Matthew Vaughn talks about his failed SUPERMAN trilogy proposal and wants Taron Egerton to play Lex Luthor

Kick ass AND X-Men: First Class director Matthew Vaughn sat down for an interview with the Happy Sad Confused podcast to talk about a few things recently, and one of the topics that came up was his scrapped Superman trilogy.

Before getting into the details, the director said he had been in contact with the leaders of DC Studios James Gunn AND Pietro Safran, but there is no project on the table for him at the moment. That’s fine because Vaughn is committed to making super fun movies and doesn’t really need to make DC movies.

Before Zack Snyder Done Man of Steelhowever, Vaughn was planning a Superman trilogy with Marco Millar. He spoke about that project saying:

“Mark and I sat down and outlined a three-movie trilogy, we pitched it to Warner Bros. before ‘Man of Steel’… we pitched how to make a trilogy of Superman movies and Warner said it wasn’t interested. That’s all.

Vaughn shared that his Superman trilogy would return to the tone of Richard DonnerIt’s 1978 Superman and would have included villains like Lex Luther, Zod, and Braniac. The director explained the story he wanted to tell, saying:

“I think Donner nailed it. Wonder Woman worked very well because it was basically a Donner/Superman movie but reimagined as Wonder Woman. I would have done a modern version of Donner. Our big idea was that Krypton wouldn’t explode. Eventually he does. Dad was right, but he got the timing wrong. When Superman has grown up, suddenly there is a mass exodus and all hell breaks loose. This was our main idea.

It would have been a very different and interesting take on Superman. The next Superman movie we’ll get is from James Gunn Superman: Legacy. In this regard, Vaughn says it’s his Kingsman star Taron Egerton he would be great as Lex Luthor. As for the rumors of Egerton playing Wolverine, Vaughn said the actor would be much better in the role of Luthor.

“He would be better as Lex Luthor. He would be an amazing Luthor. He’s not supposed to be Wolverine. I don’t think he’s suited to this. You really have to go back to the comic. Hugh is brilliant as Wolverine, but I’d go back to what the comics are… [he’s] a small, grizzly, tough guy. Hugh made it so iconic that if you go into that version… no. Taron would make an amazing and intelligent villain.

Vaughn’s concept for a Superman the trilogy could have been a pretty wild film. I’d be curious to see how it would play out, but it’s something that just wasn’t supposed to happen.