After seemingly being stuck in development hell for a decade, a film adaptation of the DC Comics property “Metal Men” appears to be showing signs of life again.
The original comic followed six robots created by Dr. William Magnus. Each of the six was crafted from a single chemical element with qualities that are reflected in their personalities, abilities, and names.
Filmmaker Barry Sonnenfeld (“The Addams Family,” “Men in Black”) recently spoke with ComicBook.com and confirmed that the project, which he was first linked to back in 2012, is now back in active development:
“You know, it’s funny because I am developing Metal Men with Warner Bros. We’re actively working on a treatment for that. 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.”
The property has seen multiple reinventions which gives Sonnenfeld multiple options from which to pursue a story. With Warners expanding plans for its DC slate to not just theatrical releases but also direct-to-HBO Max premieres, it’s not clear which path this project could take for the moment.
