Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 Director Compares Adam Warlock to Superman

With the Guardians of the Galaxy series now complete, filmmaker James Gunn is turning his attention to Superman: Legacy, a 2025 reboot that will see David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan taking on the roles of Superman and Lois Lane. Obviously, Gunn has done a lot of superhero movies, from The Specials to Super to the Guardians films and The Suicide Squad. Superman, obviously, is in a whole other league — not just in terms of the public perception, but also in terms of power. Some writers struggle with making a character as powerful as Superman interesting. Gunn, though, suggested in the commentary track for Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 that won’t be an issue for him.

During Adam’s fight with Drax at the start of the film, Gunn said that the battle was a show of how strong Drax was — something that’s been easy to glance over in previous movies, since the team is always up against cosmic threats. Still, he was ultimately outmatched by Adam.

“Adam Warlock is almost Superman levels of strength, so it was pretty intense,” Gunn explained.

It’s unlikely he was drawing those parallels intentionally, but certainly any Man of Steel name-drop from Gunn is going to be looked at a little differently these days.

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.

The plan is for actors to play their roles across movies, TV, video games, and animation — meaning that when Creature Commandos kicks off the new universe, it will feature characters and actors who will show up elsewhere down the line.

Here’s Warner Bros.’ first official synopsis for Superman: Legacy:

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

Superman: Legacy will be directed by Gunn, and is currently scheduled to be released on July 11, 2025.