SUPERMAN: LEGACY Director James Gunn Reveals Another Comic Book Which Inspired The Upcoming Reboot

SUPERMAN: LEGACY Director James Gunn Reveals Another Comic Book Which Inspired The Upcoming Reboot

Superman: Legacy writer and director James Gunn has revealed another source of inspiration for the upcoming reboot, and it's a comic book which is along the same lines as All-Star Superman. Check it out...

News
By JoshWilding - Sep 25, 2023 09:09 AM EST
Filed Under: Superman: Legacy

Pre-production work on Superman: Legacy continues despite the Hollywood strikes, though casting has come to a halt with actors unable to enter talks or sign up for any future projects if they're a member of SAG-AFTRA. 

With the WGA strike nearly over, chances are SAG-AFTRA will soon follow. That bodes well for Superman: Legacy being released in 2025 as planned as cameras are currently expected to begin rolling next January. 

Now, writer and director James Gunn has taken to Twitter/X to reveal another source of inspiration for his approach to the Man of Tomorrow: Superman for All Seasons. Written by Jeph Loeb with art from Tim Sale, it was released to widespread critical acclaim in 1998. 

Comprised of four issues taking place over Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter, each instalment was narrated by a different character (Jonathan Kent, Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, and Lana Lang) and it was also named as inspiration for the Smallville TV series. 

"Just received this stunningly gorgeous Absolute edition of Superman for All Seasons, one of my favorite Superman stories & a huge influence on Legacy ([and] a strangely perfect bookend with All-Star Superman)," Gunn says. "The late, great Tim Sales artwork [and] Bjarne Hansen’s watercolor work have never looked better - nor have Clark [and] Ma [and] Pa. Jeph Loeb’s elegant, confident story still sings."

It's hard to say what, if anything, Gunn plans to directly adapt from the story but we're guessing its tone and approach to Superman will be what he focuses on bringing to his big screen reboot.

"Superman: Legacy tells the story of Superman's journey to reconcile his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing as Clark Kent of Smallville, Kansas," reads the movie's synopsis. "He is the embodiment of truth, justice and the American way, guided by human kindness in a world that sees kindness as old-fashioned."

David Corenswet is playing the Man of Steel, while Rachel Brosnahan has been tapped to star as Lois Lane. other recent casting additions include Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl, Edi Gathegi as Mister Terrific, Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner, and Anthony Carrigan as Metamorpho.

Superman: Legacy is set to be released in theaters on July 11. 2025.

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Forthas
Forthas - 9/25/2023, 9:45 AM
Sounds like we will be getting Superman Returns 2.0. Since Gunn likes slpastick comedy, probably more like Superman 3.
Th3Batman
Th3Batman - 9/25/2023, 9:59 AM
@Forthas - As far as quality goes, I don't think we have anything to worry about. Financially speaking, it's very likely going to be dead on arrival. Whether anyone likes the movie or not, it and the rest of Gunn's DCU will likely be one and done with this movie.
mastakilla39
mastakilla39 - 9/25/2023, 11:06 AM
@Forthas - Sounds better than a Man of Steel 2. I always thought Superman Returns was better than MoS but thats just me, not a perfect film but a great character progression of where Christopher Reeve's Superman was supposed to go and bringing back donnor's tone from the original 2 films. We need charm, slapstick, and comedy back in DC films, I'm tired of the Snyder tone of trying too hard to be cool.

@Th3Batman - its probably going to perform like Matt Reeve's Batman at about 770 mil if its good. Reeve's Batman exceeded WB's expectations critically and at the box office after the DCEU damaged him. Not gonna make a billion dollars but I think WB already knows. Similar to the transformers franchise they have to rebuild the brand's reputation then more people will slowly come back.
Forthas
Forthas - 9/25/2023, 11:16 AM
@mastakilla39 - I think that WB tried the return to the Donner era Superman and it failed. To the credit of Warner Brothers, creating an optimistic and lighter Superman film was their first strategy post Christopher Reeve leading to development of Superman Returns. Despite the films having a similar budget ($232 million) to Man of Steel’s ($225 million) and the studio going so far as to make it a semi-continuation of the Reeve led Superman films (even maintaining Superman’s red trunks), the audience reaction to both films demonstrates that the tone of Man of Steel is unequivocally the preferred version. This is clearly seen in the four most widely used audience measures. 1) preference was given to Man of Steel (75%) to Superman Returns (61%) when comparing the Rotten Tomatoes Audience Scores; 2) preference is again given to Man of Steel (A-) to Superman Returns (B+) when comparing both films Cinema Scores; and 3) preference was given to Man of Steel ($328,276,427) to Superman Returns ($280,167,993) in 2022 inflation adjusted domestic box office results. THERE IS NO DATA that suggests a preference to the light hearted and whimsical Superman depicted by Christopher Reeve and Brandon Routh outside of film pundits making that unsubstantiated claim. While it is true the original Christopher Reeve film is preferred to Man of Steel by both critics and audiences (likely because it was the first Superman film) based on the audience score, every other “optimistic and light” film Reeve or Routh made after is either tied or lower than Man of Steel. Also, the original Superman film also happens to be least comedic of all of the Reeve/Routh films.
Th3Batman
Th3Batman - 9/25/2023, 11:23 AM
@mastakilla39 - I will be very surprised if Legacy is able to cross the $500 million mark. There's 2 things going against it: The first is that WB has done very little with Superman over the years. The second is that the general audience will believe it's part of the failed DCEU they've turned their backs on years ago. WBD will be smart to keep its budget around the $150 million mark, preferably below that.
Forthas
Forthas - 9/25/2023, 11:35 AM
@mastakilla39 - ....sorry I forgot the fourth Audience rating.

4) Preference was given to Man of Steel (7.1) to Superman Returns (6.1) when comparing the IMDB Audience ratings;
dagenspear
dagenspear - 9/25/2023, 3:20 PM
@Forthas - How, at all?
Forthas
Forthas - 9/25/2023, 3:50 PM
@dagenspear -

Superman For All Seasons' is about Clark Kent trying to deal with the fact that he has this incredible power and responsibility which was the theme of the orginial Superman. Man of Steel does less so and resolves that he has come to terms with these powers and it focuses on his relationship to the world.
dagenspear
dagenspear - 9/25/2023, 6:23 PM
@Forthas - That doesn't make it Superman Returns.

That's why MOS is dumb. MOS only suggests the idea of that, not really resolves or really deals with it. Moreso leaves it hanging.
ridah
ridah - 9/25/2023, 7:33 PM
@Forthas - Tone is only one measure of film. You can't unequivocally say that the tone alone is what audiences used to rate one MOS over Returns. Maybe they liked Zod/Faora much better as villains than Spacey's Luther, maybe it was paced better than the molasses Returns, maybe it was the action, world building, plot, etc.
Forthas
Forthas - 9/25/2023, 7:57 PM
@dagenspear - Yeah! That is why we needed a Man of Steel 2....a real one.
Forthas
Forthas - 9/25/2023, 7:59 PM
@ridah - That is a good point. But even if you compare it to the Donner films, which did have the same villains, the score is identical suggesting that the lighter tone of Superman 2 did not make it a better film.
dagenspear
dagenspear - 9/25/2023, 9:23 PM
@Forthas - You'd have to decanonize the rest of the Snyder movies after MOS to get a real hit on that in the most natural. Maybe it could be handwaved away, but it's an issue.
Forthas
Forthas - 9/25/2023, 9:48 PM
@dagenspear - If I were in charge of WB...well first BVS would have never happened but if I came on board after, I would just ignore it the way Deadpool ignored X-Men origins Wolverine and how Marvel is ignoring the Netflix Daredevil.
Nolanite
Nolanite - 9/25/2023, 10:28 AM
Now let's hope that the whole MCU goes on strike
Especially their shitty VFX compartments.
Wishful thinking Nolanite out.
Superspecialawesomeguy
Superspecialawesomeguy - 9/25/2023, 10:32 AM
Man the comics that Gunn's using for this movie have me hyped af ngl.
GhostDog
GhostDog - 9/25/2023, 11:17 AM
He says and shows all the right things sometimes. Hope it translates.

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