And What's With Superman?

The DC Comic movie franchise is looking like a mess thanks to this Justice League movie Warner Brothers is adamant about. Superman seems to be suffering the most from it.

Reports are circling that Brandon Routh, the actor who played the Man of Steel in "Superman Returns," will not be returning for whatever Superman sequel takes place after "Justice League," which is a movie that may not get shot until the WGA strike has ended, pushing Superman back even further.

Currently, however, "Superman: Man of Steel" still has a May 2009 release date, but Bryan Singer, who is finishing up "Valkyrie," is now gearing up for another movie, "The Mayor of Castro Street." So is this it for the Singer/Routh era? Will Bryan Singer not finish up the storyline he had set up with the characters in "Superman Returns?"
And if they're merging the Superman franchise with "Justice League," where does this leave Christopher Nolan's Batman series? Not to fear. Apparently Warner Brothers is very happy with "The Dark Knight" and wants Nolan to continue with that Batman. (Thank God.)

But it seems "Superman Returns" wont get the sequel from Singer or even a sequel at all! "Justice League" may have ensured an official Superman reboot. I find this to be a darn shame. I may have been one of the few in the comic book geek circle, but I found "Superman Returns" to be very well done. It did a great job of re-establishing the characters, had some great narrative and really put Superman in a place where you felt for him. The writing made him interesting by giving sending him to a world of confusion. It doesn't look like we'll be seeing anymore of that though...

None of this has been confirmed from Warner Brothers, but there's enough sources out there to speculate it's probably true. I think this "Justice League" nonsense is a bad, bad idea and will do nothing but cheapen the characters. I, for one, would rather have had a "Superman" sequel than a mish-mash of A-list superheroes. I hope Nolan doesn't get so fed up with it that he decides not to return for the third Batman-- As the Superman franchise seems to already be ruined.