Brett Ratner Director of 'Justice League' Movie?

The only forward motion motion toward an eventual "Justice League" movie that Warner Bros. has made official has been tapping a writer. Every other tidbit remains speculative - perhaps more accurately in some cases, speculative fiction - on the very best of days.

That admitted, let's just suppose that Brett Ratner of the "Rush Hour" trilogy and "X-Men: The Last Stand" fame is actually among the directorial candidates Warner Bros. is considering.

Suppose he's actually in the mix and ultimately ends up actually selected. Would the moment of that official announcement be too soon to deem the project "doomed before it's begun?"

"The studio is very pleased with the work that Brett [Ratner] has done as a producer and director on past projects," a source tells SupermanSupersite.com. "They are now very interested in seeing what he can do with helping finally bring this group of iconic superheroes to the big screen!"

Ratner lays claim to an interesting footnote in comic book movie history. Warner Bros.' "Superman Returns" and 20th Century Fox's "X-Men: The Last Stand" both hit theaters in 2006 - and respectively each received a drubbing by fans. Curiously, Ratner was originally set to direct "Superman Returns," only to be replaced by Bryan Singer fresh off of two acclaimed "X-Men" movies. In turn, Ratner defected to Fox and took the reins of "X-Men: The Last Stand."

Fans received neither film very warmly. Singer gets off a little lighter, with a 72% "freshness" rating on RottenTomatoes.com, admirable praise from both Roger Ebert and fellow director Quentin Tarantino, and more than a few fans who claim it's underrated. However, it made $391 million on a $209-million budget, and was regarded as somewhat of a financial disappointment.

By comparison, only 57% of RottenTomatoes.com critics favorably reviewed Ratner's take on "X-Men," though as of December 2011, it's $459-million worldwide gross made it the most financially successful film of the franchise.

Both Singer's and Ratner's films were the last offerings in each franchise before their respective studios decided on complete reboots.

As of 2011, Ratner was better known for being kicked off Academy Awards telecast-production duty for making homophobic remarks while promoting his film "Tower Heist" and also for publicly disparaging the bedroom prowess of actress and gaming icon Olivia Munn.

"Gone Baby Gone"/"The Town" director and "Good Will Hunting" co-Oscar-winner Ben Afflect recently took his own name out of the running to direct the project. In the past week, the Wachowski siblings have also been rumored. As for Ratner himself, his schedule makes the timing tricky: Warner Bros. has reportedly targeted a 2015-2016 window for the project, but Ratner has a fourth "Rush Hour" film set to go into production in 2013 and hit theaters in 2014.

Warner Bros. has confirmed that "Gangster Squad" writer Will Beale is set to write the "Justice League" script.