Comic book fanboys are a conservative bunch that recoil at any hit of any changes to the way characters are portrayed on the screen vs the page and they’re fiercely protective of canon. One upcoming project that has drawn the ire of the geek community is the as-of-yet untitled “Man Of Steel” sequel that’s thrown everyone through a loop with its casting news over the past few months. And with cameras yet to start rolling, director Zack Snyder is already tired of the scrutiny.
In a conversation with Hero Complex called the intense focus on the sequel both “reassuring and frustrating at the time,” citing both the negative attention (“Some people are hating to hate)” and the positive (“Some people — someone did some fan art. And you look underneath and someone wrote, ‘I guess I can see it’”). Still, he understands the importance and enormity of the project, saying “As a fan, it’s an amazing opportunity. You know, Superman and Batman in the movies have never existed in the same frame together. So it’s an interesting historical thing.”
Even though Snyder stresses that he “understand[s] the canon,” the “300” director says the super-sized sequel “literally takes the ‘Man of Steel’ and ‘Batman’ universes and explodes them. You’re not as tied to the mythology. In ‘Man of Steel,’ we had to create an origin story, a mythology, and there’s a lot of energy into that, which we love doing. Don’t get me wrong. But when you think about how fun it is too — now you’ve got these characters — to now let ‘em loose. That’s fun!” And with Ben Affleck, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeremy Irons and Gal Gadot among the additions to the cast, Snyder’s “hoping that leads to enough originality, enough perspective on what we’re doing that you get something fresh and exciting.” So cut the guy some slack, nerds, he’s just trying to give you something you’ve never seen before.
In other comic book movie news, “X-Men: First Class” director Matthew Vaughn talked to Empire (via Yahoo Movies UK) about the Josh Trank-helmed “Fantastic Four” reboot he’s producing and the British filmmaker proceeded to dump on Tim Story’s previous Jessica Alba-starring take on the franchise. Vaughn told the magazine the new film — which stars Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Miles Teller and Jamie Bell — will be “a total reboot, that’s for sure. It’s got nothing to do with the other blood ones. It’s not a stretchy guy and a guy running around in rock that looks like it’s made polystyrene. And it’s not a comedy.” In other words, it’s going to be dark, gritty and have a more realistic Thing. The “Fantastic Four” reboot hits theaters next summer, with “Batman Vs. Superman” arriving in 2016.
