Posted in: Max, Movies, Superman, TV, Warner Bros | Tagged: james gunn, man of tomorrow

James Gunn On Why Man of Tomorrow Is Such A "Weird, Personal Film"

Writer and director James Gunn has revealed why Man of Tomorrow has become a "really weird, personal film" to him.

The concept of the hero and the villain teaming up to go against something bigger and scarier is one that has been a recurring theme throughout history. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend," and so on. Comic books and superhero comics, in particular, have always drawn inspiration from mythic figures and parables, so the villains and heroes teaming up happens frequently within superhero comics. So, when it was announced that a story point in Man of Tomorrow would feature Superman teaming up with Lex Luthor, no one should be surprised.

It was always something that was going to happen eventually. However, there is a chance that people thought it would take a little longer for this particular story point to show up. It's something that happens down the line in terms of timeline, but Superman is a movie that is about as close to in medias res as one can get when it comes to establishing a cinematic universe. So while this seems fast to us, within the context of the universe, it really isn't. The team-up is even less surprising considering the new information we got from writer and director James Gunn. As he explained to Variety, while this might be a Superman film, deep down, it was Lex that he related to.

"But it's a story of Lex and Clark, it's the two of them trying to get along, and it maintains the things about we like, and we hate — not so much we hate about Superman, but a lot of what we hate about Lex. But I relate to Lex; it was always, for me, the thing I was always wanting to make was more a Lex movie because I really relate to Lex, as awful as that is to say. I'm not shooting innocent people, but his ambition, his obsession, his drive – it's a really weird personal film I'm making because I relate to Lex. And I also relate, in some ways, to the naivety of Superman; I relate to this belief in the goodness of human beings, which I do, and his simple Midwestern values, which is where I'm from, and how I look at life. So they're both sides of myself, and I think this movie is an expression of that."

Gunn relating to Lex more than Clark also isn't that surprising if you've followed his career. There is a reason Gunn adapted the Guardians of the Galaxy of all characters when he joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So, Gunn using the second Superman film to turn Man of Tomorrow into a low-key Lex Luthor film? Very on brand.

Man of Tomorrow: A Superman Sequel Arriving At Super Speed

At the beginning of August, word officially came down that James Gunn was set to write and direct the next Super-Family film, and everyone was surprised that things seemed to be moving along so quickly. It appeared that things were even further along than we thought because a month later, the title, Man of Tomorrow, and the release date of July 9, 2027, were announced. The announcement came with three pieces of art by Jim Lee, Jorge Jimenez, and Mitch Gerads shared on Gunn, David Corenswet, and Nicolas Hoult's social media, respectively.

When the images first dropped, the first thing people noticed was Lex in the powersuit. The suit is something that has come and gone from the DC universe as the years go by. When Lex began to make the switch to the evil billionaire businessman trope, and comics wanted to be taken seriously, it got used less. The suit first appeared in Action Comics #544 in June 1983, but when the character switch for Lex happened in 1989, heading into the infamous era of 90s comics, a green powersuit didn't fit into the aesthetic of the era or the version of Lex being written.

As for the title, Man of Tomorrow, it's usually a moniker used to describe Superman as a character, so that specific wording has been used many times. The most well known series of comics with that name ran from 1995-1999 so trying to link that title to a specific storyline is nearly impossible. A 2020 animated movie also had the "man of tomorrow" description as a subtle. Before they shortened the name, Supergirl was Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. That is the next movie in the Superman Saga and will be released in theaters on June 26, 2026.

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