It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s the first trailer for James Gunn’s Superman movie! Starring David Corenswet as the Man of Steel himself, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, and just so many more — plus featuring a reverberating version of John William’s iconic score — the film’s first-look can be seen below.
Set in an (apparently very brightly lit) world in which superheroes are already firmly established, Superman finds the title hero reconciling his alien origins with his human life on Earth as Clark Kent. That includes his relationship with Lane and parents, Jonathan (Pruitt Taylor Vince) and Martha Kent (Neva Howell) — as well as the hatred by some factions of mankind, like Luthor and the people hurling trash at him on the street. Luthor runs LuthorCorp (not yet LexCorp) in this version, and it seems Lane already knows Superman is Kent.
Despite the focus on humanity, there’s still plenty of opportunity for the type of action Gunn says was inspired by Top Gun: Maverick. A number of superbeings exist alongside Supes, including Edi Gathegi’s super-genius inventor Mister Terrific (whom Gunn called “the main character” of the supporting cast), Anthony Carrigan’s transmuting Metamorpho, Isabela Merced’s winged Hawkgirl, and Nathan Fillion’s power ring-wielding Green Lantern (the Guy Gardner version, not to be confused with Kyle Chandler’s Hal Jordan version coming in HBO’s Lanterns series). All of them get moments here, as does an advisory who is capable of matching Superman’s strength — speculated to be Ultraman, an alternate reality or evil clone version of Superman.
But the first super-companion we get a glimpse of is actually Krypto the Superdog, who helps a beaten (and bleeding!?) Superman get “home” (the Fortress of Solitude, no doubt) like a good boy.
While Superman is the first movie to come from the new Gunn and Peter Safran-run studio, the animated Creature Commandos Max show launched DC’s Chapter 1 earlier this month; Frank Grillo will reprise his Rick Flag Sr. role from that series in live-action for Superman. Gunn has also teased that Superman may set something up for Season 2 of Peacemaker.
The movie is also set to introduce the superteam The Authority via María Gabriela de Faría as Angela Spica/The Engineer. The Authority is one of the films originally announced as part of DC Studios’ first chapter of projects, dubbed Gods and Monsters.
Set to fly into theaters on July 11th, 2025, Superman also stars Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen, Wendell Pierce as Perry White, Gunn’s brother Sean Gunn as Maxwell Lord (a character previously played by Pedro Pascal in the non-canon Wonder Woman 1984), and Milly Alcock as Supergirl. Will Reeve, the son of former Superman Christopher Reeve, is said to cameo in the movie, while Alan Tudyk also has an undisclosed role (he voices both Doctor Phosphorus and Clayface in Creature Commandos, but there’s a certain dismembered robot in the teaser we’d put our money on).