But in interviews the writer and director have stated that the character will be in his late twenties which is the age that Superman was in the first two Donner films. This doesn't exactly make sense alongside the missing for several years storyline but whatever.
They also stated that the earlier films will be referenced as a vague history and that clips may be used.
At this point I'm not even sure that after such a long gestation period WB even gives a crap anymore as long as they have a reason to slap Superman logos onto plenty of merchandise in a few years time. Not that I blame them, if anyone actually added up the expensive decade long preproduction on this puppy the budget would surely tip the scales as the most expensive movie ever made which has to be better than the most expensive movie never made.