Despite still being in its infancy, DC Studios has already built up quite a resume, delivering Creature Commandos, Superman and Peacemaker Season 2. The franchise has built a reputation of embracing the out-there nature of its source material by being unapologetically sci-fi. Many fans have seen this universe as harkening back to the unique feel of DC comics from the '60s and '70s.
Perhaps it's this perception that prompted a fan to ask James Gunn a uniquely important question. On Threads, user directeditionpodcast posted a picture of an ad from an old comic book, advertising the opportunity for fans to appear as extras in Richard Donner's 1978 Superman: The Movie. The user asked Gunn if DC Studios could bring back contests like that, to which Gunn replied:
"I almost never do stuff like this because there is too big a chance of cutting a contest winner from the movie. And the use of the word "role" here was pretty loose to begin with."
Gunn's explanation makes a lot of sense. It would, admittedly, be exciting for fans to have the opportunity to appear in the film. However, logistically speaking, honoring what, in a contest of that ilk, could amount to a contract between a studio and a fan is too much of a risk when it comes to the creative process. Realistically speaking, a promise to keep a fan in the film is quite difficult to keep.
As the director explained, odds are, a scene were said fan appears will end up on the cutting-room floor. Sequences are edited, reworked and removed during post-production. Movies evolve in the editing process, and that's particularly true for superhero films. It's just the nature of the process.
As a recent example, The Fantastic Four: First Steps composer Michael Giacchino revealed the film was reworked through production. Superman was heavily rumored to have featured days-of-the-week title cards before they were removed. It was also common knowledge that Captain America: Brave New World was the subject of reshoots. 2017's Justice League was a more significant example of a movie being restructured from its original version.
That's not to say, of course, that every superhero faces such drastic changes. It's an example of how easily it is for things to shift course, particularly when it comes to the superhero genre. If a fan were promised a role in a movie as high profile as a DC production from a contest, the deal would have to be honored. And, even if there weren't a legal agreement between the studio and the person, cutting out a fan after winning a contest would be bad optics for a company.
Given this, it's completely understandable for Gunn to prefer not to promise roles to fans in DC Studios productions. The idea of such contests may harken back to the child-like excitement that a superhero film elicited, but practically, it can be too cumbersome for a film's creative process.
James Gunn's Superman follow-up, Man of Tomorrow, will fly into theaters on July 9, 2027.