Highlights
- The Superman: Legacy cast includes some heavy hitters, which should alleviate concerns about the large number of characters.
- Director James Gunn defended the size of the cast, comparing it to other single-protagonist movies with many speaking roles, such as Oppenheimer.
- Despite the stacked cast, Oppenheimer managed to tell a coherent and intense story without diminishing its protagonist's role, offering solace to worried fans.
After the recent Superman: Legacy cast reveal, director James Gunn pushed back against some criticism of the large group of characters. It turns out the most solid defense came about thanks to one of the biggest releases of 2023.
As the next attempt to reboot Superman with a new movie and continuity, Superman: Legacy already has much riding on it. Luckily, its confirmed cast members appear to be pretty heavy hitters, which should ease some fans' concerns. This includes The Politician's David Corenswet as Superman himself, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel star Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, The Righteous Gemstones' Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen, and perhaps most notably in recent news, Renfield and Mad Max: Fury Road alum Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor. The confirmed cast now consists of more than just these few, and that seemed to irk some fans hoping for a more intimate story.
However, as he often does, Gunn took to Threads to respond directly to fan questions and concerns. One offered a light-hearted lament at the size of the Superman: Legacy cast, suggesting that including so many characters could diminish Superman's role in his own movie. Gunn replied frankly, saying, "What single-protagonist movie doesn't have more than ten speaking roles? There will be more." At this point, another fan jumped in to offer their take in favor of Gunn's side, offering up none other than the massively acclaimed 2023 drama Oppenheimer as an example of how such a large cast can easily work with the lead rather than obscuring them.
Gunn was quick to agree. "Yep! So true," he replied, pointing out that the Christopher Nolan-directed Oppenheimer is "Very much a single protagonist film with a lot more characters than we have." Those who have seen Oppenheimer should know full well that, despite the film's stacked cast, it managed to tell a coherent and intense story that never diminished its titular historical figure's role. So even though no director would take time to trash talk their film on social media during pre-production, Gunn's words should still offer some solace to some of the worried masses.
Along with those previously mentioned, Superman: Legacy will also feature María Gabriela de Faría as super-intelligent villain The Engineer, Sara Sampaio as Eve Teschmacher, Edi Gathegi as Mister Terrific, Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl, geek culture icon Nathan Fillion as Green Lantern Guy Gardner, and Barry's Anthony Carrigan as Metamorpho. Notably, de Faría and Gathegi have been seen getting super jacked for their Superman: Legacy roles alongside Corenswet, who is also understandably bulking up in preparation. It seems like there will be plenty of beef among the cast in this story.
While it's unlikely that Superman: Legacy will be some dramatic color-shifting gut punch like Oppenheimer, it could offer viewers an idea of how Gunn will end up handling such a large cast in terms of storytelling. There are still more actors to be announced, so it will be interesting to see how the rest fit in with this already impressive list of talent.
Superman: Legacy currently aims to release on July 11th, 2025.
DC
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Source: James Gunn/Threads
