James Gunn’s Superman movie: release date, confirmed cast, plot rumors, and more
Superman’s next big-screen adventure arrives in mid-2025
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- Releasing worldwide in July 2025- First film to be released as part of DCU Chapter One- Filming at the midway point as of June 1- DC Studios co-head James Gunn on co-writing and directing duties- Full cast confirmed- No trailer revealed yet- Will draw inspiration from multiple DC comic storylines- Leaked set photos teases aspects of its story- Could set up future DCU projects
Is it a bird? A plane? No, it’s a newSupermanmovie! The first film set to be released as part of James Gunn and Peter Safran’s rebooted the DC Cinematic Universe (DCU), the flick formerly known asSuperman: Legacywon’t be with us for another year. But, with filming well underway and plenty of recent set leaks, we’ve got a clearer idea of what lies in store for the Man of Steel’s next silver screen adventure.
Below, we’ve compiled everything piece ofintelwe can find on theDCU Chapter Onemovie, including its release date, confirmed cast, plot rumors, and how it could set up future DCU films and TV shows.Potentially big spoilers followfor 2025’sSupermanfilm, so tread carefully if you’re, well, trying to avoid spoilers.
Superman release date
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Supermanwill break the supersonic sound barrier in theaters onJuly 11, 2025; its official launch date being revealed last January whenGunn confirmed the full DCU Chapter One movie and TV show line-up.
Principal photography began in late February and, at the time of this article update (July 2), filming has moved to Cleveland, Ohio, which is where many of its recent set leaks have happened. It’s currently unclear whenSuperman’s full shooting schedule will end, but we’ll let you know when we hear more.
Superman cast
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Potential spoilers follow for 2025’sSupermanfilm.
Here’s the confirmed cast forSupermanso far:
Corenswet (The Politician,Pearl) is the latest actor tasked with bringing Clark Kent/Krypton’s most famous son to life in a live-action project. His casting was revealed alongside Rachel Brosnahan’s (Prime Video’sThe Marvelous Mrs Maisel), who’ll play Kent’s perpetual love interest and fellow Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane.
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Hoult (X-Men,Mad Max: Fury Road), whoreportedly accepted the role of Lex Luthor in November 2023before his casting was officially announced days later, will play Superman’s most iconic adversary. DespiteSuperman’s first-look image teasing the potential appearance of another big villain, Gunn confirmed (viaThreads) that Luthor will be the film’s big bad. He’ll be joined on antagonistic duties by Teschmacher (Sampaio), aka Luthor’s assistant and love interest in the comics, and a henchman named Otis (Rosemore).
Pierce (The Wire) has reportedly been cast as Perry White, the Daily Planet’s tough but fair editor-in-chief, although he declined to confirm his involvement in a Late Night With Seth Meyer interview (per X/Twitter userJeremyJLop). Gisondo (Licorice Pizza) is definitely on board as Jimmy Olsen, the Daily Planet’s photographer and friend to Kent and Lane. Bennett (Saturday Night Live), Hoover (Guardians 3), and McDonald (Happy Gilmore) round out the Daily Planet’s roster as self-serving sports reporter Lombard, gossip columnist Grant, and general journalist Troupe respectively.
Ordinarily aWonder Womanvillain, Maxwell Lord will also make a brief appearance, with Sean Gunn, James' brother and frequent collaborator (he appeared in theGuardians of the Galaxyfilms andThe Suicide Squad), playing him. Lastly on the non-superhero front, Vince (Stranger Things) and Howell (Logan Lucky) will play Clarke’s human adoptees in Jonathan and Martha Kent – Gunn confirming their castings onInstagram.
The suits are out! 🦸♂️ Superman and what appears to be Mister Terrific from DC Comics are in full uniform and together filming a scene in downtown Cleveland. Photos: Joshua Gunter, https://t.co/a4YA4W2Cro pic.twitter.com/QoM3G0NUCDJune 24, 2024
As for other superheroes who’ll appear inone of the DCU Chapter One’s most exciting movies, the only fully costumed character (via leaked set images)we’ve seen alongside Corenswet’s Man of Steel is fellow hero Mr. Terrific. Gathegi (For All Mankind) portrays this wealthy scientist-turned-superhero who uses floating orbs – known as T-spheres – to imbue himself with superhuman abilities.
Carrigan (Barry) is playing Metamorpho, an archaeologist who acquires superpowers that enable him to alter his body’s atoms to change shape and consistency. Fillion (The Suicide Squad,Firefly) is playing the Guy Gardner iteration of Green Lantern. One of many individuals to assume this alias, Gardner will be “90% flawed and [he] doesn’t care [about anything]”, Fillion toldCollider.
Merced (The Last of Usseason 2) is on board as Hawkgirl – a Justice League of America member who’s a near-identical character toBlack Adam’s Hawkman. She can fly, uses various weapons, and comes equipped with the usual superhuman strength, stamina, reflexes, and ability to heal quickly. Additionally, De Faria (Deadly Class) is playing Spica/The Engineer, a member of The Authority. This DC Comics super team – one unafraid to resort to extreme measures to save the day – is getting a standalone movie, too, so expectSupermanto set up some story strands forThe Authority.
Spoilers: Tuesday, we observed David Corenswet’s Superman being taken into custody by what appears to be Frank Grillo as Rick Flag Sr. and 2 villains. The other two characters apprehending Superman appear to be María Gabriela de Faría as The Engineer and Ultraman.📹: Josh Duke pic.twitter.com/gt9cSfEGuzJune 26, 2024
Gunn’sSupermanfilm will feature heroes/anti-heroes from other forthcoming DCU projects. More on-set leaks confirmed Grillo’s Rick Flag Sr, who’ll debut in upcoming Max animated seriesCreature Commandos, will feature, as could another famous Man of Steel villain, with some eagle-eyed viewers thinking either Ultraman or Bizarro is the individual escorting a handcuffed Supes in the video above.
As for other potential inclusions, one notable one – if reports are to be believed – is Supergirl, who’ll be played by Milly Alcock (House of the Dragon). She wasone of two finalists Gunn was considering for Supergirl, aka Kara Zor-El, before her DCU casting was confirmed in late January. However, Gunn wrote (viaThreads) that Supergirl might not cameo in Superman, so this cast addition might not be true.
We might, though, see another Superman-adjacent character. Indeed, anotherSupermanmovie leaksuggests Mr. Terrific will encounter Superman’s loyal canine friendKrypto the Superdog at some point, so expect this very good boy to likely feature in the flick’s third act.
Superman story speculation
There’s no plot synopsis forSupermanyet, but Gunn hasn’t been shy about the comic book series he’s taking inspiration from. For starters, 2025’sSupermanisn’t another origins story. ViaThreads, Gunn said his movie would begin with Kal-El/Clark Kent already living on Earth, so we won’t have to sit through another take on his Kryptonian backstory.
When the flick’sdirector teased the DC superhero’s new suitin March, it all but confirmed that this film will be influenced by Mark Waid and Alex Ross’Kingdom Come. A 1996 Elseworlds miniseries, the four-issue run showed a world-weary Kent come out of retirement (alongside other Justice League members) to put a bunch of new, morally complex, and violent superheroes in their place.
It’s highly unlikely thatSupermanwill be a direct adaptation of these comics – indeed, inKingdom Come, Kent is much older than Corenswet’s iteration, who’s reportedly in his mid-20s, nor will it see Supes battle his fellow metahumans. However, Reddit users seem to think we’ll see a reverse-engineered version ofKingdom Come’s story unfold in this flick, with Corenswet’s youthful and enthusiastic superpowered individual potentially helping some of Earth’s battle-hardened heroes to rediscover their sense of purpose.
A supervillain, a journalist and an alien walk into a bar…
Before Kent embarks on a quest to re-energize his fellow heroes' commitment to protecting Earth, he’ll need to deal with his own demons – chief among those being his sense of isolation.
To that end, Kent will spend most of his superhero life living alone in his iconic Fortress of Solitude. A report from Norwegian outletvg.nocarried quotes from Gunn saying his flick will show Kent “fleeing” to his Arctic base of operations at some point in the story. It’s unclear when or why he does so, although a leaked set video (via theDCU Leaks sub-Reddit) shows Clark struggling to make his way through a bustling Metropolis crowd, so maybe life in a chaotic city becomes too much for him. You can expect his character arc to center on feelings of alienation, too, before he finds the courage to move past his trauma and sense of being an outcast. Speaking toVarietyin April 2023, Gunn confessed to wanting a protagonist “who you want to give a hug”, further underlining his penchant for wanting the DCU’s Clark to be a solitary figure.
As we know, Clark will be employed as a roving reporter for the Daily Planet – Metropolis' news outlet – where he works alongside Lois Lane, Perry White, and other journalism-minded colleagues. We’re unsure how much of Kent’s civilian life we’ll see but, if he’s not actively operating as his superhero alias until later in the movie (well, in the public eye, anyway), we suspect the movie’s first act will be based around his Daily Planet job, interactions with his co-workers, and the stresses of daily human life.
Fans can also expect otherSupermancomics, themes, and imagery to be woven into his latest cinematic adventure. According toThe Direct’s David Thompson, Corenswet also said it’ll cherry pick elements from Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’sSuperman: For All Seasonsminiseries, and Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely, and Jamie Grant’sAll-Star Supermancomics. Phillip Kennedy Johnson’sSuperman: The Warworld Saga, Tom King’sSuperman: Up In The Sky,and the character’s Golden Age comics are all big influences, too (per Gunn onThreads). Richard Donner’s Christopher Reeve-starringSupermanmovies, particularly the first two, have also impacted its development.
As for other possible plot threads, we’d rather not spoil anything else we’ve seen or heard about. Stay tuned for an official story brief, whenever that’ll be released.
Superman trailer: is there one?
No – and we won’t get one for a while yet. We’ll update this section once one is released.
Where to watch every Superman movie to date
Want to know where to stream every live-actionSupermanmovie (or films that he features in) to date? Read on to see where you can watch them:
How will Superman set up other DCU movies and TV shows?
We suspect 2025’sSupermanwill set up two of its fellow DCU Chapter One (also known as Gods and Monsters) movies:Supergirl: Woman of TomorrowandThe Authority.
The first of those, which stars Alcock’s Kara, will be inspired by Tom King’s comic book series of the same name. In November 2023, abunch of newSupergirlmovie updateswere released, which included confirmation that Ana Nogueira is penning its script and that Krypto the Superdog would appear. If Kara shows up inSuperman, her cameo may lay the foundations for her first standalone film since 1984’sSupergirl, which starred Helen Slater.
As forThe Authority, very little is known about who’s involved in its development. De Faria’s The Engineer should show up, so she’ll be the connective tissue between her superteam’s first big-screen team-up andSuperman. Matthew Vaughn (Argylle,Kick-Ass) has tentatively been linked as its director.
On the TV front, one show thatSupermanmight impact isLanterns, an HBO series that’s been described as a superhero version ofTrue Detectiveand whose chief creative team was revealed in late Mayto be King, Damon Lindelof (Watchmen,Lost), and Chris Mundy (Ozark). Gunn suggested (viaThreads) that Fillion’s Gardner will appear in it, so it’s plausibleSupermanwill be the jumping-off point forLanterns' story, too. We wait with bated Super-Breath for more details, Messrs Gunn and Safran.
For more DC-based coverage, find outhow to watch the DC movies in order. Alternatively, get the lowdown on thebestBatmanmoviesor see which DCEU films made it onto ourbest Max movieslist.
As TechRadar’s senior entertainment reporter, Tom covers all of the latest movies, TV shows, and streaming service news that you need to know about. You’ll regularly find him writing about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars, Netflix, Prime Video, Disney Plus, and many other topics of interest.
An NCTJ-accredited journalist, Tom also writes reviews, analytical articles, opinion pieces, and interview-led features on the biggest franchises, actors, directors and other industry leaders. You may see his quotes pop up in the odd official Marvel Studios video, too, such as thisMoon Knight TV spot.
Away from work, Tom can be found checking out the latest video games, immersing himself in his favorite sporting pastime of football, reading the many unread books on his shelf, staying fit at the gym, and petting every dog he comes across.
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