Animated adaptation by the directors of Aladdin

It’s not everyday that two of animation’s most famous directors the story jumps into the comic world, but it’s about to happen. Directors Ron Clements and John Musker, who made movies you may have heard of like Aladdin, The little Mermaid, and Moana, are looking to make an animated film based on the DC series Metal men.

Hollywood journalist broke the news and added that the couple had teamed up with writer Celeste Ballard (Space Jam: a new legacy) on the project. Clements and Musker wrote a treat and are looking to direct, but it’s unclear if that would be Warner Bros. or for HBO Max.

Now obviously Metal men isn’t one of DC’s first titles, but the concept certainly has real potential and has come back to life over the years. Created in the early 1960s by Robert Kanigher and Ross Andru, the story followed a brilliant scientist who created six intelligent robots (which, despite the title, were not all men) with powers centered on the specific metal of which they were made: gold, iron, lead, tin, mercury, and platinum. The tones have changed with the characters and there is no word on what Clements, Musker and Ballard have planned, but one would imagine, if you look at the director’s previous works, a family-a friendly affair with heart and humor seems likely.

According to trade, this isn’t the first time Warner Bros. tried to bring Metal men on the big screen. A live-action version was in development in the early 2000s with bigtime names such as Lauren Shuler Donner (X Men), DC mainstay Geoff Johns, and even Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in black). It did not materialize (understood?) and with Warner Bros. really going through its DC properties to spread to all of its media, it looks like a version that has a good chance of solidifying. Yeah, another metal pun.

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