Zack Snyder will get Superman back in flight

Comic geek and master of stylistic action Zack Snyder has been named by producers Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas as the next director of the Superman franchise. Snyder (“300,” “Watchmen”) will begin work on the film as soon as he wraps post-production on “Sucker Punch,” which comes out in March.

Snyder confirmed the news to Deadline saying,

“I’ve been a big fan of the character for a long time, he’s definitely the king of all superheroes, he’s the one … It’s early yet, but I can tell you that what David and Chris have done with the story so far definitely has given me a great insight into a way to make him feel modern. I’ve always felt he was kind of awesome. I’ll finish Sucker Punch and get right at it.”

Warner Bros. has long been Snyder’s biggest supporters, so there’s no doubt the powerhouse studio was the first to throw Snyder’s name in the ring. Reportedly, he was going up against Tony Scott (the Denzel Washington movies), Jonathan Liebesman (upcoming “Battle: Los Angeles”), Matt Reeves (“Cloverfield”) and Duncan Jones (“Moon”) among other rumored directors.

With Nolan producing, the expectation is still a darker and grittier Supes akin to the current Batman trilogy. The biggest contrast between the two filmmakers is their use of CGI. Nolan uses it as a last resort, whereas for Snyder, it’s … a first resort. It will be interesting to see how the film will turn out in that sense, but you have to expect someone with the pedigree of Snyder is not going to merely roll over for Nolan, no matter how great Nolan is. Either way, the one-two punch of a Nolan-supervised script (written by David S. Goyer) and a Snyder-style action film is needless to say, promising.

To start up the rumor mill, The Hollywood Reporter believes that Goyer’s script is closely tied to the original Superman II and that General Zod will be the villain. /Film has also had sources confirm this.