Superman has a clear direction on the big screen in 2025. As the head of DC Studios, James Gunn can do whatever he wants with the Man of Steel, but he’s choosing to go the human route. The face of the DC Universe wants to be vulnerable with his enemies and goes out of his way to explain why he does what he does. It’s a breath of fresh air after the world struggled to understand a portrayal of the character that never really explained how he felt, choosing to brood in the face of insurmountable odds. But at least Zack Snyder’s take made it to the big screen.
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A number of Superman projects have failed to get off the ground, including Superman: Flyby, which had J.J. Abrams on board as a producer and X-Men: The Last Stand helmer Brett Ratner in the director’s chair. The creative team met with many actors for the lead role, but only a few really stood out. The Mummy star Brendan Fraser was among the frontrunners, and he even made it far enough into the process to put on the suit.
During a recent appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast (via ComicBookMovie), Fraser reminisced about his first time in the superhero machine.
“Oh, I loved that screenplay. They let me read it. They locked me in an empty office in, I don’t know, some studio lot. [I] signed an NDA. It was printed black, on crimson paper, so you couldn’t photocopy it or sneak it out the door inscospicuously,” he said. “I mean, it was Shakespeare in space. It was a really good screenplay. It really was. But, yes, I was considered. I did do a screen test. I did wear the big guy’s suit.”
The script may have caught Fraser’s attention. Still, he realized pretty quickly that he was better off taking his career in another direction, understanding the kind of pressure that came with playing a major comic book character.
“I don’t know if I was ready to take that on then,” he explained. “I mean, I felt I was, because, you know, big opportunity and excitement, et cetera, et cetera. But, I don’t know. Like [Terry George] once said, ‘If it’s not for you, then it’ll pass you by’ […] and it wasn’t for me.”
Nearly two decades later, Fraser found a role in the genre he thought he was ready to tackle. Unfortunately, it ended up with a fate worse than Flyby, with the powers that be ensuring that it never saw the light of day.
Brendan Fraser Nearly Appeared in Another DC Project
After returning as Batman in The Flash, Michael Keaton signed on to appear in Batgirl, a solo movie about one of the Dark Knight’s sidekicks. Up-and-comer Leslie Grace landed the lead role, and the production wanted a veteran actor to push her to her limits. Fraser agreed to play the villain Firefly, who had a tragic backstory, and filmed all of his scenes.
In 2022, long after cameras had stopped rolling and the film was nearing completion, Warner Bros. Discovery pulled the plug. The decision was controversial, to say the least, with many actors and directors coming to the movie’s defense, including Fraser, who was really proud of his performance.
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