broke the newsthis past Marchthat Vaughn is being eyed to directMan of Steel2for Warner Bros. in the DCEU, and Vaughn himself confirmed those talks recently while on the press tour for his new sequelKingsman: The Golden Circle.
While Vaughn’s involvement in aSupermanmovie is far from a done deal, during the press day forThe Golden CircleCollider’s own Steve Weintraub asked Vaughnifhe were to direct aSupermanmovie, what would his vision entail?
“Weirdly if I did doSuperman—and I made the mistake of telling someone yesterday I have spoken about it and then wallop (laughs)—I think my main take would be, it’s really boring but make aSupermanfilm. I just don’t feel a properSuperman—I think Donner did it to perfection for that time. Just doing the modern—I wanna do a modern version of the Donner [version]. Go back to the source material… For me Superman is color, feel-good, heroic. He’s a beacon of light in darkness. And that’s what I think Superman should be.”
Indeed, back in 2010 when Warner Bros. was looking to do a newSupermanmovie, Vaughn and comic writerMark Millaractually pitched a colorful and “fun” take onSupermanto Warner Bros., but the studio went withChristopher NolanandDavid S. Goyer’s pitch forMan of Steelinstead. Now, withWonder Woman’s colorful, flighty yet serious, and hopeful tone paving the way forward for the DCEU, it sounds like WB might be more amenable to Vaughn’s lighter take on the character.
Richard Donner’s originalSupermanwas a touchstone forBryan Singer’s 2006 rebootSuperman Returns, but while that film was colorful and heroic, it was a bit too romantic for many fans’ taste. One imagines Vaughn could combine that color and hopefulness with some kinetic and probably a little insane action to result in a much more poppy and less moodySupermanmovie than the overly seriousMan of Steel.
It’s also possible, now that Warner Bros. is exploring the possibility of non-DCEU DC Comics films, that Vaughn’s Superman moviewon’tstarHenry Cavilland won’t be a sequel toMan of Steel 2. A lot of variables are in the air right now, but regardless of whether the end product fits into the DCEU, Vaughn certainly seems to have a solid handle on the character.
Look for a lot more from Steve’s interview with Matthew Vaughn later this week.
