Matthew Vaughn pitched a Superman trilogy before Man of Steel but Warner Bros. wasn’t interested

Before Warner Bros. launched the DCEU with Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel, Matthew Vaughn and Mark Millar had pitched a Superman trilogy that would have reinvented the iconic hero in a big way.

While speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Matthew Vaughn said, “Mark and I sat down and plotted out a three film trilogy, pitched it to Warner Bros. before ‘Man of Steel’… we pitched how to do a trilogy of Superman movies and Warners said they weren’t interested. That’s as far as it went.” That may be as far as it went for Warner Bros., but Vaughn did spill a few details of what he had in mind.

Vaughn would have embraced the tone of the original Richard Donner Superman movie but with a modern sensibility. It also would have changed Superman’s origin in a big way. “I think Donner nailed it,” Vaughn said. “Wonder Woman worked very well because it was basically a Donner/Superman film but reimagined as Wonder Woman. I would’ve done a modern version of Donner. Our big idea was that Krypton doesn’t blow up. It does eventually. The dad was right, but he got his timing wrong. When Superman is grown up, suddenly there’s a mass exodus and all hell breaks loose. That was our main idea.” Having Superman grow up on Krypton before its destruction is quite different from his typical origin, which found him launched into space as an infant and raised by Jonathan and Martha Kent in Kansas.

Although Matthew Vaughn never got to bring his vision of Superman to life, he does have a suggestion for James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy — cast Taron Egerton as Lex Luthor. “He’d be better as Lex Luthor,” Vaughn said. “He’d be an amazing Luthor. He shouldn’t be Wolverine. I don’t think he’s right for it. You got to really go back to the comic. Hugh is brilliant as Wolverine, but I’d go back to the what the comics are… [he’s] small, grizzly, tough guy. Hugh has made it so iconic that if you go into that version… no. Taron would make an amazing, intelligent villain.“

The director added that he may have a shot in the new DC Universe as he’s “been talking” with James Gunn and Peter Safran. It remains to be seen if this is about any project in particular, or just a general discussion about possibilities. Vaughn’s next project is Argylle, a twisty spy movie set to debut on February 2, 2024.