WB And DC Entertainment Have 'No Plans' For Superman To Return

With Warner Bros. restructuring DC into a new corporate entity called DC Entertainment, you'd think that one of the venerable comic book publisher's two signature superheros would be first in line (or near the head of the queue) for another movie treatment. Given that there's a ticking clock hanging over that same character's film future at Warner Bros., one would expect even more urgent movement. Not so, says DCE president Diane Nelson.

Speaking to MTV, Nelson says "we actually don't have any current plans for Superman." If that doesn't stick, MTV actually quotes her again:

We've obviously done a lot of great things behind the property in our history, and it's a key part of the family, but we don't have current plans behind Superman.

One one hand, I'm heartened to read that DCE isn't trying to shovel some quickly-concocted Superman idea onto screens. (Or isn't publicly copping to it.) I'm not even a Superman fan who cares about the integrity of the character; I just don't want to be required to watch another lousy Superman movie. Too many of those already.

On the other, there's that whole legal entanglement to consider. If a new Superman film doesn't start production within the next couple of years, there won't be product to release by 2013, at which point the complete film rights to the character could revert back to the Siegel estate. I'd actually be very interested to see that happen, just out of basic curiosity. Superman and WB have been entangled for so long that I'd love to see what kind of bidding war might happen should the Siegel family have the option to take the character to other studios.

Granted, this doesn't mean anything lasting. There wasn't a plan in place when Nelson spoke to MTV, but there might be one today, or tomorrow.