DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn celebrated his 60th birthday yesterday, and he's just shared a behind-the-scenes photo from the set of his Superman sequel, Man of Tomorrow.
At first glance, it's just a photo of the movie's crew celebrating their leader. However, upon closer inspection, we see Lex Luthor actor Nicholas Hoult alongside an actor whose face has been hidden. The person in question is dressed in black, and the current speculation is that Gunn has deliberately obscured Lars Eidinger's Brainiac makeup.
There are versions of the villain who have been clad all in black, albeit with the addition of some glowing lights or armour pieces. Those are absent here, if this is indeed the DCU's Brainiac.
We're less than a year away from Man of Tomorrow's release. However, if DC Studios follows Superman's marketing campaign, we likely won't get a trailer until December/January (either month could be a challenge, given that Avengers: Doomsday will be dominating the conversation).
Set photos for the movie have shown Superman battling a War Suit-clad Lex Luthor, but Brainiac has been kept completely under wraps. Gunn hasn't cast a particularly well-known actor in the role, though many fans are banking on Man of Tomorrow delivering a fully comic-accurate Brainiac.
The filmmaker has reinvented villains like Ronan the Destroyer, Ego, and The High Evolutionary, so it wouldn't be hugely surprising if Brainiac is approached a little differently in the DCU.
"Even if it seems surprising at first, these films have a serious philosophical ambition. They carry great allegorical weight for me," Eidinger previously shared. "Take just the word 'super' — it’s used as a superlative, for something excellent, wonderful. But 'super' really only means 'over' or 'above.' So Superman is the Übermensch. You have the Super Ego."
"There’s already a deep psychological dimension built in," the actor continued. "Last week I was on set during rehearsals and asked if I could watch some of the filming, which had already started. And I saw an actor in the Superman costume, suspended on wires in front of a bluescreen. I looked at that image and thought: This is the essence of fiction."
"It’s as significant an image as Hamlet holding the skull: Superman, in that Superman pose, hanging from wires in front of a bluescreen. Being in the Superman universe wasn’t a dream or burning desire for me. But now that it’s happening, I can see a certain inevitability in it, something almost fated."
In Man of Tomorrow, Superman will be forced to team up with Lex Luthor to battle Brainiac, a threat not just to Metropolis but to the entire world.
Written and directed by James Gunn, the movie stars include David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, Lars Eidinger as Brainiac, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen, Sara Sampaio as Eve Teschmacher, Frank Grillo as Rick Flag, Sr., Aaron Pierre as John Stewart, Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner, Edi Gathegi as Mister Terrific, and Milly Alcock as Supergirl.
Andre Royo, Matthew Lillard, Sinqua Walls, and Adria Arjona will also star. However, as we mentioned above, we still don't know whether the latter is playing Maxima or Wonder Woman. There's also speculation that Eva De Dominici is playing one of the characters, and there's always a chance the Diana Prince rumblings don't pan out. We'll have to wait and see.
Man of Tomorrow arrives in theaters on July 9, 2027.