While comic book movies fans are still drudging through the seemingly endless amount of information Marvel Studios presented at their San Diego Comic-Con panel, new rumors suggest Warner Bros. may soon be revealing a pretty big surprise of their own, and it’s all centered around their new multi-million dollar deal with J.J. Abrams.
According to Cosmic Book News – so take this with a very large grain of salt – Abrams will be helming both a new Superman and Green Lantern film for the DCEU. The director, who once penned a Superman script for the studio back in the early 2000s, recently closed a $500 million deal with WarnerMedia so his company Bad Robot could exclusively create new television, film, and streaming projects. We Got This Covered had previously heard this deal was part of a larger plan to nab Abrams for the DCEU, and now that’s looking more and more likely.
Cosmic Book News makes no mention as to whether or not it was WB or the director himself who chose the Green Lantern and Superman projects, but we know the studio has been attempting to reinvigorate both properties for a while now. In fact, a Green Lantern Corps movie was initially announced back in 2014, and for a short of amount of time it looked like Mission: Impossible – Fallout’s Chris McQuarrie was attached to direct (bringing along frequent collaborator Tom Cruise to star), but those plans fell apart.
Meanwhile, a possible Superman reboot has been up in the air for the better part of the last few years. While Henry Cavill begrudgingly admits that he’s still contracted to return for a future Man of Steel sequel, it seems like his take on the character is slowly being phased out. In fact, the Superman cameo in this year’s Shazam! didn’t even bring the actor back and instead awkwardly cropped his head out of frame. While Michael B. Jordan has been rumored to relaunch the Kryptonian superhero, it’s unknown what’s actually in store for the series’ future.
In any case, if this rumor is true, it only solidifies 2019 as the year of J.J. Abrams. The director’s next film, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, will bring the mainline science fiction franchise to its proper conclusion, surely breaking box office records in the process. Where the director heads from here is still anyone’s guess, but we wouldn’t be surprised if a Green Lantern or Superman movie will keep him looking toward the stars.
