The last few decades have provided theater-goers and comic fans alike with countless iterations of Superman, the iconic Man of Steel, the superhero of superheroes that’s all but synonymous with the massive DC comic universe and the subsequent cinematic genre that’s spawned from it. Henry Cavill’s recent exit from the role landed hard for many fans who praised his more dramatic approach to the character, and his dedication to it despite careless writing conflicts on projects like The Justice League (2017). Either way, the pedestal currently stands empty until James Gunn decides who will fill it next. Per a report from SlashFilm, the director recently discussed at a press conference his plans for the first film of his new DCU slate, Superman: Legacy, and how he personally envisions the caped Kryptonian.
While Zack Snyder had sent Superman on a questionably darker, more destructive path that ended with him killing Zod, one of his own brethren, Gunn instead wants to go in almost the complete opposite direction. Describing his younger version of Superman as quite literally a “big ol’ galoot”, Gunn wishes to draw upon the inherent kindness and idealistic innocence of the character.
“I really love the idea of Superman. He’s a big ol’ galoot. He’s a farmboy from Kansas who’s very idealistic. His greatest weakness is that he’ll never kill anybody. He doesn’t want to hurt a living soul. I like that sort of innate goodness about Superman; it’s his defining characteristic.
Both Gunn and Warner Bros head Peter Safran share the same sentiment, emphasizing that they want their Superman to represent “kindness in a world that thinks of kindness as old-fashioned.” They also press that while their version of the character will be younger than Cavill’s, the upcoming film will not be an origin story whatsoever. Rather, according to Safran, it will focus on Superman’s early days as a crime-fighter and “balancing his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing.”
Superman: Legacy is slated for release on July 11, 2025. According to Gunn, casting for the film has no yet begun and won’t until the script is finished.
The Recent Superman Movie Everyone Mocked That Arguably Came Closest to Gunn’s Vision
Before Henry Cavill came along to help execute Zack Snyder’s more dramatic vision of the Man of Steel, there was a previous attempt by Warner Bros to resurrect Superman onto the big screen. Back in the early 2000s, the studio hired director Bryan Singer (Bohemian Rhapsody) to put together a new, innovative project for the character, as part of an earlier initiative to reignite comic films. The production went forward and cast Brandon Routh (Arrow) as Superman/Clark Kent alongside Kate Bosworth (Barbarian) as Lois Lane and Kevin Spacey (House of Cards) as villain Lex Luthor. The premise of the film starts at a unique point, where Superman (Brandon Routh) has vanished from Earth to search for any surviving Kryptonians. After 5 years, he abruptly returns under his infamous guise of Clark Kent to resume working at The Daily Planet alongside Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth). With no contact before his absence, Lois chose to move on with a new relationship and focus on raising her young son, Jason, whose biological father is never clearly stated but heavily implied later in the film.
Superman/Clark awkwardly readjusts to his life on Earth, and carries himself as abundantly polite and gentle-handed towards everyone, practically a ‘galoot’ per James Gunn’s vocabulary. Even when he dons the cape during a crisis with a plane nosediving towards the ground, despite it being his public appearance as Superman in years, he acts kind and dutiful to the people who seem mostly elated to see him back. The entire film conveys a more light-hearted and inspirational tone to Superman, and it actually landed well with both audiences and critics. However, the film was unfortunately not enough of a box officer buster to warrant its planned sequel, and over the years has been joked about under the shadow of Cavill and the DCU’s now far bigger budget productions. In hindsight, it begs the question of what would’ve happened if Routh’s Superman survived to build his own franchise.
After Snyder’s vision arguably swung in too dark of a direction for the character, though, the pendulum is now set to sway back the other way, with Gunn’s Superman to embrace the kind-hearted savior role he was meant for from the beginning. Hopefully he can pull off what Bryan Singer tried and almost accomplished.
