Director Matthew Vaughn Wanted DAREDEVIL Star Charlie Cox To Star in His SUPERMAN Movie

As many of you already know, Kick-Ass and X-Men: First Class director Matthew Vaughn was developing a Superman trilogy for Warner Bros. that he pitched in 2008. The films were intended to be “a massive, uplifting, hopeful thing”, with the story that took place mainly on the fictional planet Krypton and its impending explosion.

During a recent interview with The Aspiring Kryptonian, Mark Millar talked about the unproduced project and reveals that Vaughn wanted to cast Daredevil star Charlie Cox in the role of the Man of Steel. When talking about what they were planning, he said:

"He and I had a lot of chats about who could play Superman. We never really talked about story. I've always had this story in my head, which was a big three-picture idea, but we did talk about specifics, like actors. And weirdly, his idea was really interesting, which was Charlie Cox, the guy who played Daredevil.

“Matthew had just worked with Charlie on Stardust a year or two before. He's like, 'There's just something really likable about him.' And he said, 'I know he's not big, and Superman's always big' — Charlie's only about 5'8", 5'9" or something — He says, 'But he looks a bit like the Golden Age Superman, when he's a bit more like a regular person.'"

It’s really not hard to imagine Cox as Superman and I can totally see that Golden Age Superman look in him that he’s talking about. It would have been interesting to see Cox take on the role of Superman and have Vaughn direct it, but it just wasn’t meant to be.

Vaughn was "very interested" in rebooting Superman, and when he asked DC and WB about bringing Millar in on the project, who at the time was writing for Marvel Comics, Millar recalls:

"They said, 'No way, he's Marvel exclusive. It would be so disrespectful to all the DC guys if we went with a Marvel exclusive guy.' And I get it."

Vaughn went on to direct X-Men: First Class instead for Fox. It’s explained that he was "maybe one of ten directors” that DC was talking to at the time for a new Superman movie that would eventually land with Zack Snyder.

Miller went on to say that Vaughn’s version of the character was "not as big and as bombastic as the Christopher Reeve Superman. That's interesting, Matthew's an interesting guy. I think if he had done it, it would have been interesting and probably unlike anything else."

What do you think of Charlie Cox in the role of Superman? Do you think it would have worked?