Credit: Warner Bros. / DCSuperman: Legacy, director James Gunn’s big reboot of the DC Universe, is not scheduled to premiere until 2025, but we are finally getting some information on the much-anticipated film.
Zack Snyder’s DC Extended Universe is currently coasting on fumes, with the Ezra Miller-led The Flash becoming a historic bomb in the comic book adaptation genre and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom being plagued with constant delays and rumors of cast in-fighting.
As such, DC fans really only have Superman: Legacy to look forward to, but James Gunn has been teasingly releasing information about the scope of his DC Universe and his own inspirations. It was announced months ago that Henry Cavill had been dropped from the role of Clark Kent (much to the dismay of hardcore DCEU fans) and that David Corenswet would be playing a new, younger (but not young!) version of the Last Kryptonian.
Related: James Gunn Addresses Controversial ‘Superman: Legacy’ Rumor
It was also revealed that Rachel Brosnahan would play Lois Lane, and then things started to get a little weird, in a very James Gunn kind of way. Rather than any casting announcements of classic Superman characters, the new co-head of DC Studios had a series of oddball, relatively little-known characters for all of us.
Gunn revealed that Superman: Legacy would include appearances from Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner, the universe’s most obnoxious Green Lanter, Isabela Merced as one of the many versions of Hawkgirl, Edi Gathegi as super-genius Mr Terrific, and Anthony Carrigan as Rex Mason, aka Metamorpho. In short, it was not what many expected to hear about a movie that has “Superman” on the the title.
Now that the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes are over and presumably a whole lot of delayed contracts have been signed, we’re finally getting some news. María Gabriela De Faría will be playing Angela Spica, one of several DC (formerly Wildstorm, it’s complicated) characters to go by the name the Engineer. Interestingly, early reports of the casting describe the Engineer as one of the villains of the film, but the character has typically acted as part of the superhero group the Authority in comics.
Fortunately, there actually has been news of a villain for Superman: Legacy. After months of rumors, it has been confirmed that Nicholas Hoult will play Lex Luthor, while Sara Sampaio will play Eve Teschmacher, a character originally introduced in the Richard Donner Superman films as an assistant of Luthor.
Related: 15 Supporting DC Characters That We Need To See in ‘Superman: Legacy’
And notably, Superman’s pal Jimmy Olsen has finally been cast. Per The Hollywood Report, Skyler Gisondo will play the Daily Planet photographer, Superman superfan, and occasional superhero.
The character has been previously been portrayed in feature films by Marc McClure, Sam Huntington, and Michael Cassidy. He has been a part of Superman mythos since the 1930s (credited as being created by Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, and Bob Maxwell) and often serves to illustrate the lighter, sillier part of DC Comics.
There are basically no details about the actual plot of Superman: Legacy so far, but it is a relief to know that James Gunn has decided to include at least a few classic Superman characters.
What do you think of the casting of Nicholas Hoult, Sara Sampaio, and Skyler Gisondo? Tell us your opinions in the comments below!