In a post on his Threads social media account, director James Gunn has revealed a series of comic book images and pages that have inspired the upcoming “Superman” movie.
In reply to a fan question regarding which other versions (beyond Richard Donner’s 1978 film) have inspired Gunn’s upcoming 2025 film, the director replied, “Where do I start?” and then posted a series of 10 images from across Superman’s 85 year history.
Post by @jamesgunnView on Threads
The images include a “breaking chains” image by Joe Shuster from 1939’s “Superman #1”, “All-Star Superman”, the Fleischer animated shorts, Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow from “Superman #423”, “Superman For All Seasons”, “Kingdom Come”, a poster of the Superman Family of characters from “Giant Superman Annual #6”, the cover by Michael Choi for the New 52’s “Action Comics #4”, “Superman: The Animated Series”, and a page from “Action Comics #1035” showing a loving moment between Superman and Lois Lane.
Previously known as “Superman: Legacy”, the cast of the film, now titled simply “Superman”, features David Corenswet as Superman/Clark Kent, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, Terence Rosemore as Otis, Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen, Sara Sampaio as Eve Teschmacher, Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner/Green Lantern, Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl, Edi Gathegi as Mister Terrific, Anthony Carrigan as Metamorpho, and María Gabriela de Faría as The Engineer.
Directed by James Gunn, “Superman” is scheduled to be released July 11, 2025.
Curious to see how Metropolis will look in the movie. Could Superman: The Animated Series be the inspiration for it? I kind of hope it is with it’s sort of futuristic, but not too futuristic, art deco look. Gives it a timeless look which I’d like to see.
I’m getting old… there’s a small part of me that’s curious what’s all the new news about James Gunn’s new Superman – and then there’s the rest of me, who just wants simpler times. I don’t want to see what the new costume looks like. I don’t want to see where they are filming next I don’t want to know the latest on the script. I don’t want to know how David Corenswet will look – what he’s doing in the gym I don’t want to see all the giveaway scenes and movie hype before it hits the big screen… Read more »
So many classic iterations that he is inspired by. And something that pleases me greatly is that there is no overrated Frank Miller nonsense in James Gunn’s line-up of Superman images that he is inspired by. Absolutely love it!