The next Superman movie just got a hole lot more interesting with the announcement that it will be written by one of the men behind the current Batman films.

According to Variety, David S. Goyer co-writer on The Dark Knight has signed on to script the next Superman film, currently titled, The Man of Steel.

As I reported recently, Christopher Nolan, the director behind Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, has been brought on to the new Superman movie in a “godfather” type role to oversee the production and make sure that there is no repeat of 2006′s Superman Returns.  Apparently Mr. Goyer’s plan is to skip the origin story, and plans to assume the audience is familiar with Superman/Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olson Perry White and so on.  I’m thrilled by this decision because the idea of rebooting from step 1 again was going to drive me nuts.

Supposedly there will be two villains this time out: Lex Luthor and Brainiac.  There will also be an establishing a grander Kryptonian mythos, which depending on what version of Brainiac they are working with, it makes total sense.

To me this makes a lot of sense because what the Superman movies have lacked is a credible villain that could trade blow with the Man of Steel.  Brainiac, while a computer essentially, has super strength and can get in a physical fight with Superman.  It’s about time.

There is currently no scheduled release date, but things do appear to be underway, and some people are estimating 2012 for the release.

It’s nice to see DC Comics finally getting their movie act together.  Green Lantern is in pre-production, Batman 3 is being scripted and now Superman.  All we need is Wonder Woman to finish off the mainline DC heroes.