James Gunn is formally making Superman: Legacy his subsequent directorial car. Gunn has been writing the characteristic since earlier than he turned the co-head of DC Studios in November, and it was extensively anticipated he would direct, although it was unclear given his duties overseeing the increasing DC slate with associate Peter Safran.
Superman: Legacy would be the first big-screen characteristic of the Gunn-Safran period. Warner Bros. has the challenge dated for July 11, 2025.
“It focuses on Superman balancing his Kryptonian heritage together with his human upbringing. He’s the embodiment of reality, justice and the American manner. He’s kindness in a world that thinks that kindness is old school,” Safran advised reporters in late January.
On Wednesday, Gunn defined that he hesitated to tackle a Superman film, regardless that he was supplied the character earlier than finally taking up The Suicide Squad for Warners. “I initially stated no as a result of I didn’t have a manner in that felt distinctive and enjoyable and emotional that gave Superman the dignity he deserved,” Gunn wrote on Twitter. “Then a bit lower than a yr in the past I noticed a manner in, in some ways centering round Superman’s heritage – how each his aristocratic Kryptonian dad and mom and his Kansas farmer dad and mom inform who he’s and the alternatives he makes.”
Even after deciding to put in writing, he was hesitant to direct. Defined the filmmaker: “Simply because I write one thing doesn’t imply I really feel it in my bones, visually and emotionally, sufficient to spend over two years directing it, particularly not one thing of this magnitude. However, the lengthy and the in need of it’s, I really like this script, and I’m extremely excited as we start this journey.”
Notably, this Superman is not going to by performed by Henry Cavill, the actor who portrayed the superhero in Man of Metal (2013), Batman v Superman: Daybreak of Justice (2016) and Justice League (2017), and who appeared in a cameo in final yr’s Black Adam. Whereas Cavill believed he could be sporting the cape for extra movies, after Gunn and Safran took over DC, it turned obvious they might be getting in a youthful course for the hero.
Superman: Legacy will mark Gunn’s first time directing an A-list superhero. He made a reputation for himself taking comparatively unknown characters comparable to Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and turning them into family names. He additionally elevated D-list DC characters comparable to Polka-Dot Man and King Shark to big-screen standing in The Suicide Squad, to robust evaluations.
The characteristic is among the tasks Gunn and Safran teased as a part of what they’ve dubbed Chapter 1: God and Monsters, which is billed as an overarching story advised through completely different TV reveals and movies. Different titles embrace Supergirl: Lady of Tomorrow and The Authority. Additionally on the massive display screen shall be titles that don’t match into their overarching continuity, comparable to Matt Reeves’ The Batman Half II, due out Oct. 3, 2025.
On Friday, the Safran-produced Shazam! Fury of the Gods arrives in theaters, the primary of 4 DC options out this yr that had been made earlier than Gunn and Safran took over DC. Along with his DC duties, Gunn is closing out one other chapter of his profession, the one which made him a high director practically a decade in the past; his ultimate Marvel Studios movie, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, is due out Might 5.
For Gunn, who counts Richard Donner’s Superman as a seminal theatrical expertise, the discharge date of Superman: Legacy is important. “My brother Matt advised me when he noticed the discharge date he began to cry,” Gunn wrote on Twitter Wednesday. “I requested him why. He stated, ‘Dude, it’s Dad’s birthday.’ I hadn’t realized.” Their father died in two weeks earlier than Gunn started manufacturing on The Suicide Squad.
Mirrored Gunn: “I misplaced my dad nearly three years in the past. He was my finest pal. He didn’t perceive me as a child, however he supported my love of comics and my love of movie and I wouldn’t be making this film now with out him.”
