According to a report from Collider, Warner Bros. is actively courting Matthew Vaughn to direct a proper, Superman-focused sequel to Zack Snyder’s Man Of Steel. Vaughn was the director behind the excellent X-Men: First Class, which brilliantly reinvigorated the struggling X-Men movies by injecting a bit of fun into the superhero heroics, so it would make sense for Warner Bros. to be talking to him about jumping on board with its painfully morose DC superhero movies.
Collider even notes that Vaughn says he had a “brief chat” with Warner Bros. years ago about making a Superman movie pre-Man Of Steel, and he’s also noted in the past that he believes making a serious Superman movie a la The Dark Knight is the wrong way to go. “Superman is about color and fun,” he said, “or it should be.” This all sounds very early, as Vaughn and Warner Bros. aren’t even “in the deal-making stage” yet, but if these talks work out and Vaughn signs on to direct Man Of Steel 2, it could signal an important tonal shift for the DC movies. Or, at the very least, it indicates that the studio might be getting tired of Zack Snyder’s approach.