When the DC Universe franchise gets underway, the first of this new era’s upcoming DC movies will be the James Gunn-helmed Superman reboot. Along with David Corenswet playing the Man of Steel, Superman’s cast includes talents like Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, and principal photography began at the end of February, with the public being treated to a peek at the new Superman suit on Day 1. As Superman filming continues, Gunn shared on social media that he had a special moment with the family of Jerry Siegel, who co-created the character with Joe Shuster.
Taking to X (formerly known as Twitter), James Gunn, who’s also co-running DC Studios with producer Peter Safran, posted a photo of him with Michael and James Larson, Siegel’s grandsons. The men gave the filmmaker a reprint of Action Comics #1, which featured Superman’s first appearance, that their grandfather signed, and they posed for a picture, as seen below:
A gift from Jerry Siegel’s grandsons Michael and James Larson - a reprint of the first issue of Action Comics signed by Jerry. It’s been great having Mike and Jim around keeping Jerry’s spirit alive in the birth of the DCU! Here we all were on the day of the cast read through.… pic.twitter.com/8FeSO4gSFnMarch 27, 2024
As Gunn shared, Michael and James stopped by when the Superman actors were doing a read-through, so they got a taste of what’s heading to the big screen in 2025. While it can be debated whether or not the superhero genre existed by the time Superman hit the scene, there’s no question that Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s creation popularized these stories, and Kal-El/Clark Kent remains one of the pop culture’s most well-known fictional characters. So it’s only fitting that that Siegel’s grandsons visited to give Gunn this outstanding gift to help commemorate Superman’s next cinematic era.
While specific plot details for Superman are being kept under wraps, among the things we do know about this movie is that it will not chronicle the title character’s origins, and All-Star Superman, Superman: For All Seasons and Superman: Birthright are among the stories that inspired the script that James Gunn wrote. This will also take place in a world where superheroes are already plentiful, as evidenced by the inclusion of Guy Gardner, Hawkgirl, Mr. Terrific and Metamorpho. Villain-wise, along with Luthor cooking up some scheme, Superman will also face trouble from Angela Spica, a.k.a. The Engineer, a member of The Authority, who also have their own movie coming up on the DC Universe Chapter One slate.
This will be Gunn’s second time helming a DC movie, having previously delivered The Suicide Squad to the masses in 2021. He also created the spinoff series Peacemaker, which is returning for a second season set in the DC Universe. Overall, this will be the eighth standalone Superman movie to score a theatrical run, with Corenswet’s predecessors including George Reeves, Christopher Reeve, Brandon Routh and Henry Cavill.
Superman flies into theaters on July 11, 2025. You can revisit many of his past film and TV appearances with a Max subscription while waiting for more updaters about the reboot, or head to the platform to watch the other DC movies in order.
