If Men in Black III isn’t the complete, utter disaster we’ve been expecting (anticipating?) for more than a year, Barry Sonnenfeld‘s name will… probably still mean nothing; I guess that’s better than being in director jail, anyway. Early word indicates the movie is merely “fine” — that’s more than Sony was hoping for a few months ago — and an additional good sign has come from the filmmaker himself, who revealed that he and Warner Bros. have been considering a franchise as of late.

Sonnenfeld said this much to CBM, when asked about doing a superhero series:

“You know, I’m talking to Warner Bros. about doing a franchise based on a comic that hasn’t been around since the 60s. But it’s too early to talk about it. But possibly, yes.”

/Film made this astute observation: Warner Bros. means a DC character is, more than likely, on the table, while the pre-’60s dating means it’s probably not someone who’s been heavily rumored for translation over the past few years. What do we have, then? One of CBM’s commenters, named “Fogs,” offered up the possibilities of Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, The Hawk, The Dove, Metamorpho, The Question, Sgt. Rock, and Enemy Ace.

Sgt. Rock is the only character who’s been discussed for the big-budget presentation, but Guy Ritchie got his hands on the property in July of last year. This doesn’t entirely rule out the chances of Sonnenfeld taking the reigns — the British helmer has The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and, possibly, a third Sherlock Holmes waiting — but I’d take it as a roadblock. (Those other characters haven’t been rumored for film, as far as I can remember.) But, to be honest, I’m not interested enough to do much more deducting or blind guessing; I’ll just wait with full patience for the time being.

What do you think the project could be? Do you care?