If you ask one of the candidates to take the helm of the Superman Franchise, James McTeigue, how he feels about the Big Blue Guy he would probably say, "he needs to man up.” James McTeigue, the director of the upcoming Ninja Assassin spoke to MTV about the need for a darker Man of Steel to hit theaters. McTeigue is one of the many rumored successors to the DC film franchise, and he discussed where he thinks the character should go next.

McTeigue wouldn’t confirm or deny his involvement with a new Superman film, but he did voice his opinions about where he thinks the next film should go.

“I think that the culture has sort of changed a little bit around Superman. If you’re going to do something with Superman, I think people would probably like something a little darker. I think it’s good that they just had a court case where, basically, if you make another Superman movie, you can’t touch Superman growing up—that’s part of the story that you can’t touch any more. That wouldn’t be a bad thing. I think everybody’s a bit sick of seeing the origin story.”
The court case he’s referring to is the one that caused Warner Brothers and DC Comics to forfeit the rights of Superman’s origin story to the families of creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster. Legally they were obligated to have a film in production by 2011 in order to continue using the material for the character. As you know that didn’t happen, and now that part of his life is off limits.

Without the crutch of an origin story, where can Superman go? McTeigue says, ”You need to take it and retool it. Make it something that appeals to audiences now a little more.”

A clip from the MTV Interview can be seen below

Our friends at kryptonsite.com have compiled an extensive gallery of images and rumors involving the first few episodes of the season. If you haven’t seen it yet we recommend you take a look! Warning: they are filled with episode spoilers!

Here’s a clip from "Justice League" where Superman unleashes his full power against Darkseid. I like the monologue before he starts pounding away!