Summary
- David S. Goyer believes there should have been a direct sequel to Man of Steel before Batman v Superman, but Warner Bros. wanted their own MCU.
- Goyer was frustrated by the constant turnover of executives at Warner Bros. and DC, which led to inconsistent creative direction.
- Goyer had a story worked out for Man of Steel 2, but the project never came to fruition due to the chaotic nature of the DCEU’s development.
Oh, what could have been. Following the massive success of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy, the SnyderVerse’s DCEU began to take shape in 2013. Director Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel was the first installment in what was to become a very rocky ride for both DC Comics and the respective fandom. David S. Goyer served as the screenwriter on Man of Steel and a contributor with Chris Terrio on the film’s follow-up Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. And during an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused Podcast, Goyer revealed that he believes there should have been a direct, Superman sequel to Man of Steel before BvS. Goyer told host Josh Horowitz during their interview:
“Yeah, I think so. I think so. And I just think — I know the pressure that we were getting from Warner Bros., which is, ‘We need our MCU! We need our MCU!’ And I was one of the people that was saying, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Let’s not run before we walk, like hold on, hold on, hold on! They [Marvel] were very methodical in how they built it. We just can’t jump into all of these things.’
But the other thing that was really difficult at the time is, there was this revolving door of executives with both with Warner Bros. and DC. It felt like every 18 months someone new would come in and someone new would come in and someone new would come in. And we were just getting whiplash. And every new person that would come in [was] like, ‘We’re gonna go bigger!'”
Nolan actually helped Goyer develop the story for Man of Steel, but Snyder’s movie never matched the financial success of either The Dark Knight or The Dark Knight Rises. Both made over $1 billion each at the worldwide box office, while the first appearance of Henry Cavill’s Superman only managed $668 million. Meanwhile, Batman v Superman took in $873.6 million globally.
David S. Goyer Knew Man of Steel 2’s Story
Looking back, it may have been prudent to follow up Man of Steel with a direct sequel, but it never came to fruition. And now, the DCEU is defunct — the future lies in a Henry Cavill-less DCU forged by James Gunn and Peter Safran. But Man of Steel writer David S. Goyer remembers the insanity taking place as DC desperately tried to match wits with the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). And there were a lot of cooks in the kitchen trying to slip their ingredients into the superhero stew that eventually boiled over. Goyer said during the same interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast:
“I remember at one point the person that was running Warner Bros. at the time had this release they had pitched like, ‘It’s 20 movies over the next 10 years!’ But none of them had been written yet! It was just so crazy how much architecture was being built on air. For me, some of that stuff that was going on at that time, it was like, this is not how you build a house.”
Goyer also told the Happy Sad Confused podcast’s host Josh Horowitz that he did have a story worked out for Man of Steel 2, or whatever the solo, Cavill-led Superman sequel would have been titled. When asked about his idea for the project, Goyer said it was “bad form” to discuss what “would’ve, should’ve, could’ve” been. Fans of the Last Son of Krypton will just have to wait until 2025 to see their favorite hero take flight again in the DCU’s Superman: Legacy.
