What is the best Superman movie never made?

What is your favourite cancelled Superman movie that you really wish we had got to see? Outlines of the ones above (though they are all pretty famous):

Superman V- would’ve once again stared the late Christopher Reeve as Superman. It was written by Ilya Salkind in the early 90s along with Superboy writers Cary Bates and Mark Jones. In it, Superman would’ve died and been resurrected in the bottled city of Kandor, with Braniac presumed to be the villain. Coincidentally, this script predated the Death of Superman storyline in the comics.

Superman Reborn- Jon Peters, a producer on Batman, was brought in by WB to produce a new Superman film after the character’s resurgence thanks to the Death of Superman comics storyline. Jonathan Lenkin (who had credits on the 21 jump street show) was hired as writer. His script began with Superman’s death, at which point he would confess his love to Lois, making his life force jump into her body. This would make Lois pregnant with a child who would become a fully grown Clark at three weeks old. WB then hired Gregory Poirier for rewrites as they weren’t to impressed by Lenkin’s extremely odd ideas. His script kept the dark tone of Lemkin’s and involved Brainiac as the main villain, who would create Doomsday to kill Superman.

Superman Lives- this is the most well-known cancelled Superman movie due to how far along it made it into production. It would’ve stared Nicolas Cage and was originally written by Kevin Smith, who had been outraged by Poirer’s script for Superman Reborn. Smith’s script involved Lex Luthor and Brainiac sending Doomsday to block out the sun and kill Superman. WB were happy with it, so shopped it around directors such as Robert Rodriguez before Tim Burton eventually joined the project. He was the one who hired Nic Cage, and also looked at Kevin Spacey for the role of Lex Luthor, Chris Rock for Jimmy Olsen and Christopher Walken for Brainiac. Burton then brought in his Batman Returns collaborator Wesley Strick to rewrite the movie in order to make it more definitively his own. This script portrayed Superman as an existentialist outsider and unwilling saviour. The potential budget ballooned to $150mil, so WB brought in writer Dan Gilroy to bring the budget down to $100mil. Tim Burton then left to direct Sleepy Hollow and Cage eventually left in 2000 after the Gilroy script was unsuccessfully pitched to other directors like Michael Bay and Brett Ratner.

Batman vs Superman (2004)- in 2002, JJ Abrams wrote a script for a Superman origin, but before it could even get off the ground, WB accepted a pitch from Se7en screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker for a Batman vs Superman movie. Abrams’ idea was put on hold and Akiva Goldsman (Batman Forever, Batman & Robin, A Beautiful Mind) was brought in to do rewrites on Walker’s script. The script involved a retired Batman, haunted the deaths of Alfred, Dick and Gordon, turning on Superman after his newly wed wife is killed on their honeymoon and he blames best man Clark. This would’ve begun an almighty battle, before the two would eventually team up to battle the true mastermind, Lex Luthor. Christian Bale and Josh Hartnett were the front runners for Batman and Superman respectively.

Superman Flyby- this was the idea which Abrams lobbied hard for. His script was meant to be the beginning of a trilogy, and while it didn’t directly adapt the Death of Superman comic run, in the end Superman would die before coming back to life in a Christ-like fashion. In it, Lex would’ve been a UFO obsessed CIA agent, who would’ve been revealed to have magical abilities that allowed him to fly. McG was originally hired, but he left the project and the script was infamously leaked online, where everyone hated the idea. WB would not be deterred however, and hired Brett Ratner, hoping to film in 2003. Josh Hartnett, Paul Walker, Brendan Fraser and Ashton Kutcher would all be approached to play Supes. Christopher Walken was in talks to play Perry White, while Keri Russel and Amy Adams were potential Lois Lane candidates. Ratner dropped out in 2003 and McG was brought back on board. Robert Downey Jr was cast as Lex and Scarlett Johansson was considered for Lois. McG once again left, this time due to disputes over where to film and while Abrams wanted to direct, Bryan Singer was eventually brought in, eventually leading to Superman Returns.

Superman Returns sequel- due to the slightly mixed reception of Superman Returns, Singer wanted to make a more action packed sequel. He planned to bring in Brainiac and Bizarro as villains and follow up on the “New Krypton” land mass formed in Superman Returns. Filming was pushed back to allow Singer to direct Valkyrie and was then delayed due to the writers strike until eventually Routh’s contract ran out and WB shifted focus to Batman.

Man of Steel 2- Snyder tried for many years to make a sequel to his Man of Steel, which kick started the lacklustre DCEU. Snyder planned for the plot to revolve around Superman confronting Brainiac, who had freed Faora and the prisoners of the Phantom Zone. However, WB were not happy with either BvS or Justice League so were unwilling to make another solo movie revolving around Cavill’s Superman and made by Snyder. Superman did appear in the post-credit scene of Black Adam, teasing a face-off between the two, but due to the poor performance of multiple DCEU projects, WB decided to reboot with James Gunn at the helm, writhing and directing the upcoming Superman.

JJ Abrams and Michael B Jordan were also said to be making a new Superman movie revolving around a black Superman, but production has been silent and we are unsure if it is still in production after James Gunn and Peter Safran took over at DC.