Bruce Campbell Jokes James Gunn Sent Him Cease and Desist Over Kingdom Come Superman

Bruce Campbell has been tied to a number of iconic genre projects, from the Evil Dead franchise to the recent Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Earlier this year, Campbell threw his hat into the ring to play a new character — the older iteration of Superman from DC’s Kingdom Come. With DC Studios CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran shepherding a new era of onscreen DCU stories, that naturally begs the question of whether or not Campbell could actually play the character, but that apparently isn’t the case. In a recent interview with ComicBook.com to promote Discontinued, Campbell joked that Gunn’s lawyers sent him a cease and desist over his Kingdom Come aspirations.

“Yeah, actually his lawyers did,” Campbell explained in our interview, which you can check out above. “‘Cease and desist’, I think, were the two words that I remember.”

Campbell was then asked if he would rather portray Kingdom Come Superman or Sgt. Rock, the DC character whose most recent miniseries was co-written by Campbell.

“I’d have to play more like Rock, because I like the guys with no superpowers,” Campbell explained. “Sgt. Rock could be killed by a sniper’s bullet at any time. He is a completely human dude. His superpowers are courage, loyalty, brute strength, which is kind of nice. And he’s kind of a tough guy. It’s fun writing a tough guy again. Our superheroes are all warm and fuzzy now. Rock’s not a warm and fuzzy guy.”

Is The DCU Adapting Kingdom Come?

While a Kingdom Come project is not confirmed to be part of the future DC Universe slate, Gunn has posted covers and panels from the miniseries on social media, leading some to wonder how it could inspire or influence the movies and Max shows on the horizon. As Gunn and his DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran revealed earlier this year, the initial DC Studios slate for “Gods and Monsters” will include movies for Superman: Legacy, The Brave and the Bold, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, Swamp Thing, and The Authority. It will include the HBO Max television shows Waller, Booster Gold, Lanterns, Paradise Lost, and an animated Creature Commandos series.

“If you look at the MCU, there are very few traditional superheroes,” Gunn previously said of the DCU’s approach. “There was never a guy with a secret identity until Spider-Man in the MCU. Their Cap was turned into a soldier even though he wears a mask. Iron Man outed himself at the end of the first Iron Man because they don’t want to deal with the whole secret identity stuff. But there is a bit more of a fantasy element to DCU, because there are these larger-than-life superheroes and for me, there’s Superman and Clark Kent. They’re two different characters, and you have to find a way to deal with them that’s as grounded as possible within this world of DC. One of the things that I love about DC, that excites me about DC, is that in a way it’s another alternate history. It is Gotham City and Metropolis and Star City and Bludhaven, and all these different places in this other reality, and it makes it a little bit like Westeros in some ways. I love it in that way. I love that we get to create true worldbuilding in DC, it isn’t just ‘we’re throwing some superheroes on Earth.’ I think right now, that’s one of the key differences.” 

Would you want to see Bruce Campbell play Kingdom Come Superman? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Discontinued will premiere on Maximum Effort Channel on Fubo this Thursday, November 30th at 8:00PM ET. Starting the following week, episodes will move to Wednesdays (12/6 being the first) at 9:00PM ET. Maximum Effort Channel, curated by Ryan Reynolds and the Maximum Effort team in partnership with Fubo, is available to watch on Fubo as well as Amazon Freevee, LG Channels, Plex, Sling Freestream, Tubi, VIDAA, VIZIO Watchfree+ and Xumo Play.