Given the standout success of Rocksteady’s famed Arkham series focusing on the life and times of Batman, fans continue to wonder why Warner Bros. still hasn’t decided to deliver a similarly well-crafted Superman game.
Undoubtedly on equal footing with the Dark Knight when it comes to popularity, that the all-powerful Kryptonian is still nowhere to be seen undoubtedly raises a few questions, though the character’s absence isn’t due to a lack of trying. According to a stream of interesting revelations provided by prominent whistleblower James Sigfield, Warner Bros. has, in fact, been doing its best to try and get such a venture off the ground since 2013.
Several such projects have been designed and even reached the concept stage numerous times in the past, says Sigfield, who continues to provide a number of leaked assets from the prematurely cancelled titles. One of these, which you can see below, was said to be called Superman Unbound and would have been set almost exclusively in the city of Kandor.
Another, having never been given a working title (not one publically known, at least), was said to have been an open-world affair similar to Insomniac’s terrific Spider-Man released last year for PlayStation 4. The city of Metropolis would have been freely explorable, with “various villains” from the DC pantheon intended to make an appearance.
Some solid ideas, then, but ultimately, no such proposals have ever seen the light of day. The presumption, of course, is that making a video game centered around an essentially indestructible being is simply too difficult to balance, but according to Sigfield, each failed due to Warner Bros.’ original mandate that any such adaptation was to use Rocksteady’s Arkham engine. Getting Superman’s flight to properly function in an engine not intended for such features was a fruitless endeavour.
Sad news indeed, but fans shouldn’t give up hope just yet. Warner Bros. is said to still be pursuing a Superman adventure, and may well have already done so. Fingers crossed that’s the case.
