Spanish director J.A. Bayona’s star has been on the rise ever since 2007’s excellent The Orphanage. But though he’s currently deep in production on the as yet untitled Jurassic World 2, the rumor mill says that he’s hinting he might be entering the DCEU and taking the reins on Man of Steel 2, about which we currently know… well, nothing.
Now, bear with us here, because this is some fairly circumstantial and slightly tortured reasoning. The first clue though is that Bayona and DC creative head honcho Geoff Johns have followed each other on Twitter. It may sound like we’re stretching it, but this mutual following has been the first sign that a number of creatives are going to be involved in the DCEU – with Johns an important contact for any of their ideas. On top of that, Bayona’s Twitter header is currently a still of Christopher Reeves’ Superman in full superhero action.
Now, take that and examine Bayona’s recent Reddit AMA, in which he stated:
“The first movie I saw in my life was Superman. I was three years old. The first memory I had was Christopher Reeve flying in the suit. Directing a Superman film would be great. I always wanted to be Superman. That’s the film that made me want to become a director.”
And suddenly this chain of circumstantial coincidences doesn’t seem quite so flimsy, now does it? Of course, the obvious question is what Man of Steel 2 is going to be about, and whether a solo Superman movie will seem quite so enticing after the superhero smorgasboard of Justice League. Still, Superman has a largely unused rogues gallery to exploit, the most obvious candidate for big screen treatment being Brainiac, so we’d definitely like to see this happen.
We’ll bring you more when we have it, but for now, tell us, would you be happy if Bayona ends up directing Man of Steel 2?