“So… Uh… Sorry About That Superman Movie.”

Today in ye olde Wall Street Journal, Warner Bros. announced their plans for their upcoming slate of superhero films flicks that might as well print money. Warner Bros. has been fantastically slow and unreliable with their big screen adaptations of DC Comics properties, something that’s been even more obvious since Marvel heroes have been rockin’ Hollywood for the better part of a decade. Seriously, Marvel’s had three Spider-Mans, three X-Mens, one Iron Man, and a couple of sequels for films for movies nobody even wanted a sequel to, like Hulk and Fantastic Four. (They’ve also thrown in an Elektra, Daredevil, and Ghost Rider, just for good measure.) Meanwhile, DC has had Christopher Nolan’s two great Batman flicks, and other than that, uh… Superman Returns, which no one gave two shits about, and… ah… Catwoman. (CLICK IF YOU DARE.)

But with February’s Watchmen on the way and an inevitable third Batman, it looks like Warner Bros. is finally starting to get their act together. The short version: “We have been developing every DC character that we own,” says Warner Bros. Pictures Group President Jeff Robinov. (Note: Time Warner owns the entirety of DC Comics.) Copying Marvel’s tactic of rebooting Hulk with The Incredible Hulk, Warner Bros. is starting over with Superman by pretending Superman Returns never happened; they’re also shelving plans for Justice League and Superman vs. Batman movies, instead adopting Marvel’s tactic of setting up separate films for major characters–with plans to bring the characters together in a team-up movie years down the road.

Unlike Marvel, it sounds like DC is is intent on making everything as dark as possible, hoping to latch onto the success of The Dark Knight:

Like the recent Batman sequel–which has become the highest-grossing film of the year thus far–Mr. Robinov wants his next pack of superhero movies to be bathed in the same brooding tone as The Dark Knight. Creatively, he sees exploring the evil side to characters as the key to unlocking some of Warner Bros.’ DC properties. “We’re going to try to go dark to the extent that the characters allow it,” he says. That goes for the company’s Superman franchise as well.

We’ll see how that works. Yeah, Watchmen should be pitch fucking black in terms of tone, but honestly, one of the biggest problems with Superman Returns was that it just wasn’t that much fun to watch–or not nearly as fun as Superman should be, anyway. Either way, it’s good to hear that Warner Bros. might be getting their head in the game when it comes to comic book movies: This trend of mega-popular superhero flicks can only last so long, and hopefully Warner Bros. can bring out some more good stuff before everything inevitably goes all Batman and Robin. Speaking of which:

Or there’s the short version.