Warner Bros.’ plans for the future of the Superman franchise seem to be in flux right now. With Henry Cavill’s career as Clark Kent possibly over, the studio has been developing a Supergirl movie instead and we’ve previously heard that this would be a reboot of the Super-corner of the DCEU, much like how The Batman is doing the same for the Bat-mythos. However, it now seems that the project could still connect to Man of Steel, after all, thanks to the potential return of one of that film’s cast members.
Sources close to WGTC – the same ones who told us a Green Lantern show is coming to HBO Max and Kevin Conroy was playing Kingdom Come Batman in “Crisis,” both of which ended up being correct – say that Warner Bros. reportedly wants Michael Shannon back as General Zod for the Supergirl movie. As for whether this confirms that the project will be part of the Cavill continuity now, that’s still unclear. We’ve been informed that it still might not be, but at this stage, WB isn’t really paying too much attention to that sort of thing anymore. Apparently, they’re more interested in focusing on the quality of the individual films and not worrying as much about continuity and keeping things in check.
As for how Zod would fit into the plot, obviously he won’t be returning in the present day as Superman killed him in MoS. Instead, he would apparently appear in flashbacks throughout the movie. We can maybe infer then that at least one of them would establish how Kara Zor-El also escaped the destruction of Krypton just like her cousin. Zod being involved would also help remind audiences that Kal-El’s own origin story is happening concurrently with Kara’s.
As for the continuity connections and possible errors this raises, I’d personally speculate that we could end up with something similar to how Fox’s X-Men franchise worked. Those films operated across various linked but separate timelines that the fans had to put together, and I think the DCEU could be going the same way over the next few years. But again, that’s just speculation on our part.
In any case, it was said last May that Supergirl would enter production in early 2020, but presumably that’s not happening anymore. As always, though, we’ll keep you updated as and when we hear more about the Girl of Steel’s DCEU debut.
