Superman is the crown jewel of DC Studios. James Gunn and Peter Safran understand that he is the most important note to hit in their symphony. And as rumors of casting calls and screen tests for the superhero begin to circulate, we can’t help but think of all the things DC has done wrong in the past. Superman is the DCU’s biggest opportunity and biggest risk. If he isn’t cast right, the rest of the DCU falls apart. So the pressure is on to get him right.
Superman is not a difficult concept to get correct. The public could see that Henry Cavill’s performance was perfect for the character. But DC’s latest generation of heroes failed due to poor planning and a rush to achieve what Marvel had done slowly over the previous decade.
Before him, Brandon Routh in Superman Returns made his attempt at what quickly became the defunct aesthetic of superhero movies. Tom Welling in Smallville was a good fit for a creative take on a story that never escaped television. And Christopher Reeve played Superman excellently in the 70s and 80s.
But despite how powerful the Man of Steel might be, he can’t lift an entire franchise on his own. If James Gunn and DC want to get Superman right, they’ll have to do something differently.
The Man of Tomorrow
James Gunn has made his goals clear for the next Superman. He wants a young actor, someone probably in their twenties, who can be a part of his ten-year plan to remake the DCU. A lot of rumors have been going around about James Gunn getting together a shortlist for the role of Superman. Rumors say there are three actors advancing to a screen test stage, David Corenswet being one of them, and two others who remain a mystery.
It’s easy to say what qualities Superman needs: someone with a strong jaw line, a sense of morality, and the strength of character it will take to lead the DCU. After all, it’s like asking someone to lead a football team with a guaranteed spot in the Super Bowl that year. The old DC had cast an excellent actor but wrote stories for him that cut corners in the narrative and jumped at an executive need for MCU-level profits.
Gunn is making a good decision casting a young actor, not just so they can remain in the role for ten or so years, but so the writers at DC can build a narrative around the character slowly. Avengers: Endgame didn’t happen overnight. And if DC wants that kind of success, Superman, the linchpin of their cinematic universe, will have to have a story that grows slowly. Constructing this type of narrative requires a time commitment spanning years or even decades. And whichever actor they get will also probably end up signing their soul away for at least the next ten years.
Whoever gets signed will also have to be the face of the DCU. Back when the MCU was beginning to become popular, actors played different versions of themselves on and off-screen. In an interview with the cast of The Avengers, Chris Evans would walk on stage with the strength and humility of Captain America, whereas Robert Downey Jr. would come out throwing roses. The next Superman will have to walk this line. Not weak, but not overly prideful. The actor will have to play Superman, Clark Kent, and himself for the media.
A Different Man of Steel
DC Comics
The DCU will also have to do something different for the next Superman. Henry Cavill’s Superman was a take on the character that fits into this modern age of superheroes, but because it didn’t work, the narrative was more or less wasted. What will need to happen is the introduction of a new story, not Cavill’s Man of Steel, not Tom Welling’s Smallville, but something that creates a different opportunity for the character.
David Carradine’s famous monologue in Kill Bill: Vol. 2 described a reversed perspective on Superman. One where most heroes dress up to hide their human identities, but Superman must dress up to hide that he’s a superhero. His natural state is one superior to the average person. And James Gunn seems to understand this on a different level. He told The Hollywood Reporter:
“I completely relate to Superman because he’s everything I am. He’s somebody who is an outsider who feels like an alien, but also the ultimate insider, because he’s fucking Superman. And that’s kind of like what I feel like.”
Superman’s story as an immigrant, a hero, and the strongest person in the universe, are all part of his character. But just as every Batman is intrinsically different from the other, so too must this Superman give us something different from what we’ve seen before. James Gunn has to find a story in Superman’s history that hasn’t been told yet. While we can only guess what Gunn’s particular flavor of Superman will be, it’s clear that he has a difficult job ahead of him.
