Yesterday was a big day for people looking forward to David Corenswet’s upcoming turn as Superman. Not only did we get the first look at his Superman suit’s ’S’ insignia, but DC Studios co-head James Gunn, who’s also writing and directing this upcoming DC movie, revealed it will now simply be called Superman rather than Superman: Legacy. But there’s another key piece of Superman-related news to come in before we hit the weekend, as Jack Ryan actor Wendell Pierce has reportedly been cast in a key role.
Per THR, Pierce has joined the cast of the Superman reboot to play Perry White, editor-in-chief of The Daily Planet. As the boss of Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and many more, Perry has been a fixture in the Superman mythos since he was introduced in the radio program The Adventures of Superman in 1940, which was followed by his comic book debut in the pages of Superman #7 that same year. So it would have been weird for the character not to be involved in the new Superman movie, and now we know that Pierce will be the one to bring him to life in the DC Universe.
As of late, Wendell Pierce is arguably best known for starring opposite John Krasinski in Jack Ryan, which streams to Amazon Prime Video subscribers and wrapped up after four seasons in 2023. Now he’s among the stars attached to Elsbeth, a spinoff of The Good Wife and The Good Fight that airs on CBS. His other notable TV credits include playing Detective William “Bunk” Moreland in The Wire, Robert Zane in Suits, Teddy in The Odd Couple and Ishmael “Snaps” Henry in Power Book III: Raising Kanan, and Malcolm X, Ray, Four, Burning Cane and The Gift are among the entries on the film side of his resume.
Perry White has previously been played on the big screen by Jackie Cooper in the Christopher Reeve-led Superman movies, Frank Langella in Superman Returns and Laurence Fishburne in the DC Extended Universe entries Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. As far as this Superman movie goes, naturally we can expect to see him spend a lot of time not just with David Corenswet’s Clark Kent, but also Rachel Brosnahan’s Lois Lane and Skyler Gisondo’s Jimmy Olsen. However, since Corenswet’s Clark is on the younger side, it’s unclear right now how long he and Perry have been working together by the time the movie starts.
Other important characters set to appear in Superman include Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor, Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner, Isabela Merced’s Hawkgirl, Eli Gathegei’s Mr. Terrific, Anthony Carrigan’s Metamorpho, María Gabriela de Faría's The Engineer, Sara Sampaio's Eve Teschmacher and Terence Rosemore's Otis. It’s also been rumored that Milly Alcock, who was recently cast as Supergirl, will debut in this movie before Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, but that hasn’t been confirmed yet. While no specific plot details have been unveiled yet, Gunn and fellow DC Studios head Peter Sagan consider it the “true beginning of the DC Universe,” even though the animated show Creature Commandos will be the first official project set in this official continuity once it drops to Max subscribers sometime later this year.
Superman, which kicked off principal photography yesterday, will land in theaters on July 11, 2025. While we wait for more news about the highly-anticipated superhero movie, feel free to peruse the 2024 release schedule to see what movies set for later this year catch your eye.
