James Gunn to direct 'Superman: Legacy,' aiming for 2025
James Gunn is directing the Superman film.
“Superman: Legacy,” which Gunn also wrote, is also set for July 11, 2025, he and his co-chairman and fellow DC Studios CEO Peter Safran announced Wednesday.
The film, Gunn said, deals with the superhero’s journey to make sense of both his aristocratic Kryptonian heritage and his small-town, Midwestern upbringing as Clark Kent.
Superman’s legacy has been somewhat sinister lately. In October, Henry Cavill announced that he would return to the role, starting with a cameo in “Black Adam”. Two months later, however, Cavill was back on social media with the news that he was out.
“This isn’t the easiest of news, but that’s life,” Cavill wrote. “It is like the changing of the guard. I respect it. James and Peter have a universe to build upon.”
Gunn and Safran were announced as the new DC leaders just days after “Black Adam” opened in October, replacing Walter Hamada, who had led DC Films for four years. And Cavill as Superman was one of the casualties of the new guard.
“It’s been a long road up to this point,” Gunn wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. “I was offered Superman years ago – I initially declined because there was no way I could give Superman the respect he deserved. … Then a little less than a year ago I saw a way
Gunn also stated that the release date is the same as his late father’s birthday.
“He was my best friend,” Gunn wrote. “He didn’t understand me as a kid, but he supported my love of comics and my love for film, and I wouldn’t be making this movie now without him.”
Gunn has been the rare director bouncing between both DC and Marvel films over the years. This marks his first visit to DC after directing Marvel’s acclaimed “Guardians of the Galaxy” films. When The Walt Disney Company temporarily fired Gunn over old tweets joking about rape and pedophilia, he went to DC and made the supervillain movie “The Suicide Squad,” a blockbuster do-over of sorts. , which followed the much publicized “suicide” of David Ayer. Squad.”
He and veteran producer Safran deal with several upcoming DC films already in theaters, including “Shazam!: Fury of the Gods” (March 17), “The Flash” (out June 16) and “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.” (Dec. 25). And he still has “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” coming May 5.
“Superman: Legacy” will be the first film in the new iteration of the connected DC Universe, followed by Matt Reeves’ “The Batman Part II,” which is set for an October 2025 launch. A film like Todd Phillips’ “Joker” sequel coming in 2024 will take place outside the DCU.
