The release of Man of Steel today will bring to an end years of speculation on the future of the cinematic Superman and set the rumour mill into overdrive for the next steps for the DC universe, namely the long-awaited Justice League movie.
We, along with our friends at Den of Geek, sat down with David Goyer, Charles Roven and Deborah Snyder to talk about the inception and attraction of this new vision of Superman on the big screen. Those interviews will be going up in full later today, but in the meantime David Goyer had this to say on his involvement with the Justice League movie. When told of the reports that he had signed to write the film he initially laughed it off,
It was not reported…! I did not definitely say that.
When pushed on the possibility of the Justice League movie following on directly from Man of Steel he elaborated,
It would be disingenuous to say Warner Bros doesn’t hope that this would be the starting point for a shared universe. And Zack has said that Bruce Wayne exists in this universe. It would be a different Bruce Wayne from Chris’ [Nolan] Dark Knight trilogy, and it would be disingenuous to say that Zack and I haven’t had various conversations on set, around ‘what if’ and ‘moving forward’.
That having been said, it’s all going to depend on the next few weeks. Warner Bros has hopes that there will be more Man Of Steel films, and that this will be the beginning of a shared universe. We could meet Batman, or Wonder Woman, or the Justice League in these movies. But they all hinge on box office reception.
If that happens, I would be happy, and nervous, to dive in.
Goyer also confirmed that if the project moved ahead it would not be with the script already in place, written by Will Beall, “It would be blank slate.” While keen to point out that Man of Steel obviously has to do well at the box office to make any future Justice League movie a possibility he believes the time is right.
They’re hoping that the film does well, but god forbid it doesn’t, things will change. I don’t know how many different iterations of Justice League they’ve tried to mount over the last decade or so. But for one reason or another they haven’t happened. I think Warner Bros has seen – and Chris deserves the biggest credit for this – that we were able to revitalise Batman and put it into the first billion dollar superhero film. And they’re hoping that Superman will be revistalised as well. And if we can do Batman and Superman, then maybe we can move on to Wonder Woman, and The Flash, and characters like that.
It’s by no means certain that Man of Steel will reach the magic number Warner Bros. need it to in order for subsequent projects to see the green light however the relative critical success of the film so far, coupled with the apparent hunger for superhero films, is very much in their favour. What will be interesting is the journey Goyer, Christopher Nolan and possibly Zack Snyder, will take once the dust has settled on Metropolis.
If you want more from our time with the Man of Steel team you can read the full interviews with Producers Charles Roven and Deborah Snyder and Writer David Goyer. If you want to know what we thought of Man of Steel you can read our review here.
the plan is correct but we need the justice league..
my opinion is superman as henry and batman as bale,but whole story must be directed by christopher nolan……
Instead if hinging a shared universe of box office success, Warner Brothers needs to make a decision and move forward. Pick a set of directors they feel good with, and someone who can shepherd these event moves forward. Sometimes being in business requires knowing when a gamble is going to be a good one. You want box office success for Man of Steel Warner Brothers? Make the announcement in a matter of days, and then Man of Steel is going to dominate the summer do to that excitement alone.
The studio shouldn’t green light a Justice League movie based on the success of a Batman or Superman movie. They should base it on the success of a standalone Flash or Wonder Woman movie. And when those tank, like Green Lantern did, I can stop hearing about a stupid Justice League movie. DC should concentrate on making a decent Justice League video game.