Superman V (1980s/90s) Before the failure of
Superman: IV The Quest for Peace (1987),
The Cannon Group considered producing a fifth Superman film with
Albert Pyun attached as director. Cannon's subsequent bankruptcy resulted in the film rights reverting back to producers
Alexander and
Ilya Salkind. Under the Salkinds, development began on a sequel initially titled Superman: The New Movie, which was later retitled Superman Reborn. The project was intended to revive the franchise following Superman IV, with
Christopher Reeve and
Margot Kidder expected to reprise their roles as Superman and Lois Lane. The story reportedly featured the villain
Brainiac and involved Superman dying and being resurrected in the bottled Kryptonian city of
Kandor. The premise of Superman’s death and rebirth predated the 1992 DC Comics storyline
The Death of Superman. The project should not be confused with a separate screenplay of the same title written by Jonathan Lemkin during the same period as part of other attempts to relaunch the character. On November 12, 2024, a live script reading performance of Superman Reborn took place in Hollywood, California. The performance used an early draft of the script approved by producer Ilya Salkind and writers
Mark Jones and
Cary Bates prior to later revisions requested by Warner Bros. and DC Comics. The reading was followed by a question-and-answer session with Salkind and Jones, during which they stated that
George P. Cosmatos had previously been attached to direct the film before leaving the project. The event partnered with the
Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation to raise funds for spinal cord injury research. A recording of the performance was later released on David Kocher’s YouTube channel on February 13, 2025.
Superman Reborn (1995) With the success of "The Death of Superman" comic book storyline,
Warner Bros. purchased the film rights of Superman from the Salkinds in 1993, and hired producer
Jon Peters to develop a new Superman film. Peters, in turn, hired
Jonathan Lemkin to write a new script. titled
Superman Reborn, featured
Lois Lane and Clark Kent with relationship troubles, and Superman's battle with
Doomsday. When Superman professes his love to Lois, his life force jumps between them just as he dies, giving Lois a
virgin birth. Their child, who grows to adulthood in three weeks, becomes the resurrected Superman and saves the world. To rewrite Lemkin's text, Peters hired
Gregory Poirier, had
Brainiac creating Doomsday, infused with "
Kryptonite blood". In Poirier's script, Superman has romance problems with Lois Lane and visits a
psychiatrist before he is killed by Doomsday. An alien named Cadmus, a victim of Brainiac, steals his corpse. Superman is resurrected and teams with Cadmus to defeat Brainiac. Powerless, Superman wears a robotic suit until his powers—which, according to the script, are a mental discipline called "Phin-yar"—return. Though Poirier's script impressed Warner Brothers, Smith thought that Poirier's script did not respect the Superman mythos properly. • Peters also wanted Superman to fight a giant spider in the third act. Smith's "dream casting choices" included
Ben Affleck as Clark Kent/Superman,
Linda Fiorentino as Lois Lane,
Jack Nicholson as Lex Luthor,
Famke Janssen as
Mercy Graves,
John Mahoney as
Perry White,
David Hyde Pierce as the Eradicator,
Jason Lee as Brainiac, and
Jason Mewes as
Jimmy Olsen. Affleck would go on to portray Superman actor
George Reeves in the 2006 film
Hollywoodland, and Batman in the
DC Extended Universe, beginning with
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in 2016.
Robert Rodriguez was offered the chance to direct, but turned down the offer due to his commitment to
The Faculty (1998), despite liking Smith's script. Nicolas Cage, a comic book fan, signed on as Superman with a $20 million pay-or-play contract, believing he could "reconceive the character". Burton explained Cage's casting would be "the first time you would believe that nobody could recognize Clark Kent as Superman, he [Cage] could physically change his persona".
Kevin Spacey was approached for the role of Lex Luthor, a role also considered for
Jim Carrey and
Gary Oldman.
Sandra Bullock,
Courteney Cox and
Julianne Moore had been approached for Lois Lane, while
Chris Rock was cast as Jimmy Olsen. Filming was originally set to begin in early 1998.
Rewrites and production In the summer of 1997,
Superman Lives entered pre-production, Burton chose
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as his primary filming location for
Metropolis, The studio was also considering changing the title
Superman Lives back to
Superman Reborn. Deeming Wesley Strick's script too expensive, Warner Bros. enlisted the help of
Dan Gilroy to rewrite it into something more economically feasible. Gilroy lowered the $190 million budget set by Strick's draft to $100 million, but the studio was still less willing to fast-track production, due to financial reasons with other film properties, having Gilroy turn in two drafts.
Abandonment In April 1998, also following the critical failure of the 1997 film
Batman & Robin, Warner Bros. ultimately chose to put the film on hold; Disappointed by the lack of progress on the film's production, aspiring screenwriter/comic book fan Alex Ford was able to have a script of his (titled
Superman: The Man of Steel) accepted at the studio's offices in September 1998. Ford pitched his idea for a film series consisting of seven installments, and his approach impressed Warner Bros. and Peters, though he was later given a farewell due to creative differences.
Simon West and
Stephen Norrington were reportedly top contenders as well. In June 1999,
William Wisher Jr. was hired to write a new script, and Cage assisted on story elements. Cage dropped out of the project in June 2000, while Wisher turned in a new script in August, reported to have contained similar elements with
The Matrix.
Retrospective development (2015–2018, 2023) The film's backstory was covered in the 2015 documentary film
The Death of "Superman Lives": What Happened?. Kevin Smith would go on to direct the ninth episode of the second season of
Supergirl, which was titled "
Supergirl Lives" as homage to
Superman Lives. In November 2016, Kevin Smith said that he was open to having the
Superman Lives script be adapted as an animated film, with Nicolas Cage voicing Superman and
Michael Rooker voicing Lex Luthor. The following year,
Batman vs. Two-Face writer
Michael Jelenic revealed that he originally pitched an animated film based on Smith's
Superman Lives script, saying that Warner Bros seriously considered it for a long time. According to Jelenic, Cage would have loved to voice Superman in the film, but the idea never materialized and his pitch was abandoned. Cage was ultimately cast to voice Superman in the animated film
Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, based on the
Teen Titans Go! cartoon show, which was released in July 2018. In 2019, Cage was approached to play Superman, in live-action form, by
Marc Guggenheim and the producers of the
Arrowverse five-part
crossover event "
Crisis on Infinite Earths", which aired from December 2019 to January 2020, but Cage's inclusion was ultimately dropped for unknown reasons. In 2023, Cage made a cameo as Superman in
The Flash, directed by
Andy Muschietti. The film includes a scene rendered through computer-generated imagery where Cage as Superman, exactly as he looks in the 1990s test footage, fights a robotic spider, as an homage to the demand that Jon Peters gave to Kevin Smith.
Batman vs. Superman: Asylum (2004) In the early 2000s, Warner Bros. wanted to
reboot the Superman film series with an origin story and ignore "The Death of Superman" storyline that had been stuck in
development limbo through the late 1990s. In 2001, screenwriter
Paul Attanasio was almost signed to pen a new script for producer Jon Peters; although
McG being widely reported as attached to Attanasio's
Superman script, which was
greenlit, he dropped out in favor of ''
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003). Ultimately, Andrew Kevin Walker was hired in August that year after pitching Warner Bros. an idea titled Batman vs. Superman'', attaching
Wolfgang Petersen as director. In February 2002, filmmaker
J. J. Abrams was hired to write a new screenplay for a stand-alone Superman film, going under the title of
Superman: Flyby, again approaching Petersen to direct. In July, Abrams turned in his script, designed to be the first of a trilogy.
Lorenzo di Bonaventura—Warner Bros' executive vice president for worldwide motion pictures—though liking Abrams' script, nonetheless planned to release
Batman vs Superman first. Abrams' script was thereby put on hold in favor of Walker's
Batman vs. Superman idea. Goldsman's draft, dated June 21, 2002, introduced Bruce Wayne attempting to shake all of the demons in his life after his 5-year retirement from crime-fighting.
Dick Grayson,
Alfred Pennyworth, and
Commissioner Gordon are all dead. Meanwhile, Clark Kent is down on his luck and in despair after his divorce from Lois Lane. Clark serves as Bruce's best man at his wedding to the beautiful Elizabeth Miller. After Elizabeth is killed by the
Joker at the honeymoon, Bruce is forced to don the
Batsuit once more, tangling a plot which involves Lex Luthor, while Clark begins a romance with
Lana Lang in
Smallville and tries to pull Bruce back. In return, Bruce blames Clark for her death, and the two go against one another, prodded on by Luthor. After Batman decides not to succumb to his rage, the two team up, stop Luthor in his mechanized suit, and an incoming meteor storm. The studio wanted
Johnny Depp as
Batman and
Josh Hartnett as Superman.
Christian Bale, who was being considered for the lead in
Darren Aronofsky's
Batman: Year One adaptation at the time (another canceled film), was simultaneously approached by Petersen for the Batman role. Petersen confirmed in a 2010 interview that the only actor he approached for Superman was Josh Hartnett. Warner Bros canceled development to focus on individual Superman and Batman projects after Abrams submitted another draft for
Superman: Flyby.
Superman: Man of Steel (2004) Turning in his script in July 2002, J. J. Abrams'
Superman: Man of Steel, commonly referred to as
Superman: Flyby, was an origin story that included Krypton besieged by a civil war between
Jor-El and his corrupt brother Kata-Zor. Before Kata-Zor sentences Jor-El to prison, Kal-El is launched to Earth to fulfill a prophecy. Adopted by
Jonathan and Martha Kent, he forms a romance with Lois Lane in the
Daily Planet. Lois, however, is more concerned with exposing Lex Luthor, written as a government agent obsessed with
UFO phenomena. Clark reveals himself to the world as Superman, bringing Kata-Zor's son, Ty-Zor, and three other Kryptonians to Earth. Superman is defeated and killed, and visits Jor-El (who committed suicide on Krypton while in prison) in Kryptonian heaven. Resurrected, he returns to Earth and defeats the four Kryptonians. The script ends with Superman flying off to Krypton in a spaceship.
Christopher Reeve joined as project consultant, citing
Tom Welling, who portrayed the teenage Clark Kent in
Smallville, as an ideal candidate. Reeve added that "the character is more important than the actor who plays him, because it is an enduring mythology. It definitely should be an unknown". Ratner approached Josh Hartnett,
Jude Law,
Paul Walker and
Brendan Fraser for Superman, but conceded that finding a famous actor for the title role had proven difficult because of contractual obligations to appear in sequels: "No star wants to sign that, but as much as I've told Jude and Josh my vision for the movie, I've warned them of the consequences of being Superman. They'll live this character for 10 years because I'm telling one story over three movies and plan to direct all three if the first is as successful as everyone suspects". Hartnett in particular was offered $100 million for a three-picture deal, but turned it down as he didn't want his life be "shallowed up" by his work. Walker tested for the role and seriously considered taking it, but later declined it and as well the $10 million deal as he felt it wasn't for him. He would later explained that "I could have made a gazillion dollars on that franchise. I could probably have bought my own fleet of jets or my own island. You know what? I don't need it". Law immediately felt he was wrong for the part upon putting on the costume, admitting that it was a "step too far".
David Boreanaz,
Victor Webster and
Ashton Kutcher auditioned, along with
Keri Russell as Lois Lane, but Kutcher decided not to pursue the role, citing scheduling conflicts with ''
That '70s Show, the Superman curse and fear of typecasting, while Boreanaz had to back out due to obligations with Angel''. Although it was never formally announced,
Matt Bomer confirmed that he was in the running for the lead role, being Ratner's preferred choice at the time. Bomer would later voice the character in the 2013 animated film
Superman: Unbound. Bomer later felt that the reason he ultimately did not get the role was due to him coming out as gay.
Amy Adams had also auditioned for Lois Lane, and would eventually win the role eight years later when she was cast in
Man of Steel.
Superman: Man of Steel was being met with a budget exceeding $200 million, not including money spent on
Superman Reborn,
Superman Lives, and
Batman vs. Superman, but Warner Bros. was still adamant about a summer 2004 release date.
Joel Edgerton turned down a chance to audition as Superman in favor of the villain Ty-Zor, before Ratner dropped out of the project in March 2003, blaming casting delays, and aggressive feuds with producer Jon Peters. McG returned as director in 2003, while Fraser continued to express interest, but had fears of typecasting. ESC Entertainment was hired for
visual effects work, with Kim Libreri as visual effects supervisor and
Stan Winston designing a certain "prototype suit". McG approached
Shia LaBeouf for Jimmy Olsen, with an interest to cast an unknown for Superman,
Scarlett Johansson as Lois Lane and Johnny Depp for Lex Luthor.
Robert Downey Jr. was soon afterward cast as Lex Luthor.
Neal H. Moritz and
Gilbert Adler were set to produce the film. McG also commissioned
Josh Schwartz to rewrite the Abrams script. He also shot test footage with several candidates, including
Jason Behr,
Henry Cavill,
Jared Padalecki, McG left the project soon afterward, blaming budgetary concerns and disagreement over filming locations. He opted to shoot in New York City and Canada, but Warner Bros. wanted
Sydney,
Australia, which would have cost $25 million less. McG released a statement saying that he felt "it was inappropriate to try to capture the heart of America on another continent". He eventually admitted in a 2012 interview that his
fear of flying was the real reason for his objection to Australia. but Warner Bros. replaced McG with
Bryan Singer in July 2004, resulting in
Superman Returns, which was released in 2006. In August 2013,
Geoff Johns mentioned that Warner Bros. was considering turning unproduced scripts and screenplays into original animated films and had expressed interest in making an animated adaptation of the
"Flyby" screenplay.
Superman Returns sequel (2008–2009) Four months before the release of
Superman Returns, Warner Bros. announced a summer 2009 theatrical release date for a sequel, with Bryan Singer returning as director, along with
Brandon Routh, Kevin Spacey,
Kate Bosworth,
Sam Huntington,
Frank Langella, and
Tristan Lake Leabu expected to reprise their roles. After the release of
Superman Returns in July 2006, the studio was hesitant on moving forward with development. Warner Bros. President
Alan F. Horn explained that
Superman Returns was a successful film, but that it "should have done $500 million worldwide" and that the film could have featured more action for the young male audience. Singer was critical to the studio complaints, and considered that the film was financially successful enough to guarantee a sequel. Filming was supposed to start in March 2008. While no screenplay was ever written, Singer would have titled it
Man of Steel, stressing that it would have been more action-packed than
Superman Returns. Though Singer had an interest in
Darkseid as the main villain, writer
Michael Dougherty was interested in using Brainiac for the proposed sequel:In my mind, if the Kryptonians really were a space-faring race ... it would only make sense that there would've been colonies and off-planet missions ... other Kryptonians making their way to Earth seemed like a pretty big one. It wouldn't necessarily be evil right off the bat. That's too easy and cliché ... I think it'd be interesting to see how these other Kryptonians show up, land, and have all these powers and [have to learn] how to adapt to them. In February 2007, the studio commissioned husband and wife duo Michele and
Kieran Mulroney to write a script for a
Justice League film, halting development for the
Superman Returns sequel. The
Justice League script was submitted to Warner Bros. the following June, which prompted the studio to immediately fast-track production of what was to be titled
Justice League: Mortal. As Singer went on to film
Valkyrie (2008) the next month, The script would have featured a different Superman in a separate continuity from Singer's film; Routh was not approached to reprise his role for
Justice League: Mortal, which ended up going to
D. J. Cotrona. The film nearly went into production in March 2008, but the
Australian Film Commission denied Warner Brothers their 40%
tax rebate and Cotrona's
options eventually expired. With
Justice League: Mortal canceled, Singer renewed his interest in the
Superman Returns sequel that same month, stating that it was in early development. In August 2008, the studio's President of Production, Jeff Robinov, admitted:
Superman Returns didn't quite work as a film in the way that we wanted it to.... It didn't position the character the way he needed to be positioned.... Had
Superman worked in 2006, we would have had a movie for Christmas of this year or 2009. Now the plan is just to reintroduce Superman without regard to a Batman and Superman movie at all. featuring a younger Batman in a separate franchise. George Miller was hired to direct the following September, Filming had nearly commenced at
Fox Studios Australia in Sydney, but was pushed back over the
Writers Guild of America strike, and once more when the Australian Film Commission denied Warner Bros. a 45 percent tax rebate over lack of Australian actors in the film. Production offices were moved to
Vancouver Film Studios in Canada for an expected July 2008 start and a planned summer 2009 theatrical release date, but Warner Bros. ultimately canceled
Justice League following the success of
The Dark Knight. Hammer's option on his contract lapsed, and the studio was more willing to proceed with Christopher Nolan to finish his trilogy separately with
The Dark Knight Rises.
Man of Steel sequel (2014–2022) Warner Bros. Pictures announced release dates for a full slate of
DC Comics-based films in October 2014, forming a new
shared universe known as the
DC Extended Universe (DCEU). At the same time, the company said that an un-dated Superman film was in development, with Henry Cavill set to reprise his role of
Clark Kent / Superman from
Man of Steel (2013).
Black-led Superman film (2021–2022) In February 2021,
Ta-Nehisi Coates was revealed to be writing a new Superman film for the DCEU that was in early development.
J. J. Abrams was set as producer alongside Hannah Minghella, with no director or actors attached to the project yet. ==Recurring cast and characters==