A review from friend of the site, Andy Green over on Seven Inches on Your Time on the finally done, “The Death of ‘Superman Lives’: What Happened?” He went to the premiere where Kevin Smith revealed he could have basically created a DC version of the cinematic universe.
"While working on Superman Lives, Kevin Smith met with president
of Warner Bros. production Lorenzo di Bonaventura. During their dinner,
Lorenzo offered Kevin Smith the keys to the DC Universe, the ability to
play with the studios’ entire properties, twenty years before Marvel
launched the MCU with Iron Man. Smith, painfully young, thought
that it would steal his indie soul, and points out that he was “not
Joss Whedon.” After this story I almost slammed my head into the back of
the movie seat in front of me."