Producer Jon Peters initially started developing Superman Lives after 1987's Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. He planned to revitalise the franchise after what proved to be a dismal farewell to Christopher Reeve's stint as the Man of Steel.
By 1994, Warner Bros. had tapped Kevin Smith to write the script, incorporating comic elements from the "Death of Superman" arc and using villains like Brainiac, Lex Luthor, and Doomsday.
Batman director Tim Burton eventually looked set to helm a version of the movie starring Nicolas Cage. However, escalating budgets, creative disputes, and Warner Bros.' hesitance after mixed reviews for superhero movies saw it ultimately scrapped.
Talking to Collider, Smith revealed that Spy Kids, Sin City, and Alita: Battle Angel helmer Robert Rodriguez also came close to taking charge of Superman Lives.
"There was a moment back in 1996-97 where Robert Rodriguez, who I knew a little bit from the world of indie film, called me up to be like, 'Warner Bros. asked me to direct your Superman script.' And I was like, 'Please do it. Oh my god, do it. You'd be amazing for it.' He goes, 'I kind of like it. It's fun, man. Walk me through it. Clearly you know more about Superman than I do.'"
"So it was a two-day period where he was trying to decide between Superman and this other project that he eventually wound up choosing because he felt he owed the studio. The studio was Dimension, and the movie was The Faculty. So he chose The Faculty instead of doing Superman. But for this one, like, two-day period, he was considering it. Warner Bros. wanted him big-time, and it would have been his biggest budget to date."
"If I could make anything that didn't happen happen, I think it would be that. Because I didn't have the pressure of directing the movie myself. It would have been in the hands of one of my generation's greatest and absolutely-f***ing-on-point visionary action directors. That would have been a wonderful marriage of material, because that script — and I ain't saying that's the greatest script — but dialogue was sharp in that f***ing script. And this was pre-Avengers, you know, before that became the norm and stuff."
"So I would have benefited, as a screenwriter guy. 'Hey, he wrote that!' And the pressure ... even if people were like, 'Oh, I hate that Superman' ... then I'm like, 'Yeah, well, blame Robert. He directed it.' So I'd have had the benefit of being involved but not being involved, and I've never really had that."
Later in the interview, Smith explained why he's not angling to direct a Marvel movie. The filmmaker directed episodes of The Flash and Supergirl, but when it comes to the MCU, he'd prefer to do something in front of the camera, not behind it.
"Everyone's like, 'Do you want to make a Marvel movie?' F***ing never. What in my body of work has ever made anyone think, 'He'd be good for that sort of visual spectacle.' But Marvel if was like, 'We want you to play ... anybody. One scene — a f***ing bad guy, a good guy.' Oh my god, whose d*ck do I got to suck to make that happen? That's what I'd be more interested in. Because that would be fun, and none of the responsibility would be mine. I'm put on this Earth to make Kevin Smith movies, if anything, and most critics will argue that I'm not even put on this earth to do that. But nobody wants to make Kevin Smith movies except me, so that's my lane and I love staying in it."
It's always fun to hear Smith's honest take on these things, but whether he'll get a cameo appearance in a future MCU movie is hard to say (he's such a well-known figure among comic book fans that it runs the risk of being distracting).
Smith is no stranger to the Marvel Universe; he wrote the game-changing Daredevil: Guardian Devil, which featured the death of Karen Page, and Spider-Man and the Black Cat: The Evil that Men Do.
You can watch our interview with Smith from last year in the player below.