Superman: James Gunn Confirms Beck Bennett's DC Role

The SNL alum will play Steve Lombard in Gunn's DC reboot.

By Jenna Anderson

A new era of DC movies is on the horizon, with James Gunn's Superman reboot currently filming for a summer 2025 release date. The ensemble cast of Superman has been shaped throughout the better part of the past year, with Saturday Night Live alum Beck Bennett being the latest to join the roster. On Wednesday, reporting suggested that Bennett will be portraying a staff member at Superman's The Daily Planet newspaper — and now, we now know that he will be playing Steve Lombard.

Gunn took to social media to welcome Bennett to the Superman cast, confirming in his Instagram caption that the actor will be portraying sports reporter Steve Lombard. This makes Steve Lombard the latest Daily Planet staffer set to appear in Superman, alongside Clark Kent / Superman (David Corenswet), Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo), and Perry White (Wendell Pierce).

Superman: Who Is Steve Lombard?

Created by Cary Bates and Curt Swan in 1973's Superman #264, Steve "The Slinger" Lombard is a retired NFL quarterback who retires in disgrace after an experimental physical therapy treatment briefly creates an evil doppleganger of him that has to be bested by Superman. Steve then changes careers into journalism, working at Galaxy Broadcasting's news department alongside Clark Kent. Subsequent line-wide DC retcons have established Steve as a member of the Daily Planet's staff, often working as the editor or lead reporter of the Sports department. He also appears in All-Star Superman (which has been cited as one of the inspirations for Gunn's Superman movie) as a sportswriter who briefly acts heroically to save his coworkers, and who is eventually revealed to be hiding that he's bald. Throughout his various appearances, Steve is portrayed as an obnoxious rival of Clark, Lois, and some of the other Daily Planet staffers.

Bennett's portrayal in Superman will be the second cinematic portrayal of Steve Lombard, after House of Cards' Michael Kelly played a loose adaptation of the character in Zack Snyder's Man of Steel. Steve Lombard has also been portrayed throughout animation, voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson in All-Star Superman, Diedrich Bader in Superman: Unbound, David Kaye on Young Justice, and most recently by Vincent Tong on Adult Swim's My Adventures with Superman. 

What Is Superman (2025) About?

Per DC Studios, Superman 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 a better tomorrow, guided by human kindness in a world that sees kindness as old-fashioned.

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Superman will also star Sara Sampaio as Eve Teschmacher, Terence Rosemore as Otis, María Gabriela de Faría as Angela Spica / The Engineer, Isabela Merced as Kendra Saunders / Hawkgirl, Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner, Edi Gathegi as Michael Holt / Mr. Terrific, and Anthony Carrigan as Rex Mason / Metamorpho.

Superman is currently scheduled to be released exclusively in theaters on July 11, 2025.

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