After taking the Caped Crusader to the dark side, Christopher Nolan is looking to do the same for the Man of Steel.
The Oscar-nominated writer-director of The Dark Knight director has agreed to "mentor" development on a new Superman movie for Warner Bros., per Deadline Hollywood. Nolan will oversee the Supes reboot while he continues working with brother Jonah Nolan and David Goyer on the script for the highly anticipated third Batman flick, due out in 2012.
But can even Nolan's considerable talents save Superman from box-office kryptonite?
Warner hopes that Nolan can help steer the new Superman flick away from the cartoony feel of the previous reboot, Superman Returns, which was viewed as a critical and commercial disappointment.
The studio has struggled to come up with a popular interpretation of the iconic character since Chistopher Reeve hung up the cape.
Warner first tried to come up with a darker, edgier Superman back in the 1990s, hiring Tim Burton to reinvent the hero, with Nicolas Cage donning the tights. But that never got off the drawing board.
Then came a parade of filmmakers (including McG and Brett Ratner) and would-be stars (Jake Gyllenhaal, Ashton Kutcher, Josh Hartnett and Brendan Fraser were all considered), before Warner hired away X-Men mastermind Bryan Singer to direct the relatively unknown Brandon Routh.
No official word yet on a cast, director or timetable for the new Superman, or if Nolan's involvement will pave the way for the long-delayed Justice League movie bringing together Batman, Superman and many other DC Comics all-stars.
Comic book reboots are all the rage these days. News of a Superman update comes just weeks after Sony announced it was scrapping its existing Spider-Man creative team and starting over on a new version.
As for Nolan, his latest sci-fi mindbender, Inception, hits theaters July 16.
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