The most interesting – and for some, frustrating – thing about the DCU’s Man of Tomorrow is the promise that it’s not actually a Superman sequel. At least not really. And we now have a very good idea why. After the explosive success of the DCU’s first movie, director James Gunn has done no shortage of interviews, giving us a glimpse behind the curtain of his creative process and the characters that he brought to life in the film and he’s now talking more freely about 2027’s sequel.
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Recently, Gunn joined The Ringer-Verse for a chat, running the conversational gamut about his DCU projects and Man of Tomorrow—especially where longtime and fan-favorite villain, Lex Luthor, is concerned, going so far as to be on record saying that Luthor is one of the characters he sees the most of himself in. Most intriguingly, Gunn’s effusive praise of Luthor as a character reveals exactly why Man of Tomorrow isn’t a Superman sequel: because it sounds an awful lot like it’s just as much a Lex Luthor movie. As Gunn says himself he’s “interested in getting into the heart of Lex, and seeing how he fits into all of this… getting to know Lex as more of a human being.” That sounds a little like he plans on humanizing another iconic villain as part of Man of Tomorrow‘s plot swerve, which will no doubt set off alarms for some fans.
Man of Tomorrow Might Push Lex Luthor Into the Forefront
When asked what he could say about what he was most excited about in rendering and bringing a character like Lex to life in Man of Tomorrow and beyond, Gunn said, without venturing into spoiler territory: “We saw a lot about the evil part of Lex. He’s pretty evil. He, as a character, is really interesting. There’s something, despite everything, that is incredibly heroic about Lex. Take aside morality, which is hard to do, but here is this guy who is saying, ‘You can hold up a building. You can shoot down planes with your eyes. F*ck you, I’m going to kick your *ss because I’m better than you.’ I can’t help but admire his tenacity and his ego. His ambition is beyond compare… He’s the underdog. Yeah, sure, he’s got a lot of corporate power that he can use to manipulate things, but he can’t fly into outer space, lift up a building, or punch something across three states. He’s a guy, and I f*cking love that.”
We already know that Man of Tomorrow will not be a direct sequel to Superman, though David Corenswet will be returning for a key role in the film. Now having heard his thoughts surrounding Lex Luthor, it seems a more likely possibility that Man of Tomorrow could indeed be more deeply focused on Lex, possibly centering around more of his backstory (and deep-seated beef with Superman), with Nicholas Hoult thrust into the spotlight to bring him to life in a bigger way. And we will likely get to see the debut of Lex’s Warsuit—something as of yet unseen on the big screen, but teased for the announcement of the sequel.
What do you think, could Lex Luthor ever be a heroic figure? Let us know in the comments. And keep the conversation going in the ComicBook Forum.
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