In the past few weeks, Man of Steel 2 has gone from being nothing but a pipe dream to a project that may actually take flight quite soon. Rumors have been intensifying that point to Warner Bros. being pretty gung-ho on the sequel, with sources saying they were hoping to announce it this month but after the disappointment that was Justice League, are deciding to wait until Comic-Con in July.
That’s understandable and quite frankly, we’re just happy to hear that this thing is about to get off the ground, after so many years of waiting for it to materialize. That doesn’t mean we aren’t giddy with anticipation though to finally learn who’ll be in the director’s chair. Over the past little while, we’ve heard of many names that were said to be circling the project, with Matthew Vaughn being chief amongst them. But as we wait for the studio to make things official, yet another contender has entered the ring: Steven S. DeKnight.
You may know the name, as he’s certainly had a fair bit of experience in the superhero genre. Most notably, he was showrunner on Daredevil for a while (and even directed an episode, too) and also had a producing role on Smallville, among other projects. Of course, his potential involvement in Man of Steel 2 is nothing more than wishful thinking on his part, with DeKnight taking to Twitter recently to voice his interest, but he’d certainly be a solid pick for the job. Not to mention should his upcoming blockbuster Pacific Rim: Uprising prove to be a hit, you can bet that he’ll find himself as a hot commodity in Hollywood.
But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. A second solo outing for the Big Blue Boy Scout is no doubt a long ways away. After all, Warner Bros. already have their hands full with Aquaman, Wonder Woman 2, Flashpoint, Nightwing and more. At the earliest, Man of Steel 2 could probably fly into theaters in 2020/2021, but even that may be ambitious. Still, just knowing that it remains on the table is enough to give us hope that one day, we’ll get a proper follow-up to Zack Snyder’s DCEU opener.
In the meantime, we can all look forward to the next entry in the franchise, which will come in the form of James Wan’s Aquaman. That one swims into theaters on December 21st of this year, before 2019 brings about a new standalone film for Diana Prince (November 1st) along with the debut of Shazam (April 5th). Suffice it to say, it’s a good time to be a fan of DC’s costumed crusaders.