Superman: Snippets of news from the Fortress of Solitude

Well, from IESB actually.

Although it's hardly shock news IESB have obtained confirmation from Warner Bothers that former X-Men director Bryan Singer has officially signed to direct the followup to his first Superman movie, Superman Returns, which is to be called Man of Steel.

Of more interest, lower down in the credits, is the suggestion that Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris will not be asked back to write the sequel and will be replaced by Transformers alumni Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. That's not necessarily bad news: Transformers was a lot better than most reviews might have you believe even if it was more of a 'ride' than a 'film' and the unwise introduction of the half-Kryptonian hybrid super-baby in Superman Returns struck a needlessly jarring note I always felt.

Of course now the new writers have the interesting challenge of either using or losing Brat-El in a way that doesn't mess too severely with the continuity of the rebooted franchise.