While riding the ‘Men In Black 3’ promotional circuit, director Barry Sonnenfeld hinted that he was circling a new comic book movie for DC and Warner Bros. but stopped short of revealing which title it would be. Today, we figure out what he was talking about.

Sources have told Vulture that Sonnenfeld’s attached to direct an adaptation of DC Comics’ The Metal Men series. Never heard of it? Well, writer Robert Kanigher and penciller Ross Andru first introduced the hero ensemble back in 1962, though the series ran for decades, fading away in the 1970s and returning in renovated fashion in the 1990s. They are advanced artificially intelligent beings created by scientist Dr. William "Will" Magnus. They were named after metals – gold, tin and so on – and they occasionally interacted with such DC legends as Batman, Superman and the Justice League.

Could this be yet another step in DC Comics’ attempt to expand its universe and eventually bring a JLA movie to the big screen? Vulture does say that Sonnenfeld’s setting ‘Metal Men’ up at Warner Bros., so that suggests it will be part of the larger plan.

Are there any ‘Metal Men’ fans out there? Do you guys think Sonnenfeld’s the right choice to make the feature happen? Share your thoughts.

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