Zack Snyder drops info on Man of Steel, including the film being “on course” for Justice League

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

In a few weeks we’ll have our first look at the full trailer for MAN OF STEEL, the next iteration of Superman on the big screen as directed by Zack Snyder and embodied by actor Henry Cavill.  The teaser was a nice warm up, but I think we’re all waiting to breathe a sigh of relief in the hopes of a downright awesome adaptation, which still hangs in the balance as of right now.  I don’t think anyone has made a sure bet just yet.  Snyder and Cavill recently spoke to the NY Post, talking about various aspects of the film, from the costume, the mythology, working with Christopher Nolan, the realism, and the film’s ties to the recently announced JUSTICE LEAGUE film set for 2015.

Snyder on the mythology and approach:

“We tried to approach this as though there’s never been a Superman movie before, but at the same time respecting the canon and mythology,” said Snyder.  “There are the pillars that you have to respect, and I’m not about to break them. But it is fun for me to bend them and mess with them.”

Snyder on working with Christopher Nolan:

“There’s a logic and concreteness that has to exist with Chris,” Snyder says. “You can’t just do stuff because it’s cool. He demands that there be story and character behind all of it, which I’m a big fan of.”

Cavill on the “realism” of the film:

“I liked the idea of the realism immediately,” Cavill said. “Traditional Superman fans know what it’s all about, and they will hopefully love and associate with the character anyway. But the people who aren’t die-hard Superman fans still need to associate with the character, and that needs to have some realism in today’s world, certainly, in sense of a science as opposed to mythology attached to it as well.”

Snyder on the costume (and lack of briefs):

“The costume was a big deal for me, and we played around for a long time,” said Snyder. “I tried like crazy to keep the red briefs on him. Everyone else said, ‘You can’t have the briefs on him.’ I looked at probably 1,500 versions of the costumes with the briefs on.”

“If you look at the costume, it’s very modern, but the relationship to the original costume is strong,” Snyder says. “You come onto a project like this, and you hear about modernization and you hear about bringing things forward to today, and all you can do is hope that it’s going to look cool and different from anything you’ve seen before.”

Snyder on the “big picture”:

“We approach the film as a single endeavor,” he says. “There are a lot of gears that have to turn in the world of commerce and the world of the mythology we create to facilitate more adventures for this character. We’ll see what happens.”

Snyder on how Man of Steel fits in with Justice League:

“I don’t know how ‘Justice League’ is going to be handled. Honestly, I don’t,” Snyder says. “But ‘The Man of Steel’ exists, and Superman is in it. I don’t know how you’d move forward without acknowledging that.”

Snyder on whether or not the studio wanted MAN OF STEEL to be integrated into a larger universe:

“Um, how can I answer that?” he wonders. “I can’t really say anything to that, because that’s a big spoiler. I will say, yeah, they trust me to keep them on course.”

Cryptic, but telling.  I would not be surprised if there weren’t some “late in the game” tweaks to blend MAN OF STEEL into the JUSTICE LEAGUE timeline, given the recent announcement for the latter’s release date in 2015.  Perhaps it was planned all along, but the emphasis couldn’t be more important than now, seeing as the path is most certainly set.  Will Cavill play Supes in JUSTICE LEAGUE?  I would surely bet on it.  I couldn’t imagine how they’d do it without him at this juncture.  It would just seem weird and intrusive. 

Zack Snyder’s MAN OF STEEL, starring Henry Cavill, Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, and Christopher Meloni takes to the skies on June 14, 2013.