12 years ago, Blade and Batman Begins writer David S. Goyer penned Man of Steel, the Superman movie that got the DC Extended Universe going. Earlier this month, the DC Universe franchise kicked off its film side with a Superman movie too, which was written and directed by Guardians of the Galaxy and The Suicide Squad’s James Gunn. Goyer is among the many people who’ve gone to see this new offering on the 2025 movies schedule, and while sharing his thoughts about it, he brought up an analogy involving The Dark Knight that made a lot of sense.
I recently had the pleasure of speaking with David S. Goyer about The Sandman, the Netflix subscription-exclusive TV adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s comic book series that he co-created with Gaiman and Allan Heinberg. After we were done discussing the second half of the show’s final season, which releases on Thursday (followed by a bonus episode on July 31), I immediately asked what he thought of James Gunn’s Superman, and he started off saying:
I really liked it. People always assume that because I did The Dark Knight, I wouldn't like The Batman, but I really enjoyed it. Each generation gets the Superman they need. It felt like the pendulum with Man of Steel, obviously that was a much darker grounded version, and, and we're in a very different place, and I love that just the tagline that ‘Kindness is punk rock.’
For context, after co-writing the 20-year-old Batman Begins, Goyer helped crack the stories for The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, making him a key contributor to Christopher Nolan’s Batman saga. But that doesn’t mean he’s automatically going to dislike new versions of characters he’s worked on before. He liked what Matt Reeves did with The Batman and he was a fan of James Gunn’s work on Superman. Goyer even offered to help out on Marvel Studios’ Blade reboot given all the setbacks it’s endured.
Superman is certainly nowhere near as dark and grounded as Man of Steel was, but that was a good thing in David S. Goyer’s eyes. He continued by sharing with me the other aspects of the movie he liked:
I think that [David] Corenswet is incredibly appealing. I never would have thought to use Krypto, and Krypto was delightful. And then I think the guy that stole the show was Mr. Terrific, who Geoff Johns and I basically turned into a real character in the Justice Society. So I was thrilled, I thought Mr. Terrific was awesome. Metamorpho, same. I love seeing a live action Metamorpho, and those are the kind of things that James Gunn can get away with, and God bless him because I love all these those weird quirky tertiary DC characters. I really enjoyed it and I was rooting for it, so I'm happy it's been successful.
Following the debut of the Michael Holt incarnation of Mr. Terrific in 1997’s Spectre #54, Goyer co-wrote the JSA comic book for its first 51 issues. Most of that time was spent working with Geoff Johns, and like he said, it’s there that Michael started to become a more fleshed-out character. So it’s good to hear that Goyer enjoyed Edi Gathegi’s depiction of the character, as well as Supes himself, Krypto, Metamorpho and everything else James Gunn brought to his take on the Man of Steel’s mythology.
Whenever The Brave and the Bold, i.e. the movie featuring the DCU’s Batman is released, I’ll be interested to learn what David S. Goyer thought of it. There was also a time when he was attached to co-write a Green Lantern Corps movie, and while that never moved forward, Lanterns will premiere on HBO next year. Meanwhile, in addition to The Sandman, Goyer’s other current TV shows include Murderbot and Foundation, both of which can be streamed with an Apple TV+ subscription.
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