Man Of Steel: What If The Wachowski's Had Directed The First DCEU Movie

While Zack Snyder's trajectory as director of Man of Steel and short-lived spearhead of the DCEU is widely documented, the Superman reboot almost ended up in the hands of the Wachowskis, which would've been a very different film. Back in 2008, Warner Bros. began accepting pitches from industry professionals and comic book writers on how to successfully reboot the Superman film franchise, after the disappointing reaction to 2006's Superman Returns. The studio wanted to specifically have a film released or in production by 2011, as the Jerry Siegel estate would have legally been able to sue Warner Bros. for compensation for any revenue lost from an unproduced film.

The pitches involved famous creators such as Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, Mark Millar, and Matthew Vaughn, as well as many others, some of whom were involved with previous Superman films that were planned by the studio. However, during the early days of brainstorming ideas for The Dark Knight Rises, David S. Goyer pitched to Christopher Nolan his idea for how to make a grounded Superman film. Nolan was immediately impressed with the concept and arranged for it to be brought to Warner Bros., describing it as a "first contact" style look at the character's origin. The studio was open to the idea and brought on Nolan as a producer and Goyer as a writer, with Zack Snyder being hired to direct the film in late 2010.

Snyder's Man of Steel was met with mixed reactions from critics but enough success at the box office to warrant a sequel, 2016's infamous Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. However, there were a lot of filmmakers who were in the running to reboot the franchise, and fans could have been treated to something radically different. In particular, the Wachowski sisters, architects of The Matrix and its sequels, could have introduced audiences to a radically different take on the character.

Man of Steel Still Would Have Been Polarizing

The Wachowskis were approached regarding a Superman reboot back in early 2009, and reports seemed to suggest that they were interested in doing a trilogy of films. While Snyder's direction for the franchise was mired in divisiveness and controversy, there's no reason to assume that the Wachowskis' hypothetical series wouldn't have been the exact same way. When rumors began to circulate about their attachment to Superman, it was one year after the release of Speed Racer, their love letter to the classic animated series that was unfortunately a critical and commercial bomb. Opinion on the film has begun to shift in recent years, with Speed Racer becoming something of a cult classic, but upon release it was heavily criticized for sidelining plot and character development in favor of over-the-top and gaudy special effects.

The Wachowskis have gone on to direct two more films, the book adaptation Cloud Atlas and the science-fiction epic Jupiter Ascending, both of which were financial disappointments. The former's large ensemble and sprawling narrative split critical reception down the middle, with some citing it as one of the best films of the year, and others calling it one of the worst. The latter was widely rejected by both critics and audiences for its underdeveloped story and poorly written screenplay. The Wachowskis frequently fill their movies with larger-than-life themes and allegorical concepts, sometimes to the detriment of the story, something that they share in common with Zack Snyder himself. Because of that, and the films they made instead, then their Man of Steel would've been just as polarizing, if not even more so, as his.

It Would Probably Have Started A More Traditional Superman Trilogy

Much to the chagrin of Superman fans everywhere, Warner Bros. has still not greenlit a sequel to Man of Steel, despite being released seven years ago. Instead, Snyder and co. used Man of Steel as a springboard to expand the DCEU, introducing Batman in the sequel. The intention was to use the first two films in the franchise as the foundation of a five film epic, one with a definite beginning, middle, and end, which would culminate in the ending of a Justice League trilogy. Unfortunately, Snyder was replaced by Joss Whedon as the director of Justice League, ending Snyder's plans for a grand overarching story.

However, if the Wachowski sisters had been in charge, it's more than likely that audiences would never have gotten Batman in the sequel in the first place. The rumors from 2009 make no mention of any other characters being present in the Wachowskis' hypothetical trilogy, and Christopher Nolan's pitch to Warner Bros. around the same time specifically set Kal-El in his own universe, apart from other heroes like Batman and Wonder Woman.

It seems as if the emphasis on a cinematic universe was brought about by Warner Bros. desire to compete with the MCU, and Snyder simply provided the story concept and passion to do so. Seeing the focus that the Wachowskis put on Neo's mystical powers in The Matrix, there's also no evidence that they would have gone with a more grounded or realistic take on the character. Their perchance for using heavy special effects and leaning into the campy nature of their stories suggests that, if anything, they'd be more interested in depicting Kal-El as more of a traditional comic book interpretation.

Man of Steel 2 Would Have Been More Cosmic

With the freedom to explore the Superman mythos on its own without having to rely on other superheroes, the Wachowskis would have had free rein to work with elements of the character that have never been used on-screen before. And knowing that the Wachowski sisters generally thrive in the realm of science-fiction, it's not a stretch to assume that they would have taken the character into the stars and beyond. Superman as a character exists within the realm of sci-fi, and a lot of his stories reflect this. Something that most Superman films usually do is keep the character grounded on Earth, and the Wachowskis could have done the exact opposite, giving fans a massive adventure with the kind of intergalactic space-opera scale that they used in Jupiter Ascending.

The Superman mythos also contains lots of villains that could be used in a galactic/cosmic slant. For instance, Brainiac, the intergalactic tyrant with a twelfth-level intellect and a habit of shrinking planets, is a villain that could feel right at home in a Wachowskis-directed Superman film. They've already explored the concept of artificial intelligence and species-wide enslavement in The Matrix franchise, and a Superman vs Brainiac story would be the perfect opportunity for them to revisit those concepts from a different perspective. There are also tons of other spacefaring villains that the directing duo could have had Superman face, including Mongul, Darkseid, or even the forever 90's archetype Lobo.

The DCEU Wouldn't Necessarily Have Been Issue Free

While it's certainly enticing to think about an alternate universe in which Superman had been rebooted by the same team who gave the world one of the greatest science-fiction films of all time, there's no certainty that it would have solved any of the problems currently facing DC's cinematic outings. As described above, the Wachowski sisters haven't been box office gold in the past 10 years, and their more recent films are pretty much guaranteed to be divisive among audiences. On top of this, Warner Bros. is notorious for meddling in the production process of films that they don't have faith in, with Batman v. Superman and Suicide Squad being prime examples. Despite the Wachowskis' vision for Man of Steel never coming to fruition, fans can continue to hope that somewhere down the line, a visionary filmmaker with a great idea for how to handle the character will come along and rejuvenate the Superman franchise.

More: How Superman Stayed True To The Comics In Zack Snyder's Batman V. Superman