It seems that a Man of Steel 2 is still on the cards at Warner Bros., some eight years after the original Zack Snyder release. While there are doubts over the firmness of the movie’s existence, Geekosity are claiming that the screenplay will be based on renowned comics All-Star Superman and Superman: Red Son. With Henry Cavill due to appear one more time as Clark Kent, it’s not out of the realm of the possibility that Man of Steel 2 could happen.
One source for the story is a Hollywood Reporter interview with David S. Goyer, where the screenwriter arguably doesn’t rule anything out, but also admits that he’s not actually able to make a statement due to being out of the loop on the main DCEU properties. Although it’s now looking unlikely that Snyder will continue his work with WB, there have been claims that he’s still keen to create a follow-up to the 2013 feature.
If efforts are made to lift parts of All-Star Superman and Red Son, the producers would have a lot of promising material. The former is a limited series by Grant Morrison dealing with Superman’s impending death from sun overexposure, and the feats he sets out to achieve before his demise. Critically acclaimed, All-Star has previously been adapted into an animated picture, and had elements of its dialogue written into Man of Steel.
However, it’s hard to see why Warner Bros. would want to tackle another “death of Superman” plot after this idea was thoroughly explored in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League, and stripping a few beats for a new script doesn’t really make sense. Similarly, Red Son, wherein Kal-El crash lands in the Ukraine and grows up to be a symbol of the Soviet Union rather than the USA.
Again, we’ve already seen Red Son come to the screen in animation, and the degree to which Mark Millar’s creation will be translated appears to be cursory at best, with Geekosity hinting that Cavill’s character may face his Russian counterpart. It’s difficult, then, to get behind the reality of Man of Steel 2, going on the patchy nature of the information provided so far.