MAN OF TOMORROW Director James Gunn On Fan-Theories, Potential Villain & Who The Title Refers To

MAN OF TOMORROW Director James Gunn On Fan-Theories, Potential Villain & Who The Title Refers To

James Gunn has shared a few more updates on his plans for Man of Tomorrow, commenting on fan-theories that have been doing the rounds, the movie's potential villain, and more...

By MarkCassidy - Oct 23, 2025 11:10 AM EST
Filed Under: Superman

DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn has been chatting to some of his favorite YouTube channels over the past couple of days, answering questions about Superman, Peacemaker season 2, and some upcoming DCU projects.

Gunn recently revealed that he is making good progress on Man of Tomorrow, and has almost finished his fourth draft of the script. He has now shared some minor updates with Go Read Some Comics, confirming that he is in the process of "building costumes and doing all this sort of stuff for Man of Tomorrow."

Host Jenna asked Gunn if he had read any fan-theories about MOT that correctly guessed any plot points. He said that he "hasn't read anything" yet, but did suggest that people might be assuming that the Superman follow-up is more connected to the events of the Peacemaker season 2 finale than it actually is, noting that it is "still very much its own thing."

Gunn did confirm that the "Man of Tomorrow" title refers to both Superman and Lex Luthor, and it sounds like this really will be more of a Lex movie with Kal-El as a supporting character.

As for Man of Tomorrow's villain (Brainiac is the prevailing theory), Gunn wasn't about to give anything away while speaking to Emergency Awesome, but did say that he's "trying to make everything feel very different to what's come before."

Gunn has previously admitted that he knew the Brainiac theories would ignite when he shared the first page of the MOT script, which featured the movie's title, along with an image of a medical X-ray of a human's brain.

"Listen, of course I wasn't unaware that when I posted the cover of the script that there was going to be discussion around that particular topic," he told EW. "But I think we'll hold off from what exactly is happening."

Even before this tease, fans had speculated that Brainiac might make his DCU debut in the Superman follow-up.

Back in August, an hour-long documentary about the making of Superman gave us a quick glimpse of a storyboard featuring the Man of Steel, Supergirl, Krypto, and what looked a lot like the top of Brainiac's head. Though there was a chance this was simply an unused idea for Superman, many fans remain convinced that the superintelligent villain will make his DCU debut in Man of Tomorrow.

Do you think Brainiac will be the villain of Man of Tomorrow? What do you make of the notion of a Lex Luthor-focused movie? Drop us a comment down below.

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UnderBelly
UnderBelly - 10/23/2025, 11:37 AM
Am I the only one who's noticing the public discourse turning on Gunn's DCU and Superman?

I don't remember it being this bad with MoS...but then if guess social media was still growing back then...

Anyway looking forward to Lanterns at least.
JobinJ
JobinJ - 10/23/2025, 11:39 AM
@UnderBelly - I walked out of the theater after watching it and I thought immediately it was terrible. It was goofy and a mess. I think people were just so hungry for something other than Snyder that they are too proud to admit it wasn’t a good movie.

Man of Steel, it had its problems, but it was a phenomenal, beautiful film.

James Guns Superman was just a goofy non-consequential poorly written cartoon.
McMurdo
McMurdo - 10/23/2025, 11:41 AM
@UnderBelly - The discourse is no greater than what it was during its theater run. Man of Steel's discourse related to him letting his father commit suicide via weather whilst he stood and watched from 15 yds away rather than getting him safely to Indiana in the blink of the eye and then also blasting a city into smithereens without any real attention given to the civilians living there, and then it peaked hard when BvS dropped and he was a supporting act amongst a Batman who openly killed people. The BvS and Mos drama was certainly greater than what we have here with Superman.
ferf
ferf - 10/23/2025, 11:42 AM
@UnderBelly - I remember talking to regular offline people when MOS/BVS came out and their reactions ranged from "I didn't see it" to "I hated it" but Snyder clearly had fans online. With Gunn it's the opposite experience so far.
UnderBelly
UnderBelly - 10/23/2025, 11:44 AM
@JobinJ - Kind of agree,
But i did mostly enjoy it. Corenswet was given alot more to work with and was able to portray a likeable Superman/Clark....

I feel Cavill didnt really get the chance to convince us apart from looki g the part. He was all gloomy and 'lost' in the first...was then secondary character in the second and was barely there in JL.

I was really looking forward to MoS 2 though.
UnderBelly
UnderBelly - 10/23/2025, 11:46 AM
@McMurdo - Oh I definitley rememeber the issues around the 3rd act (reduce that damage a bit and have his dad die of a heart attack and it would have been a perfect movie)

But i feel at the time they weren't trying to set up the DCEU at first, so it had some room to grow if you know what I mean...but then yeah BvS came and we all know Snyder's true hard on is for Batsy.
lazlodaytona
lazlodaytona - 10/23/2025, 11:49 AM
@JobinJ - honestly, Superman Returns was a bit of a tedious, boring film, but it was a beautiful Superman film that, like MoS, gave reverence to the character and didn't have him swear, argue like a petty person, looked over matched, and was very emotional.

I feel previous directors at least triex to make Supes unique and having an "awe-factor."
Gunn's Superman I didn't hate, but it was like he randomly pulled a comic out of a stack of modern-day Superman comics and decided to go with that.
To me, I feel like Gunn feels Superman is "just" another comicbook character.
UnderBelly
UnderBelly - 10/23/2025, 11:51 AM
@ferf - I liked MoS but had issues with act 3....I REALLY wanted to like BvS and thought Affleck was really suited to the part, but the overall product ruined all the parts that could have been memorable...

I tell myself Snyder didnt write those movies but he shot the hell out of them, so I guess im a fan.

Those Rebel moon movies were awful though.
Irregular
Irregular - 10/23/2025, 11:59 AM
@UnderBelly - "I don't remember it being this bad with MoS"

I specifically remember when MoS was released, Rotten Tomatoes, was becoming more prominent as a review source. So much so, there was a news anchor or someone on TV had to make a comment about the score and how it effects movies. However the anchor/person/whoever, did state that she disagreed with the score and thought MOS was "really good."

But if news stations had a story to make out of this and was literally aired live on national television about the backlash, and debating Rotten Tomatoes, then NO. It's not even close.

This "discourse" is just because Peacemaker S2 was incredibly oversold for a lot of people and now because WBD is going to be sold off. Not a good time to be a DC fan when the property you love is always constantly changing with new people over and over again.

Don't even care about DC expanding it's universe anymore at this point. It's just going to get sold off again with new owners who are just going to fire, rehire and rinse & repeat the same bullshit.
JobinJ
JobinJ - 10/23/2025, 11:37 AM
Yay, let’s have Superman team up with a guy that blew an innocent man’s brains out right in front of him. I’m sure they’ll develop some kind of slight friendship. Rather than just have Superman break his [frick]ing arms and throw them off a [frick]ing building for killing that man.

Why not just let them be buddies and team up.

Nothing matters in this universe that he has created.

Superman watched Lex blow a man’s brains out right in front of him, and when he finally caught him, he gave him an inspirational speech instead of punching a hole in his chest
MarkCassidy
MarkCassidy - 10/23/2025, 11:42 AM
@JobinJ - Well he was obviously never going to punch a hole in his chest, but I do agree with the rest. Gunn seemed too concerned with showing how evil Luthor could be that he didn't think through what the ramifications of then showing us a more heroic side of the character could be. And Supes giving him that speech at the end like he'd just stolen a bar of chocolate and was heading down the wrong path or something didn't sit right.
McMurdo
McMurdo - 10/23/2025, 11:42 AM
@JobinJ - This isn't a Snyder film bud. did you expect him to just murder Lex on the spot? not really his MO.
JobinJ
JobinJ - 10/23/2025, 11:57 AM
@MarkCassidy - Exactly.
JobinJ
JobinJ - 10/23/2025, 12:03 PM
@McMurdo - I expected Superman to be capable of dishing out some punishment. Not just lecturing someone after they murder people. Maybe not kill Lex...but something.

This Superman came of incredibly weak. Would strike ZERO fear into any criminals heart.
TDKRnry88
TDKRnry88 - 10/23/2025, 1:03 PM
@JobinJ - Striking fear into criminals' hearts is Batman's thing & you know this. Superman doesn't go around trying to scare anyone. Just admit you want the scowling, heat vision-eyed Cavill version back. And exactly what should Superman do to Lex after catching up to him? He already shoulder checked him across the room.
McMurdo
McMurdo - 10/24/2025, 9:52 AM
@JobinJ - Superman would always prefer to lecture than injure anyone. Dude took on both Engineer and a Kryptonian at once.....and put one into a coma and chucked the other into a portal with one arm.
McMurdo
McMurdo - 10/23/2025, 11:38 AM
This article told us absolutely nothing new with more words than necessary.
JackDeth
JackDeth - 10/23/2025, 11:47 AM
Before everyone starts complaining about him 'talking too much' just know that he JUST did an interview with BobaTalks, so you can expect every sentence that came out of his mouth to become its own story here.
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 10/23/2025, 11:49 AM
Cool!!.

It will be interesting to see if some or any of the All Star Superman inspiration Gunn had for the first film will make it into Man of Tomorrow if he’s trying to make it all feel different to what’s come before in his words…

Some of that feels inherent to this version of Superman such as his characterization to an extent while others like the aesthetic could definitely be changed which will be interesting to see if it happens.

Also in regards to MOT’s connection to the finale of Peacemaker S2 , I’m thinking it will focus more on the partnership between Lex and Rick Flagg Jr then dealing with Salvation which might be part of Gunn’s long term plan.

Anyway , I thought Gunn’s Superman was solid so looking forward to Man of Tomorrow!!.
hainesy
hainesy - 10/23/2025, 11:51 AM
Let me guess:

"It's heartwarming a buddy cop film about two completely different people on a road trip through the galaxy, trying to stop a greater power than either one of them. Along the way, they learn that despite their differences, they have a lot in common."
lazlodaytona
lazlodaytona - 10/23/2025, 11:52 AM
Gunn is literally as addicted to his computer and social sites like the average person is to their smartphones....while on crack.
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