James Gunn Seemingly Confirms That ‘Superman: Legacy’ Won’t Depict Kal-El’s Origin Story

DC Studios is closing in on its turning point when DC Extended Universe will finally conclude this year with ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,’ which will open the way for James Gunn and Peter Safran to kick off a new cinematic universe, officially called DCU, from the ground up. DC Extended Universe is having a really hard time with its last few movies, and it’s really hard to predict that the last two movies left to be released will achieve some decent commercial result.

Apart from two independent and anticipated DC projects, ‘Joker’ and ‘The Batman — Part II,’ all DC fans’ eyes are looking forward to July 2025, when ‘Superman: Legacy,’ the first official DCU movie, will hit theaters. James Gunn is writing and directing this upcoming Superman reboot, and David Corenswet is set to debut as the live-action Man of Tomorrow, along with Rachel Brosnahan, who will play Lois Lane.

The movie is in active pre-production, and filming is set to begin in January 2024. While we’re waiting for it, James Gunn doesn’t hesitate to tease his followers about the movie’s development and the movie itself.

Looks like Superman: Legacy won’t be about the titular character’s origin story

As we already know, Henry Cavill said goodbye to the role of DCEU Superman after appearing one last time in the post-credit scene of ‘Black Adam.’ Shortly after, James Gunn and Peter Safran were hired as new CEOs of DC Studios, and their task was to do a massive overhaul. Gunn abandoned the idea of a new Superman movie with Cavill and decided to make another reboot with a younger Superman, which, as expected, didn’t sit well with some fans.

The plot of ‘Superman: Legacy’ is kept under wraps. However, while answering one of the comments on his Instagram page, Gunn said that the movie would not feature Clark Kent during his young age, while he was still living in Smallville. This means that ‘Legacy’ will not start Superman’s story from his birth on Krypton and landing in Kansas.

This decision actually makes sense because both 1978’s ‘Superman’ starring Christopher Reeve, and 2013’s ‘Man of Steel’ starring Henry Cavill depicted Superman’s origin story. And considering we’re talking about probably the best-known superhero of all time, there’s no need to tell the same story all over again. Some other popular heroes like Batman and Spider-Man also told their origin story more than once on the big screen, which explains why the latest live-action incarnations in ‘The Batman’ and MCU’s ‘Spider-Man’ trilogy entirely skipped titular heroes’ origin stories.

David Corenswet is ten years younger than Henry Cavill, meaning Corenswet is now the same age as when he first debuted as Superman. However, if DCU works out as planned, Corenswet can surely expect to play Superman many more times than Cavill during a ten-year period.

It’s unknown how far into the future Gunn is looking, but if DCU really wants to catch up with MCU, we can surely expect a franchise that’s meant to last for at least a decade.

Written and directed by James Gunn, ‘Superman: Legacy’ is set to be released on July 11, 2025.

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