Yesterday, Superman director James Gunn revealed a first glimpse at the Man of Steel’s costume in the new movie. It was a fun way of celebrating Superman’s birthday, even if it wasn’t a full-on first look (and doesn’t answer the looming question about the hero’s trunks). It was also the second time fans have seen that particular version of the Superman costume in live action. Inspired by the Superman logo from Kingdom Come, the 1997 miniseries by Alex Ross and Mark Waid, the Superman “S” features a yellow background field, rather than the black from the comics.
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That’s an idea that first appeared in the Arrowverse. After spending most of Crisis on Infinite Earths wearing the Kingdom Come glyph, in his final scene, Routh’s Superman has replaced the black with yellow, and smiles into the camera, in a nod to the final shot from 1978’s Superman: The Movie (a shot that 2006’s Superman Returns, also starring Routh, homaged first).
“There must be something in the water,” Marc Guggenheim, who showran the Crisis on Infinite Earths event, told ComicBook.com. “Particularly since Brandon Routh wearing the yellow-ized Kingdom Come glyph at the end of Crisis On Infinite Earths has been buzzed about quite a bit recently. Either way, I’m thrilled for my friend Mark Waid, and can’t wait to see the movie.”
You can see Routh in the part below.
In the world of Kingdom Come, Lois Lane and other friends and coworkers at The Daily Planet had been murdered in a terror attack on the building. The knock-on effect of that, and the way the public embraced a brutal antihero who murdered their killer, drove Superman into seclusion, and when he finally returned, he was wearing a logo with a black background, representative of mourning.
In Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Lois of Earth-38 asks Routh’s Superman about the black.
“Because, Lois — even in the darkest times, hope cuts through,” Superman tells her. “Hope is the light that lifts us out of darkness.”
In the end, he restored the yellow for that final shot, in what producers said was a nod to how hope has cut completely through that darkness.
There were a significant number of fans who have praised Routh’s Kingdom Come costume as the best live-action Superman suit since Christopher Reeve. So there’s something poetic about the fact that the final change Guggenheim and company made to that suit will now make it to the big screen, featured as the logo in the first solo Superman movie in a decade.
Superman: Legacy stars David Corenswet as the title character, with Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane. The movie has just started production in earnest, giving it about a year and a half from the first day of filming until its theatrical release. That’s roughly in line with Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3, which started production in November of 2021 and was released in April of last year.
Little is known about the story of Superman: Legacy, other than that it will involve a version of Superman who is settled into his role as the world’s protector, but who also has a network of allies to fall back on. Gotham‘s Anthony Carrigan is set to appear in the movie as Metamorpho, and other superheroes in the film include Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), and Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi). Superman’s origin story, already shown in a number of prior film adaptations, won’t take up a significant amount of real estate in Legacy, according to prior statements from Gunn.
Gunn is lining up some familiar talent on the project, with cinematographer Henry Braham (The Suicide Squad, Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3); production designer Beth Mickle (The Suicide Squad, Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3); costume designer Judianna Makovsky (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Avengers: Endgame); and art director David Scott (Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Spider-Man: No Way Home). Casting is by Yellowstone and Oppenheimer‘s John Papsidera.
Superman: Legacy is expected in theaters on July 11, 2025.
