These days, the future is looking bright for fans of DC Comics with all the upcoming DC movies on the way. From this summer’s Supergirl to 2027’s Superman follow-up, Man Of Tomorrow, there's a lot to be excited about. Still, it’s hard to forget what could have been with Zack Snyder’s DC Extended Universe continuity. To that point, Snyder recently talked about what he had in mind for his Man of Steel sequel.
In honor of the tenth anniversary of Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Zack Snyder talked about his plans for Man of Steel 2 on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. When asked if he thought about giving Henry Cavill’s Superman a sequel before landing on the team-up film with Batman and Wonder Woman, Snyder said this:
We absolutely did. My plan was always to hopefully, once we kind of established this timeline, we could branch off and go do this Brainiac movie that would have a Superman/Brainiac solo concept.
Now, funny enough, James Gunn’s Man of Tomorrow is set to include Brainiac, and German actor Lars Eidinger was cast to play the famed DC villain back in December. But, obviously, Snyder’s take would have been much different and, now, I'm so curious about what that would have looked like. During his recent interview, Snyder also said this in regard to how he viewed his DC story:
My opinion is in the end the full Justice League saga is a Superman story, regardless of how much Batman plays into it. In the end it's a Superman film. When it’s all said and done Superman is the survivor, he is the savior. Without him there's nothing. It is a Superman-centric universe.
As Snyder explained, when he and Warner Bros. landed on doing a team-up film rather than Man of Steel 2, he didn’t necessarily think of it as straying away from a sequel for Superman. He felt like Batman v. Superman was a Superman film as much as his initial idea was going to be, and the character was always central to the universe to him. While the age of the "Snyderverse" may be over, the filmmaker said fans should “never forget” that they helped release the Snyder Cut of Justice League.
While fans will surely continue to wonder what a solo Man of Steel follow-up might've looked like, it sounds like what came next in the Snyderverse ended up being exactly what Snyder felt like the right next move was for his universe. Bu, did the filmmaker feel any pressure to build up a universe to compete with the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Snyder said Warner Bros was “very excited about Dawn of Justice” being on the Batman v. Superman title, whereas he didn’t “really need it” tacked on to the film.
Back in 2022, there was talk of Man of Steel 2 being developed before getting shelved due to execs handing the keys to James Gunn and Peter Safran. While Snyder's film isn't coming to fruition, at the very least, fans will get to see Superman do battle with Brainiac -- with Lex Luthor even assisting him -- in a movie, which is an exciting prospect. Man of Tomorrow is currently expected to hit theaters on July 9, 2027. In the meantime, read up on other projects announced for DCU Chapter One.
