“At the end of this film we see that there is so much more to explore.” said Bran­don Routh at the end of Super­man Returns; inevitably open­ing up the fran­chise for a sec­ond mod­ern sequel.  In August 2006 , in an inter­view with the LA Times,  Alan Horn, Warner pres­i­dent, announced that they were hop­ing to com­plete a sequel to Super­man Returns for a 2009 release. Bryan Singer, direc­tor of Super­man Returns and other cult films such as X-men and Usual Sus­pects, echoed these sen­ti­ments at the 2006 San Diego Comic Con.

And in an inter­view with Super­Hero­Hype he said,

I’d like to build on the seeds that are planted, you know, expand upon rela­tion­ships, you’ve now got a child, you’ve got these other ele­ments, but also have the oppor­tu­nity to have the char­ac­ters more estab­lished to bring in some more action and have some more stuff going on. 

As of Octo­ber 2006 a deal between Singer and Warner was agreed.