When SUCKER PUNCH plunged into Fiasco Chasm like an expensive computer-rendered dirigible weighed down by a leaden script, perhaps it was fortunate for director Zack Snyder that he had already lined up his next movie, the Superman relaunch MAN OF STEEL.

Now he's apparently not waiting to see how the Kryptonian flies before setting up his next gig. Twitch says that Snyder will direct the Sean Penn/Christian Bale Afghanistan action-thriller THE LAST PHOTOGRAPH (which the filmmaker was already producing) when he's done with the big red 'S'.

The project stars Penn as "an ex-special ops soldier who arrives in Afghanistan to seek vengeance for the murder of his brother's family. He enlists a war photographer (Bale), the sole survivor of the attack that killed his brother, who captured the event in a photo."

Niels Arden Oplev, who directed THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO in its native country, was originally attached but departed for unspecified reasons. Snyder co-wrote the script with Kurt Johnstad (300).

Meanwhile, Snyder's SUPERMAN is getting ready to take off, and is still filling in the final human roles. And now EW says that former Keanu trainer and CSI regular Laurence Fishburne will play Clark Kent and Lois Lane's superior, Daily Planet's resolute honcho Perry White.

MAN OF STEEL stars Henry Cavill as Supes, Amy Adams as Lois, Michael Shannon as General Zod, Antje Traue as Faora, Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent, and Diane Lane as Martha Kent. Russell Crowe was in talks to play Superman's dad Jor-El. The movie is scheduled for release June 14, 2013.