Barry Sonnenfeld’s Metal Men movie is back in development

Here’s a blast from the past: It’s been nearly a decade since it was first announced that Barry Sonnenfeld would be directing a big-screen adaptation of DC’s Metal Men. We haven’t heard all that much about the Metal Men movie since then, so it made sense to think that the project had been shelved. While speaking with ComicBookMovie.com, Barry Sonnenfeld revealed that the Metal Men movie is actually back in active development.

You know, it’s funny because I am developing Metal Men with Warner Bros. We’re actively working on a treatment for that. For me, it’s not so much a superhero thing as it is world-building. If you look at the work I’ve done, whether it’s The Addams Family, Men in Black, Pushing Daisies, Schmigadoon!, or A Series of Unfortunate Events, it’s all about creating a world. An unusual, slightly off-kilter quirky, different kind of world; that’s what I love doing.

Barry Sonnenfeld added that while the Metal Men movie will take place in a real-world it will have a slight quirky tilt to it. Just who are the Metal Men? Take it away official description! “Created by scientist Dr. William “Will” Magnus, the six robots were field leader Gold, strong man Iron, slow-witted and loyal Lead, hot-headed Mercury, self-doubting and insecure Tin, and Platinum (also called “Tina”), who believed she was a real woman and was in love with her creator,” reads the description. “The group’s personalities mirrored their namesake metals, being dictated by devices called “responsometers”. Each Metal Man also possessed abilities that reflected the traits of their namesake metal: Gold could stretch his form almost infinitely, Iron was super strong, Lead could block harmful radiation by morphing into thick shields, Mercury could melt and pass through small spaces before reforming and Platinum could stretch or flatten.“

Barry Sonnenfeld’s last movie was Nine Lives, a critically panned comedy that starred Kevin Spacey as a business tycoon who winds up in the body of a cat named Mr. Fuzzypants.