Warner Bros. and DC welcome James Gunn, Peter Safran, and cast members of Superman to CinemaCon for a superpowered presentation!
Warner Bros. is ready to make audiences at CinemaCon feel super with a special presentation for James Gunn’s Superman. Hype for the upcoming superhero spectacle is already at an all-time high, with much riding on the film’s success. Addressing the crown, David Corenswet expressed his gratitude for playing the iconic Son of Krypton, hoping he would bring something unique to the character for new audiences and future generations.
DC’s Superman panel began with a behind-the-scenes introduction to the film. The team emphasizes the film’s heart and overwhelming sense of hope. They say Superman is more traditional than recent iterations, with Supes’ only mission being to save humanity. James Gunn and Peter Safran took the stage, saying this would be the “Summer of Superman.”
The duo promises to deliver transformative movie experiences with their Gods and Monsters initiative. Gunn revealed he was offered Superman in 2018. DC offered him Suicide Squad, too, and he chose that over the alien in the red trunks, saying Suicide Squad was more up his alley. His issue was that people saw the character as old-fashioned. He said he wanted to include all the wild stuff from the Max Fleischer cartoons like the dog, pocket universes, kaiju, sorcery and more. None of that has ever been done in a Superman film. The film seems heavily inspired by those cartoons, right down to the Superman logo, although the suit appears much more practical than in other versions.
Gunn says Krypto is based on his new dog. His beloved old dog died, and he adopted a new one, Ozu, from a rescue shelter. He adopted the craziest dog he could find. Ozu has one ear that sticks up like Kyoto. Ozu had never known human beings and was a terrible dog, eating all of Gunn’s shoes and destroying his $8,000-dollar laptop. He also liked to bite Gunn’s toes. His idea was, what if this dog had superpowers? I’d be fucked… hence Krypto.
Gunn says the internet makes fun of kindness, and this movie celebrates kindness and love. Brosnahan says Superman is a cool guy because he does the right thing. Doing the right thing is cool, kids.
Speaking about which superheroes they’d play outside of Superman, Corenswet said he’d like to suit up as Batman, while Rachel Brosnahan wants to play Lex Luthor, saying she’d shave her head for the part. Finally, Nicholas Hoult jokes about auditioning for the role of Batman and Superman, so…
The next portion of this article contains Superman spoilers! Read at your own peril!
Gunn brought an extended look at Superman for the crowd. The scene opens on the snow-laden planet of Krypton. Superman crashes to the ground. He wheezes and bleeds, as we saw in the first teaser trailer. He whistles for Krypto, who excitedly nuzzles Big Blue. Obviously in pain, Superman eeks out, “Krypto, take me home.” Krypto bounds around before grabbing Supes by the cape and running through the snow like a bat out of Hell. Krypto brings Supes to the Fortress of Solitude, which is rising from the ground in all of its icy glory. Robots lift Superman and carry him to safety. Superman thanks the automatons, to which they reply, “There is no need to thank us as we will not understand.” They examine him in a medical office and then blast him with sunlight. Superman screams as the restorative power of the yellow sun mends his broken body.
Superman stars David Corenswet (Pearl) as Clark Kent and Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Ms. Maisel) as Lois Lane. The cast also includes Nathan Fillion (The Rookie) as Guy Gardner, a charismatic and slightly obnoxious member of the Green Lantern Corps; Isabela Merced (Dora and the Lost City of Gold) as Hawkgirl; Edi Gathegi (X-Men: First Class) as Mister Terrific; Anthony Carrigan (Barry) as Metamorpho; María Gabriela de Faría (Deadly Class) as The Engineer, a member of The Authority; Sara Sampaio (At Midnight) as Eve Teschmacher; Skyler Gisondo (The Righteous Gemstones) as Jimmy Olsen; Wendell Pierce (The Wire) as Perry White; Neva Howell (Logan Lucky) as Martha Kent; Pruitt Taylor-Vince (The Walking Dead) as Jonathan Kent; and Nicholas Hoult (The Great) as Lex Luthor. Superman will hit theaters on July 11th.
