Meet Superman’s pal, Jimmy Olsen. 86 years after the character’s first appearance, James Gunn — who wrote and directed the just-wrapped Superman reboot for DC Studios — commemorated the anniversary with the first official look at actor Skyler Gisondo (The Righteous Gemstones) as the freckle-faced Daily Planet photographer who pals around with Clark Kent and Lois Lane.
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“Happy Anniversary to Superman’s pal, Jimmy Olsen, who debuted on this day in 1941 (although he did appear earlier as ‘office boy’ in Action Comics 6),” Gunn wrote on X with an on-set photo of Gisondo giving the thumbs up. “Created by Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, and Bob Maxwell. I can’t wait for you to see @skylergisondo’s portrayal in Superman on July 11, 2025.” See the just-released photo and Gunn’s social media post below.
While the unnamed, bow tie-clad office boy who appeared in the pages of 1938’s Action Comics #6 would later be identified as Jimmy, DC Comics recognizes Superman #13 — published in August 1941 — as Jimmy Olsen’s official first appearance. By issue #15, the office boy and aspiring Daily Planet reporter took his surname from the Jackie Kelk-voiced Jimmy Olsen on The Adventures of Superman radio serial.
The first film in the new DC Universe “tells the story of Superman’sjourney to reconcile his Kryptonianheritage with his human upbringingas Clark Kent of Smallville, Kansas.He is the embodiment of truth,justice and the American way, guided byhuman kindness in a world thatsees kindness as old-fashioned,” according to the synopsis.
Superman stars David Corenswet (Twisters) in the title role opposite Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) as Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane, Wendell Pierce (The Wire) as editor-in-chief Perry White, and Nicholas Hoult (Mad Max: Fury Road) as Metropolis industrialist Lex Luthor. The ensemble includes Beck Bennett (Saturday Night Live) and Mikaela Hoover (Guardians of the Galaxy) as Jimmy’s Daily Planet colleagues Steve Lombard and Cat Grant, María Gabriela de Faría (Deadly Class) as The Engineer of The Authority, Frank Grillo (Creature Commandos) as Rick Flagg Sr., and Edi Gathegi (For All Mankind) as Mister Terrific, Isabela Merced (Alien: Romulus) as Hawkgirl, Anthony Carrigan (Barry) as Metamorpho, and Nathan Fillion (The Suicide Squad) as the Guy Gardner Green Lantern.
Gisondo, who previously appeared as Gwen Stacy’s younger brother in 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man and 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2, is the latest actor to play Superman’s sidekick.
On television, Jack Larson starred opposite George Reeves’ Man of Steel on Adventures of Superman, Aaron Ashmore on Smallville, Mehcad Brooks on Supergirl, and David Kaufman on Superman: The Animated Series. Marc McClure appeared as Jimmy in all four Christopher Reeve-starring Superman movies between 1978 and 1987; most recently, Jimmy was played by Sam Huntington in 2006’s Superman Returns and by Michael Cassidy in 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
DC Studios’ Superman soars into theaters July 11th, 2025.
