James Gunn’s Superman was one of the biggest hits of the summer, bringing in $616.6 million at the worldwide box office. That commercial success combined with strong word of mouth from critics and fans meant a follow-up was quickly given the green light. Gunn is currently working on Man of Tomorrow, which will begin production in the spring ahead of its July 2027 release date. The main selling point of Man of Tomorrow is watching Superman form an unlikely alliance with Lex Luthor in a fight against Brainiac, but fans are also curious to see how the film connects to the larger ongoing DCU arc. Gunn previously revealed the Peacemaker Season 2 finale was integral in setting up the Man of Tomorrow story, and one of the most notable characters from that episode is coming back to the big screen.
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Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Frank Grillo confirmed that he will reprise the role of Rick Flag Sr. in Man of Tomorrow. “My character, Rick Flag Sr., is a big part of the sequel’s story, so I’m excited about it,” he said, without getting into too much detail about how Rick factors in.
Rick Flag Sr. Is Important to the DCU’s Future
Considering how things unfolded on Peacemaker Season 2, it isn’t surprising to hear Rick Flag Sr. has a substantial role in Man of Tomorrow. On the show, he formed his own partnership with Lex Luthor, enlisting Luthor’s help to track down Peacemaker and the dimensional portal — a process that led to the eventual discovery of Salvation. Gunn has said that Salvation and the Rick Flag/Lex Luthor dynamic are “all a part of the future, Man of Tomorrow, and more,” meaning these threads should be explored further when Gunn’s next film arrives in 2027. Gunn has actually teased that Man of Tomorrow might be more of a Lex Luthor movie, so it will be fascinating to see how Lex’s working relationship with Rick develops.
Man of Tomorrow isn’t going to answer all the questions people have after the Peacemaker finale (such as Christopher Smith’s fate), but Salvation is such a major development within the larger fabric of the DCU that it would be impossible for the film to ignore it. Peacemaker Season 2 was described as a direct follow-up to Superman because of certain threads it picked up, and the same will be true for Man of Tomorrow. As tensions rise between the government and metahumans, Superman will surely have a thing or two to say about Salvation and the dubious morals of the prison. Given his history with ARGUS, Rick Flag Sr. is arguably the best character to represent the government, one of three factions Gunn has developed for the DCU. The other factions are corporations and metahumans, so Man of Tomorrow has all three bases covered.
It will be interesting to see if Flag is in any way responsible for the arrival of Man of Tomorrow‘s villain. Brainiac’s primary mission in life is to obtain as much knowledge as he possibly can; he travels across the universe and collects various cities, shrinking them down to preserve them before destroying the home planet. With Earth discovering the secrets of interdimensional travel, Brainiac could be very interested in learning about that, as he would gain access to a wide variety of worlds and universes. If Earth is endangered because of the Salvation discovery, Flag could feel guilt and perhaps have a change of heart along the way.
Regardless of how Rick Flag Sr. fits into Man of Tomorrow, it’s exciting to see Grillo get a chance to flesh out a character in a shared movie universe. He was previously part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Brock Rumlow/Crossbones, but he only made a couple of appearances in a supporting capacity. Crossbones died early on in Captain America: Civil War, so Grillo never really had an opportunity to properly develop the villain. He’s already left an impression in his first few DCU appearances and could become one of the franchise’s most memorable characters when it’s all said and done.
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Image courtesy of Focus Features.
