As hard as it is to believe, we’re only two weeks out from the return of Superman, the Man of Steel with David Corenswet in the blue, red and yellow and Guardians of the Galaxy’s James Gunn behind the camera and in the final run-up to its release, we have some fun new details about the movie and the characters.
Gunn, who is now the co-head of DC Films along with Peter Safran, reveals that as far back as 2021, when Henry Cavill was still officially Superman and the DCEU was going strong, well, limping along if we’re honest, he was offered a Superman movie nut e didn’t know how to go about doing Superman and instead stuck with Suicide Squad.
However, Gunn soon knew what he wanted Superman to be, hence where we are now: “I wanted to tell the story about someone who was truly good in a world that doesn’t value goodness, in a world that makes fun of basic kindness and basic human values. The fact that he can fly and lift buildings and shoot laser beams out of his eyes was really secondary to who he was as a person and what he stood for.”
The new movie picks up in a world that is already filled with superheroes, aliens, monsters and everything in between and it’s a world where, unlike in previous Superman outings, Lois Lane, played by Rachel Brosnahan, already is in a relationship with Clark Kent and knows all about his secret identity.
“This isn’t like the interview in the Donner movie where Lois doesn’t know that he’s Clark,” Corenswet says, “Lois knows everything about him, so he’s in a very vulnerable position. He’s madly in love with this woman and desperately wants her to understand him and appreciate him and love him back.”
Watch the first clip from Superman:
First clip from James Gunn’s ‘SUPERMAN’
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— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) June 18, 2025
After Superman and Lois, the next biggest character in any telling of the Superman mythos is Lex Luthor, Superman’s enemy and the man who is driven by his hatred and fear of Superman, played by X-Men and About A Boy star Nicholas Hoult: “He’s a very sweet and gentle man, but he’s a very strong and imposing presence as an actor,” Corenswet says of Hoult, “He has a poise and a confidence that shows up immediately when work begins. That was really helpful, as Superman, having a very believable and imposing villain who you really feel like from day one has your number and knows what you’re up to and already has a strategy to thwart you.”
Watch the new clip from Superman:
New clip from James Gunn’s ‘SUPERMAN’
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— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) June 26, 2025
Hoult says of Lex: “He’s worked hard and diligently for so many years for all these things, to be admired and to be adored. Then suddenly Superman’s turned up and he’s all the things that he aims to be himself in some ways, but he doesn’t have to work hard for it.
“So I’m like, What if this Lex is someone who is physically strong and is an alpha, or seemingly in that sense? Instantly, even in the prep phase, it was like, I’m going to get in the gym and I’m going to be as strong as I possibly ever can be by the time we start shooting.”
TIDBIT:
Jai Courtney is hopeful that he will return to the DCU as Captain Boomerang, despite his character Captain Boomerang dying in Gunn’s Suicide Squad: “I was like, ‘Come on, man. Boomerang is cool.’ And James is like, ‘You know these rules don’t really apply. Just because he dies here doesn’t mean it’s gone forever, right?’ And I was like, ‘Hell yeah.’ So I have hope.”
“Lex is connected to everything,” Gunn says of the villain and how he is woven into the fabric of Metropolis’ underworld: “There’s nothing bad happening in Metropolis during this movie that doesn’t have some connection to Lex Luthor.”
Peter Safran, also overseeing the future of the DCU with Gunn, wants us to know that Lex won’t only be part of the Superman story but will have a big role in DC’s future on screen, calling him “a very important character for us in the DCU, not just in the Superman movie.”
Another clip for your viewing pleasure:
New clip from #Superman with Krypto
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— Geek Vibes Nation (@GeekVibesNation) June 28, 2025
Another character who has fans guessing in the movie, is Ultraman, a character who the trailers show is Superman’s equal in strength and fans have been trying to work out who he is under the black suit and mask, with guesses of Bizarro and going as far as Lobo but Gunn is revealing nothing… we’ll have to see the movie to work out just who he is: “Ultra Man is sort of Lex’s thug, and is pretty powerful,” is all Gunn will say.
TIDBIT:
When asked online if Princess Ilana Rostovic, the villain from Creature Commandos, would be returning despite being shot in the head, Gunn said: “In the DCU if you die, You’re dead. Well I wouldn’t mind using the Lazarus Pit (and/or resurrection) in a story. But it would have to be a part of the story itself. I won’t be killing major characters just to pop them in the old LP to be alive again. What backfires more is people believing there are no stakes and death doesn’t mean anything. Dead is dead”.
“I grew up reading DC and Marvel comics and having worlds and universes of superheroes who were interacting. I grew up watching Super Friends on Saturday mornings,” Gunn says.
Speaking of the movies that went before, Gunn says: “Richard Donner’s films and Zack Snyder’s films also suggest personal stories for Superman. But here is the main story: what is Superman’s relationship with himself? I think not setting the film on our Earth was very good for that.
“It’s this alternate Earth where there is a city called Metropolis. It’s not a film that asks ‘what would it be like if Superman existed in our world?’, which is a good question. But here the question of ‘what would it be like if he were real’ is in the human sense.
“It’s a long time coming, to be able to be a part of a world in which superheroes are real. We don’t have to explain everyone away. There’s a little bit of magic in this world. There’s science beyond our understanding in this world. This is the kind of place where there’s an island full of dinosaurs that probably exists.”
Nathan Fillion, who has worked with Gunn many times in the past and plays Green Lantern Guy Gardner in Superman (and the upcoming Lanterns series and Peacemaker season 2), said of the world Gunn has created: “James’ take is: What if we lived in that world? It’s giant monsters, alien beings, interdimensional imps. There’s things happening that are reality for this world that we’re about to enter.”
On his take on Guy Gardner, Fillion sounds like he’s going to have a lot of fun with the Lantern who is, well, a dick: “I love the idea that if you have an emergency and you need a Green Lantern — there’s thousands of them out there in the galaxy — this is the last one you want.
“What is very true about Guy Gardner, and what James understands very well, is you don’t have to be good and pure of heart to be a Green Lantern. You just have to be fearless. You just have to have the will. And Guy Gardner thinks he can take on Superman. That’s how fearless he is. No, you can’t take on Superman, dude.”
But what’s next? Well, we know that next July we’ll be getting Supergirl (previously called Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow) starring Milly Alcock as the titular heroine and Jason Momoa as intergalactic bounty hunter Lobo.
But what’s next? Will Gunn be making Superman II? Gun says: “What I’m working on is in some way…I mean, yes, yes, yes, yes. But is it a straight-up Superman sequel? I would not say necessarily.”
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We already know that a World’s Finest (Batman and Superman) and Batman and Son movie is in development and we have the (Green) Lanterns TV series coming next year, but what of Wonder Woman? Well, the Themyscira series, Paradise Island, is beign developed and Gunn reveals that a Wonder Woman movie is also “being written right now”.
However, Gunn is adamant that, unlike where Marvel now find themselves, each DC project will be accessible without doing hours of homework: “I am really trying to be careful that anybody can dip in and see the story that is up next and not feel like they’re missing information.”
TIDBIT:
After Man of Steel, Warner Bros, according to Peter Safran, briefly entertained the idea of giving the next Superman movie, then in the DCEU, to Transformers director Michael Bay…
“The most important thing is the specific stories, but there is also a much bigger story that we’re telling that will take a little bit longer to tell,” he goes on, “That’s sort of where my next couple of things are going to be.”
He’s keen to point out that eventually we will see the Justice League in the movies “But there is no Justice League in this world… not yet”.
On a future Justice League, Corneswet is keeping his expectations low although he admits being in the Justice League would be “awesome”, going on: “I don’t take it upon myself to think ahead in that kind of way, just because one would hate to get one’s hopes up about anything in particular and then have it go in another direction. What I like to do is stay blissfully ignorant, and then when James tells me what’s going to happen, I get to have a wonderful surprise. So if Justice League is in the back of his mind, that sounds great to me. I’ll put it at the back of my mind and we’ll see what happens.”
In closing, Gunn had this to say about Superman: “I think, in some ways, he can be seen as a little old-fashioned, but I think that old-fashioned is something that’s really beautiful and, in its own way, the most rebellious thing about that character.”
Superman, DC Studios’ first feature film to hit the big screen, is set to soar into cinemas worldwide this summer from Warner Bros. Pictures.
In his signature style, James Gunn takes on the original superhero in the newly imagined DC universe with a singular blend of epic action, humour and heart, delivering a Superman who’s driven by compassion and an inherent belief in the goodness of humankind.
DC Studios heads Peter Safran and Gunn are producing the film, which Gunn directs from his own screenplay, based on characters from DC, Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
Superman will be released in the UK on July 11th 2025 by Warner Bros. Pictures.
Watch the new international trailer:
Star says DCU Blue Beetle animated series aiming for release next year
Source: EW, DC Nautica, The Direct,
Marc
Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….
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