In a recent episode of Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, Kingsman and X-Men: First Class director Matthew Vaughn elaborated on his and Mark Millar's rejected Superman trilogy pitch. Contrary to rumors, Vaughn clarified that he was never offered a sequel opportunity to Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel. In reality, prior to Man of Steel's release, Vaughn, alongside comic book writer Mark Millar, developed a trilogy pitch for Warner Bros., which was eventually rejected.

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Their vision was strongly influenced by the Richard Donner Superman films with Vaughn saying, "I would've done a modern version of the Donner [films]." The main twist in their plot revolved around the delayed destruction of Krypton and the ensuing chaos as Superman grows up. Their plan featured Zod and Brainiac as main villains with Lex Luthor emerging into the spotlight as Krypton explodes.

Surprisingly, despite Vaughn's previous collaborations with Superman actor Henry Cavill, he never got to implement his vision. Vaughn voiced his desire in a 2021 interview with The Wrap to work on a colourful and fun Superman movie. He mentioned his conversations with James Gunn and DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran about the upcoming Superman: Legacy in 2025 and hinted at a potential future involvement with The Authority movie by stating, "never say never, [but] at the moment, I'm very much enjoying creating my own things." Vaughn further expressed his optimism for the future of the franchise under Gunn, "I think Gunn's - the franchise, DC is in the best hands it's been for a long time,” he said, “So let's see what happens."