The upcoming Man of Steel 2 superhero flick will not see the return of Russell Crowe reprising his role as Jor-El, Clark Kent's biological father.

The Australian actor said it is unlikely that he will be appearing in the Batman/Superman film because the Clark Kent origin story will not be explored.

Crowe told Yahoo! Movies: "I don't think they're going to use me again. I think they're jumping onto a different stream. You know, they're going with the different superhero worlds colliding."

In other Man of Steel news, it has been reported that Ben Affleck was not director Zack Snyder's first choice to play Batman in the sequel. Snyder reportedly interviewed Josh Brolin for the role.

"Me and Zack had a conversation about it," Brolin said, according to Enstars. "There were several reasons why we said it wasn't the best idea on both sides. I had mine and Zack had his."

He continued, "To me it's not about being cool and all that stuff. Looking back over your shoulder and saying that one line everyone's going to remember? Maybe I could do that. But I do roles that aren't necessarily all that cool. All my stuff is a little off."

The casting of Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne/Batman did not go down well with Marvel fans.

Warner Brothers faced much backlash for their controversial casting choices, including Ben Affleck and Jesse Eisenburg, who will be playing the role of Lex Luthor.