Exclusive: Superboy Live-Action Movie In Development
We've exclusively learned that Warner Bros is developing a new Superboy movie.
Update November 2022: While a Superboy movie had been discussed, the DC Universe went in a new direction with a full reset on their stories under James Gunn.
Because DC is doing something so different from Marvel, many question where they’re going and what they’re doing these days. With time, it’s becoming more clear that they aren’t necessarily focused on creating a universe. They’re doing whatever they want. Some neat things are coming from this, like James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, Matt Reeves with his upcoming The Batman, multiple Supermans flying about, and a Batgirl project for HBO Max. Now, we have exclusively learned from one of our trusted and proven inside sources that Warner Bros is developing a Superboy live-action movie.
DC Films seems to have abandoned the possibility of a Man of Steel 2 for Henry Cavill, but they are definitely not shying away from the world of Clark Kent and Lois Lane. While Superboy was the title given to a young Clark Kent in the early DC comics, these days he’s most often Connor Kent these days, with varying backstories and origins. We weren’t able to learn what backstory they’ll be using for their new Superboy movie, and honestly, that may turn into a detail they keep tightly wrapped until the movie is finally released. While he could have one of the more complicated backstories that involve him being a genetically engineered clone, or possibly a human/Kryptonian hybrid made using Superman and Lex Luthor’s DNA, it seems most likely that they’re planning for a Superboy movie where the character is the son of Clark Kent and Lois Lane. Of course, any of these versions is currently possible.
The Superboy movie will be joining projects like Blue Beetle and Batgirl. Both of these movies will be coming to HBO Max. While we were unable to learn whether this project is being planned for the big screen or HBO Max, we lean toward believing that it will release on the streaming service. Ezra Miller got to appear in other DC movies in theaters and will now see his solo movie, The Flash, release in theaters as well. Meanwhile, Blue Beetle and Leslie Grace’s Batgirl will introduce new DC characters for the screen and, as solo projects, are launching on the streaming service. This speaks to a new trend for DC and the Superboy movie seems to fall in line with that from what we’ve learned so far.
In recent years, we’ve seen Superboy on screen a little bit in animated projects, video games, in the last season of Smallville when he was played by Lucas Grabeel, and in a handful of episodes of Titans on HBO Max when he was played by Joshua Orpin. While it’s possible that Orpin could play Superboy again, it seems more likely that they’re recasting the role right. Joshua Orpin played the character in 2019, which wasn’t long ago, but using that actor would tie the character into the Titans series for the new Superboy movie. We could be wrong, but nothing points to the new movie being a spinoff from the series, and it would seem that this is a separate project that will gain more traction starting on fresh ground.
Will they bring in more Superman-related material from the comics for this project? For example, Krypto, Superman’s dog that was seen with Superboy in Titans? If they are writing the Superboy movie with the character being raised by Clark Kent and Lois Lane, who will they get to play Connor Kent’s parents? These are the kinds of questions we’re looking forward to getting more answers on as Warner Bros develops this project and creates the new story. They’re not there yet, but for now, they’re developing this project. We’ll know more soon.
