Matthew Vaughn's Potential Take On SUPERMAN Would Be "Feel-Good & Heroic, A Beacon Of Light In Darkness"
After recently revealing that he had been approached for Man of Steel 2, director Matthew Vaughn has elaborated on what his potential take on Superman might look like and it's sure to please diehard fans.
Director Matthew Vaughn has a pretty solid track record when it comes to comic book movies, having already successfully reinvigorated the X-Men franchise with X-Men: First Class before moving on to Kingsman: The Secret Service and its upcoming sequel Kingsman: The Golden Circle, which is due out later this week. And now, if Warner Bros. has its way, then he might be in line to breathe new life into DC's most iconic hero: Superman, who has really been having a rough go of it - at least on film - for the past decade or so.
The original Brandon Routh-led reboot, Superman Returns, leaned heavily into homaging the classic Donner films, which while appreciated by some, wasn't exactly the shot in the arm the hero needed, especially with Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins opening just a year prior to widespread critical acclaim and essentially setting a new bar for all superhero origin movies. Following the conclusion of the now-treasured Dark Knight trilogy, WB decided to go in a much different, darker direction with Clark Kent and a couple years later, fans were treated to Zack Snyder's Man of Steel, which starred Henry Cavill (Mission: Impossible 6) and definitely delivered on the action many wanted to see but was still met with a mixed reception from critics and fans alike.
Thanks to the film's solid box office collection, a sequel - Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - was soon greenlit. However, unfortunately, the film became one of the worst-received comic book movies of all-time and didn't do too many favors for Superman as it doubled down on the seriousness and concluded with him meeting his maker - after just two films. Not exactly an ideal start for the Last Son of Krypton.
Now, while he is scheduled for resurrection in this November's Justice League, his future after that is looking murkier than ever as we have yet to receive any sort of official confirmation about that long-rumored Man of Steel sequel. We do know it's at least in some stage of early development since potential director shortlists have been leaking for several months now, but we don't necessarily have any sort of beat on when this long-awaited feature may actually go into some stage of production.
Vaughn has been frequently mentioned as a frontrunner for the job, and while, we can't really confirm whether or not that's true, the director himself did recently reveal that he had, in fact, had at least fielded a call about a potential Superman sequel. After setting the internet on fire with that revelation, he once again touched on the matter in a separate interview with Collider and went on to tease his potential take on Superman, which is something that should go over pretty well with fans of the kid from Smallville. Read his comments below:
“Weirdly if I did do Superman—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 a Superman film. I just don’t feel a proper Superman—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.”
That sounds good to me. This also wouldn't be the first time Vaughn has flirted with potentially taking the helm of a Superman film as he did previously pitch a colorful and fun take on Superman to the studio back in 2010, a version that was ultimately passed over for the darker Nolan/Goyer-backed take, which we saw in theaters in 2013. However, with Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman now course-correcting the DC Films world and setting them on a much brighter path, it wouldn't be a stretch to assume that the studio might be a little more receptive to seeing Vaughn's take now that they've seen a bright and hopeful hero work wonders at the box office.
So, what do you guys think? Who do you want to see direct Man of Steel 2? Sound off with your thoughts below!