J.J. Abrams to Direct Man of Steel 2? Probably Not

If you believe the rumor factories of Reddit and 4chan - and you really shouldn't - you might be excited to learn that Warner Bros. is courting J.J. Abrams to direct the sequel to Zack Snyder's Man of Steel. The rumors came about via a purported leak of information from the studio on 4chan, which was then transferred to an excited discussion on Reddit.

The leak also supposedly included the rest of the short list, which contained big names such as Edgar Wright (who has already had a bad superhero experience with his aborted direction of Ant-Man) and Doug Liman.

It's not surprising that Abrams' name would come up in speculation over Man of Steel 2's director. Warner Bros. is struggling to build its DC Comics Extended Universe after the disappointing reception of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad, and Abrams has a track record of reinvigorating film franchises (Star Trek, Star Wars). Abrams also has shown interest in the Superman character in the past, having written a script for an unmade movie titled Superman: Flyby in 2002.

So it wouldn't be at all shocking if Abrams was on the studio's wish list for one of its DC movies. Whether the director would want to step into the jumble that is the DCEU is another question entirely.