For the most part, Superman remains pretty faithful to the established comic book lore of the character, with one major exception.
The movie begins with the Man of Steel suffering his first ever defeat at the hands of the Hammer of Boravia. When Krypto drags the hero to the Fortress of Solitude to be healed by the sun, the Caretaker Robots play the message his Kryptonian parents Jor-El (Bradley Cooper) and Lara Lor-Von (Angela Sarafyan) sent their son to Earth with. We then learn that the second half of the message was damaged in the crash.
Later on, Lex Luthor gains entry to the Fortress and The Engineer manages to decipher the corrupted part of the message. It turns out that Clark Kent's biological parents actually sent him to Earth as a conqueror, and specifically chose the planet because its people are weak and will be easily dominated. There's also the implication that Kal-El should impregnate as many of Earth's women as possible in order to build a "harem" and restart the Kryptonian race.
Luthor uses this information to turn the public against Superman, who is initially under the impression that the message must be fake - as are we. But no, in the DCU, Jor-El and Lara Lor-Von are far from heroic figures that are generally depicted in the comics and all previous adaptations of Superman's origin.
There's been some speculation that the message may still turn out to have been manipulated, but Gunn has now made it very clear that there will be no retcon.
Rolling Stone asked the DC Studios co-CEO how he'd respond to those hoping that the twist "will somehow get retconned or revealed as a double-secret trick or something," and he replied: "They’re shit out of luck!"
Gunn went on to explain why altering this big reveal would "undo the entire emotional arc of the movie."
"That’s the whole point of the movie, that Superman thinks he is doing something because it is his destiny and his Kryptonian parents have set him out to do this thing, and along the way he discovers through the love of the people who are actually his parents that he’s doing these things not because of someone else, but because of himself. It’s like taking accountability in the deepest way possible that his morality is not based on some figure outside of himself, but on his own choices. I think it’s really beautiful in that way, and I’m not gonna change that."
"And I don’t really even think of Jor-El and Lara as being totally evil," he added. "They just have this mindset that humans are less than what they are. We’re sea turtles to them. They’re just trying to keep the Kryptonian genes alive."
Gunn was also asked if he has an explanation for why Supergirl didn't tell Kal-El about his parents' true natures.
"You’re assuming that everybody on Krypton is the same! And how would she know? She’s younger than him, so she wouldn’t know. She wouldn’t know anything about his parents."
What do you make of Gunn's comments? Are you okay with this change to Jor-El and Lara being permanent? Drop us a comment down below.
Superman stars David Corenswet as Clark Kent/the Man of Steel, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl, Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner, Edi Gathegi as Mr. Terrific, and Anthony Carrigan as Metamorpho.
The cast also Pruitt Taylor Vince and Neva Howell as "Ma" and "Pa" Kent, and Milly Alcock's Supergirl has been confirmed to make her debut ahead of her own Woman of Tomorrow movie.
"And that’s a wrap," Gunn posted last year when filming concluded. "God bless our cast and crew whose commitment, creativity, and hard work have brought this project to life. I set out to make a movie about a good man in a world that isn’t always so much. And the goodness and kindness and love I’ve encountered on a daily basis on the set has inspired me and thrust me forward when I felt too spent to move on my own.
Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. It has been an honor. The destination has been Superman, but the journey has been the toil and the laughter and the emotions and ideas and magic we’ve shared together on set - and for that I am forever grateful."
You can check out a synopsis for the movie below.
"In his signature style, James Gunn takes on the original superhero in the newly imagined DC universe with a singular blend of epic action, humor and heart, delivering a Superman who’s driven by compassion and an inherent belief in the goodness of humankind."