James Gunn Explains What’s Different About His Superman

Though we’ve seen Superman stories on the big screen—and the small screen—many times before, including some very recent iterations, there’s still intense excitement over James Gunn’s upcoming movie. Not only is the writer-director the new co-leader of DC Studios, his track record is full of projects that delight and entertain, including the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy. If anyone can make a movie titled Superman feel fresh, it’s Gunn—but he’s still well aware his 2025 release is treading familiar territory.

However, he’s possibly even more aware of how his Superman is different from all the other Man of Steel adventures that’ve come before. Talking to Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Gunn explained what will set his superhero tale apart from the pack.

“I don’t think we’ve ever seen the big, science fiction, Silver Age Superman aspects that we have in our movie,” he told the host. “And we’ve never seen… you’ll see when the movie comes out, but we’ve never seen this specific part of Superman’s life.”

That goes for the villain, too. “I don’t think we’ve ever seen the Lex [Luthor] that [Nicholas Hoult] is. Nick is imposing. You go, ‘Oh fuck, poor Superman!’ That’s the thing we never see, not in film. Sometimes in the comics you go, ‘Oh, Superman’s fucked,’ because Lex is so smart and so good at what he’s doing. But in the movies, you’re going, ‘Lex is about to get fucked.’ … We’ve got a big ol’ Superman and a pretty tall Lex, too, [and] you see now where Lex is not the person you want to have against you.”

Superman, which also stars David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl, Edi Gathegi as Michael Holt/Mister Terrific, Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner/ Green Lantern, Wendell Pierce as Perry White, Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen, and more, hits theaters July 11, 2025.

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