DC’s Metal Men Finally Getting A Full Series
A Metal Men project is moving forward. Here are the people involved this time.
This article is more than 2 years old
To date, there have countless DC projects which were announced and immensely hyped but never got to see the light of day. The list, which is unfortunately pretty long, contains ambitious titles like Plastic Man, Lobo, Justice League Dark, and many others. Till a few days ago, the list also included the highly anticipated live-action adaptation of DC’s Metal Men, which was announced back in 2012. But now, it has been confirmed that Warner Bros. has not forgotten the project and it is still in its pipeline of films that are being developed.
The confirmation comes from director Barry Sonnenfeld himself, who was announced to be helming the project back in 2012. In a chat with ComicBookMovie.com, Sonnenfeld revealed that he is still working with Warner Bros. and developing the cinematic adaptation of Metal Men. At the moment, he is engrossed in creating the perfect treatment for it that focuses more on building the universe the Metal Men exist in, just like the director did in The Addams Family, Men In Black, in Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, and in his other projects. He has assured that the film will be presenting its heroes in a setup different from what is usually seen in DC films- “an unusual, slightly off-kilter quirky, different kind of world,” something which is a common theme across all Sonnenfeld directed films.
For me, it’s not so much a superhero thing as it is world-building. If you look at the work I’ve done, whether it’s The Addams Family, Men in Black, Pushing Daisies, Schmigadoon!, or A Series of Unfortunate Events, it’s all about creating a world. An unusual, slightly off-kilter quirky, different kind of world; that’s what I love doing. It’s not specifically, necessarily superhero, but even in Metal Men, that I am developing, it’s going to be a very specific kind of world. It’s a real-world because I always like things to be reality-based, but slightly with a tilt to that. It all started with The Addams Family which is both real but slightly pushed.
Director Barry Sonnenfeld
The Metal Men debuted for the first time in DC comics with showcase #37 in 1962 and were created by Robert Kanigher and Ross Andru. The story is centered around six different cyborgs created by artificial intelligence expert William Magnus. The cyborgs’ names, personalities, and powers are based on the respective metals they are made of. So, Gold is the team leader with the ability to stretch his form in countless ways and to infinite lengths; Iron is super strong and the protector of the group; Lead is super dense but very loyal and possesses the power to morph into strong shields that can withstand even the most toxic radiations; then there is Mercury who has a high temper and can melt through the tiniest spaces before reforming. As for the immensely insecure Tin and Platinum who believes she is actually a human woman in love with her creator, both can stretch or flatten their form.
Back in 2012, Vulture had reported that Barry Sonnenfeld had been hired by Warner Bros. to helm the first live-action adaptation of the Metal Men, which was fitting given the success the director had tasted overseeing comic book adaptations like The Addams Family saga, Men in Black, etc. But post that, no further developments were reported in the project and it was believed that attempts to bring the Metal Men to the silver screen have been unceremoniously dropped. Though thankfully, it has now been confirmed that the film still has a potential future, no further developments in terms of casting or production commencement date have been revealed.
To date, the Metal Men have only had cameos in animated films. Those movies have brought the characters to screen adaptations in the 2008 animated film Justice League: The New Frontier, the series Batman: The Brave and The Bold, or 2017’s DC Superhero Girls: Intergalactic Games. Hopefully this time, the plans for their live-action adaptation won’t disappear and Barry Sonnenfeld’s official admission will be the beginning of a fast-moving production process.
