Back in 1996, Kevin Smith pitched an idea for his own Superman film, which was eventually titled Superman Lives. Before that point, the Superman franchise was stalled after the critical and box office failure of Christopher Reeve’s final turn as the character in 1987’s Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. Smith’s script was accepted, though it was heavily changed and eventually rewritten when Tim Burton joined as director. Despite Nicolas Cage joining not long after in the role of Superman, the film never materialized and was eventually canceled. Still, Superman Lives has remained a pop-culture phenomenon, serving as one of the biggest Hollywood “what if” stories of the last two decades.

With that in mind, Smith is still occasionally asked about the rocky production and cancelation of Superman Lives (there’s even a detailed behind-the-scenes documentary about the film titled The Death of Superman Lives), and more importantly the future of the unproduced film. Now, it looks like Smith is on board with his script being adapted in a slightly different medium than originally intended.

Smith recently participated in a Facebook Q&A (via Comic Book) and was asked about his thoughts on Superman Lives being brought to life as an animated film. Smith was all for the idea, even advocating for Cage to return to voice Superman as well Michael Rooker, who he considers his ideal choice for Lex Luthor. Smith’s full answer can be viewed below:

"Oh like based on my script, based on the Superman Lives script? That would be tight dude. I'm not going to lie, that would be fun to see. That's something I worked on 20 years ago at this point, so that would be really amazing to kind of see, like they turn it into a cartoon and get the people to do the voices. Nic Cage is still around and stuff. And I wanted Michael Rooker for my Lex Luthor so that would be amazing. Um, but, you know, I'm game. That ain't up to me kids. That's up to the good folks at Warner Bros. and stuff, but if they were ever to call and say hey we want to do a cartoon version of that Superman script we wrote, believe me I'd be like (melts), that'd be dope man. You know you close all loops in life, one way or another, and that would be a nice way to close that loop."

Obviously, the chances of Superman Lives being brought to life as an animated movie, let alone with Smith’s ideal cast, are slim at best. Warner Bros. owns the rights to any potential film and producing such a venture, especially given the live-action film’s troubled production, doesn’t seem like a move they’d make any time soon. Still, Smith has been working closely with comic related media lately, directing episodes of both The Flash and Supergirl (the latter of which is titled ‘Supergirl Lives,’ a nice little nod to Superman Lives), so perhaps getting an animated film off the ground wouldn’t be outside of the director’s sway.

If Superman Lives does eventually become an animated film, then the most ideal way to pull it off would be to include Smith in some way creatively, possibly even letting him direct. Naturally, the script would have to be tweaked to better fit animation and hopefully voiced by experienced voice actors (in spite of Smith’s insistence on his original picks). Still, there are certainly many detractors out there who believe that Superman Lives is best left on the shelf.

Screen Rant will keep you updated on any Superman Lives news as it becomes available.

Source: Comic Book