For Superman’s birthday, GQ caught up with Zack Snyder and asked, “What would have Man of Steel 2 looked like?”
As I just went over in the article about how Zack said Superman is fake if he can’t kill Zod, Man of Steel opened big at the box office and there was talk of doing Man of Steel 2 right away.
However, from what I have been told, the box office fizzled and since Man of Steel didn’t hit that magic billion dollar mark at the box office following the Christopher Nolan Dark Knight movies, Ben Affleck was brought in and Man of Steel 2 was combined with a solo Batman movie to become Batman vs. Superman. That Batman movie became Matt Reeves’ The Batman years later.
So at the time, the rumors offered that if Man of Steel 2 was going to happen, it was going to feature Brainiac as well as Supergirl. Recall that tie-in comic and the opened pod in Man of Steel, which was Supergirl. James Gunn actually might be doing a take on that in his Superman movie as both Brainiac and Supergirl are rumored.
What does Zack Snyder say about Man of Steel 2 and Brainiac?
Anyway, back to what Zack says, he makes it seem as if wanted to move in a direction toward Batman. Snyder basically says once you opened the door and Batman exists in Superman’s universe, you can’t close the door and that it becomes about Batman. I don’t agree with that take, but worth a mention is Snyder mentions Man of Steel 2 and Brainiac.
Here’s the transcript:
Here’s what happened in my opinion, like once you talk about the fact that Bruce Wayne exists in the same world as Superman, right?
Then you are into a Batman concept. You have to finish that thought.
Now, “Man of Steel 2,” if you were to make it, you know, with Brainiac or whatever you’re gonna do, which it certainly could have been, you’re just, and maybe that’s it, you hold it off for a movie and that’s possible.
I just felt like I needed to know what Bruce’s take on this was, like Bruce’s take on the near destruction of the world. And it really depends on how important you think Batman is in the Trinity.
‘Cause the truth is, Batman can’t do anything necessarily immediately to stop Superman.
“Superman” was the most realistic movie I’ve made, which I thought was, is a cool thing to think about.
Like, for me, the most grounded, sort of naturalistic film that I’ve made, and I did that on purpose, was a movie about a guy who could fly.
Zack also told Brobible the following back in 2021:
We talked about a Brainiac movie. But I do think that the Kryptonians that are in the Phantom Zone are probably still around. And there was always a possibility for their return. Faora and whoever’s left. That was a thing that was always out there that we talked about as a possible sequel. I just think it’s best to give Superman these extaterrestrial challenges because I think you’ve got to be careful with — other than Lex Luthor, because, of course, you have to continue with Lex, because Lex is his real nemesis — but I think you really have to look outside of the Earth for challenges for him because of how powerful he is.
(Via YouTube)
