As excited as I am about James Gunn’sSupermanand the start of the newDCEU, I wish we could have seenMan of Steel 2and its newly revealed Green Lantern connections. Rather than receiving a traditional sequel, 2013’sMan of Steelwas followed by 2016’sBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, a major crossover pitting the Man of Steel and Dark Knight against each other while also serving as a prelude to 2017’sJustice League. However, a trueMan of Steel2was in development, and recent reveals do make me wonder what could have been.
It’s no secret that the overall success of the prior DC Extended Universe began to decline following the middling success of 2017’sJustice League. This was largely due to major studio interference and controversial reshoots resulting from director Zack Snyder’s need to step away during production for personal reasons. As such, this resulted in a major pivot in the planned release schedule, putting many movies on hold or canceled indefinitely until the 2023 announcement of a new DCU.One of these canceled DCEU movies wasMan of Steel 2, though new details make me wish we could have seen it.
Man Of Steel Never Ended Up Getting A Proper Sequel
Meant To Release After 2017’s Justice League
With his origins out of the way in2013’sMan of Steelfrom Zack Snyder, the next chapter for Henry Cavill’s Superman saw him sharing the spotlight with Ben Affleck’s Batman and Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman in 2016’sBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.Thanks to Warner Bros' eagerness to have a fully fleshed-out universe just like the MCU, the big team-up movie that wasJustice Leaguewas fast-tracked, with most individual hero movies being planned to release after the major crossover, as well as a more traditional sequel for Superman himself.
Remaining in development for years, initial reports suggested thatMan of Steel2would have seen Cavill’s Superman taking on Brainiac, a major Superman villain in the original comics. Having been teased in the firstMan of Steel, Supergirl was expected to make her DCEU debut in this sequel as well.However, 2018 saw Henry Cavill and filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie pitching their idea forMan of Steel 2to Warner Bros. While it was ultimately rejected, McQuarrie has recently revealed some exciting elements of the rejected story and how it would have incorporated Green Lantern.
The Pitch For Man Of Steel 2’s Story Sounds Fascinating
Fully Bringing Green Lanterns Into The DCEU After Multiple Teases
According to McQuarrie in a recent interview with Josh Horowitz on theHappy Sad Confused, the director/screenwriter confirmed that his idea forMan of Steel 2would have incorporated Green Lantern. While the specific Green Lantern isn’t mentioned, he presumably had either Hal Jordan or John Stewart in mind.Regardless, McQuarrie confirms that he’d figured out how to make Green Lantern “work”, as well as how to generate some compelling conflict between the two heroes with “universe-expanding stakes”:
“Green Lantern was what had come to me, and Green Lantern’s a tough one. The power is very challenging, and I cracked it and it was fun, and watching learn how to use that power, and giving that power a flaw, so that it was not pure invincibility.
The whole concept of Green Lantern is, the ring has to be recharged. And that’s not a bug. That’s a feature. That’s the thing that made him. Yeah, you have infinite power, but you only have so much battery life and that can run out at inconvenient times. That, for me, solved the whole Green Lantern problem…the costume is another thing.”
“Henry had a take on that, and I suddenly realized how these two characters had amazing similarities, which also allowed for amazing conflict, and an amazing universe-expanding resolution.”
Following the less-than-stellar performance that was 2011’sGreen Lanternstarring Ryan Reynolds,it’s almost heartbreaking to hear McQuarrie’s confidence and the angle he’d found to make Green Lantern compelling, which seems like it would have had some pretty impressive depth as he encountered Superman. Likewise, it also would have been some good pay-off for all the Green Lantern teases, including Yalan Gur inJustice League’sflashback when the ancient heroes of Earth first repelled Steppenwolf/Darkseid, the teases inZack Snyder’s Justice League, and his original vision to haveWayne T. Carr play John Stewart’s Green Lantern in the DCEU.
Man Of Steel 2 Tackling The Green Lanterns Could Have Made It Even More Interesting
A Cosmic Pairing Of Epic Proportions
It’s a lot of fun imagining aMan of Steel 2where Superman and Green Lantern butt heads before facing someone like Brainiac or some other cosmic threat.The idea that the canceled sequel would have focused on their similarities sounds very intriguing, even though the movie wasn’t meant to be. That said, James Gunn’sSupermanshould be very exciting, and I’m equally excited to see Guy Gardner’s Green Lantern in the upcoming DCU movie ahead of next year’sLanterns, which will reportedly be a grounded and dynamic take on the Green Lanterns as well.
