There were a couple screenplays that started going around WB shortly after the whole "Death of Superman" comics extravaganza. And then Kevin Smith was brought in to advise. He thought they were crap, and WB hired him to re-write the "Death of Superman" script. He met with Jon Peters, who was (is still, but in name only, I believe) producing, got the orders (which involved Superman a) not wearing the suit b) not flying and c) ending the movie by fighting a giant Spider) and wrote the script.
The script got Tim Burton onboard. Once Burton got onboard, he scrapped Smith's script completely, and started rewriting. He cast Nicolas Cage. The thing started pre-production, and then was shut down after Burton got tired of the whole ordeal. He and Cage were pay or play, which means they got paid whether or not the movie got made.
WB went after Michael Bay. Bay turned it down, saying he didn't like the character or the Comic Book conventions. They then got McG. McG got writer JJ Abrams (Alias) to do a draft. The draft leaked. the story elements went like this:
Krypton didn't blow up.
Superman couldn't fly. his SUIT could. His suit pops out of some sort of container and wraps him up, giving him his powers.
Lex Luthor was a Kryptonian.
Superman died, and was brought back to life.
Superman's cousins flew to Earth to kill him. Superman fights the battle using Kung Fu moves in his flying suit.
Superman wins, and then flies back to Krypton, to help in the Kryptonian civil war.
This movie is the first of a planned trilogy that will see Superman crowned the ruler of Krypton.
McG got to pre-production, couldn't cast a Superman, the above synopsis leaked via Moriarty on AintItCoolNews, both the site and it's visitors crapped their collective pants in disgust, and raised hell. The bad feeling raced across the internet. Abrams emailed Harry at AICN to defend his draft. No one bought it. Even more bad word of mouth rained down. The project stalled. McG still couldn't decide on a superman, and combined with the acid hate fanboys were spewing at the film, WB kicked him.
WB went after Bay again. Bay again turns it down.
Brett Ratner (Rush Hour, Red Dragon) signs on, and is using the JJ Abrams script, though this fact is nicely hushed. Pre-production starts again, and Ratner approaches Johnny Depp to play Jor-El. He narrows the Superman casting down to Matthew Bomer vs Brandon Fraser. WB wants Fraser. Ratner won't budge. Ratner is off the project.
Singer pitches his idea to Donner. Donner says go for it. Singer approaches WB. WB likes it. Singer signs on. Gets the writers of X-Men 2 (Harris and Dougherty) to sign on. They do a page 1 re-write, using Donner's Superman movies as a very vague backstory so as not to do the origin over again. They won't be direct sequels, but they're not going to do anything that will contradict either Superman I or II. Singer gets John Ottman, longtime collaborator (Composer and Film Editor) to sign on. Ottman will use some existing Williams Superman score in his own music. Williams is not scoring, as everyone seems to think. Singer merely said Williams music will be used. Think more like the use of the Krypton Theme in Smallville, or Ken Thorne's reworking of the scores in Superman II and III. Casts Brandon Routh as Superman, talks to Kevin Spacey about Luthor. Pre-production and a solid start date locked in.
This is pretty easily the most optimistic of behind the camera teams for a fanboy. Plus, I think Singer is a pretty visually interesting director. X-Men is sorta bland, but that movie had it's budget chopped by a third in the middle of production, and the movie was moved up almost SIX MONTHS while filming. X2 looked a lot better, and both "The Usual Suspects" and "Apt Pupil" Singers first two studio films, were very well shot and definitely visually interesting. Plus, Singer manages to get VERY good performances out of his actors. The fact he got STEPHEN BALDWIN to turn in a performance many critics hailed in "The Usual Suspects" should say something
McG might be a visual director, but his films are typically VERY poorly edited, plot suffers horribly, and the script he would have been working from (Abrams') would have been Superman in name only. It would have been a total nightmare.