In 2013, Zack Snyder kicked off the DC movie universe with a brand new version of Superman. The iteration was far darker and grounded, getting as far away as possible from Richard Donner's iconic version of the Son of Krypton. The result ended up dividing audiences but it was successful enough for WB to allow Snyder to pit The Dark Knight against the Man of Steel in 2016's Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Superman was put in a grave at the end of that movie but he will rise from the dead in Justice League this November. Despite the divisive reception of Man of Steel, it's widely agreed on that it's the best DCEU movie to date. Many have wondered when we'll get a sequel to Man of Steel and rumors have been swirling since last year that it's actively in development.
At the start of 2017, Kingsman 1 & 2 director Matthew Vaughn was reportedly in talks to direct the unannounced sequel. Nothing else was heard after that initial rumor but Vaughn has come out and confirmed the talks during a press tour for Kingsman 2: The Golden Circle.
“I am planning another Kingman, I’ve written the treatment and some of the scenes…I don’t know what I’m going to do next but I have had chats about Superman, I love Superman.”
In a separate interview, Vaughn joked about how he let that slip and then he went on to talk about how he'd like to make Superman more vibrant and fun, basically straying from Snyder's vision.
“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.”
This lines up with what he said several years ago when talks of a Superman reboot were happening.
“I think that’s the one thing not to do with Superman, trying to do the serious The Dark Knight version. Superman is about color and fun, or it should be, for me.”
It'll be interesting to see if Vaughn ends up directing the Man of Steel sequel simply because his pitch is so drastically different than what DC is doing right now. While Justice League looks to lighten the universe up a bit, it would be such a major tonal shift and it might be considered by fans to be too safe and not original enough.
Since Snyder is reportedly taking a back seat in the DC universe due to the loss of his daughter, Warner Bros. may be willing to take the series in a new direction since their visionary is walking away.
You can see Superman back in action in Justice League on November 17th, meanwhile, Matthew Vaughn's Kingsman sequel is in theaters now.
