The Biggest Theories For James Gunn's Superman Movie

We’re going to see Superman struggling behind closed doors

For any eagle eyed fans who have been following any and all breadcrumbs James Gunn has been dropping along his Superman journey, you will have seen this coming.

Gunn has suggested some comic book panels that have inspired his upcoming blockbuster include ones where the Man of Steel is feeling a bit down when out of the public eye. This suggests that as much as we’ll see the all smiling, saving cats from trees Superman, we’ll also get more of a look at how things effect him when he hangs up his cape for the day.

There are some moments in the only trailer released so far that show Clark Kent and his alter ego looking a bit glum so it could be that this is what Gunn is trying to lean into. Especially with that first image we got for the suit reveal.

Lex Luthor destroys the Fortress of Solitude

We’ve seen a quick flash of Luthor, portrayed by Nicholas Hoult, in a snowy landscape in an international TV spot. The teaser trailer also shows Superman heartbroken by the damage inflicted on a Kryptonian robot who we assume is Kelex.

It does fit into the theory that the movie’s big bad finds Superman’s last piece of home and trashes it to either send a message, enrage the hero or to find some kind of mcguffin in the movie.

Time will tell, but it would be a perfect scheme from Superman’s arch nemesis in a movie that is supposed to centred around Superman embracing his heritage and also trying to be kind in a world that sees it as a weakness.

Martha Kent is dead

We’ll all know what the usual situation is here. Jonathan Kent, Clark Kent’s adoptive father on Earth, is known to die in pretty much every iteration of Superman in live-action. 1978’s Superman. The TV show Smallville. 2013’s Man of Steel. Even more recently in the TV show Superman and Lois.

From the looks of the teaser trailer, Jonathan Kent, portrayed by Pruitt Taylor Vince, is alive and kicking during the time that the movie takes place. Hopefully this isn’t just David Corenswet sporting slightly different hair to make out it is years earlier like what was done with Henry Cavill in 2013.

Interestingly in the quick moment of Jonathan and Clark together in the trailer, we don’t see anything of Martha Kent. It was a teaser, so they simply may not have wanted to show too much of the Kent family. Could it be that James Gunn is switching out which Kent parent dies and is experimenting with the effect of Superman’s earth mother being gone?

It does look like they having quite a tender moment, which could relate to Martha being gone, but then again this wouldn’t exactly be the first time that Jonathan and Clark have had a deep conversation.

The masked individual is a Superman clone

Fans who kept a close eye on filming last year will have for sure seen the masked individual who appeared to be working with The Engineer.

The individual in question is in an all black costume with what appears to be a U on his chest. Think Black Noir from The Boys.

If you watch closely in the trailer too, you’ll see that it appears this mysterious character is holding his own when going head to head with the last son of Krypton.

The fact that the character’s identity is being kept under wraps, he can go toe to toe with Superman, and he had a big letter U slapped against his chest tells us he could be an amalgamation of some Superman clones.

When finally unmasked (surely he’ll be unmasked during the movie) it wouldn’t surprise me if we got some kind of hybrid of Bizarro and Ultraman, both clones of the Man of Steel.

With the movie being heavily themed around Superman’s inspiring heroics and sense of justice no matter what, it would be a great chance to have him facing an evil mirror-image of himself.

Lois won’t know Clark Kent is Superman

Back in the day it used to be pretty exciting watching Lois spend a lot time not knowing Clark Kent and Superman were one of the same. Then 2013’s Man of Steel showed Amy Adams’ version of the character finding out in that first movie. Billie Tulloch’s version then knew for the entire time she was around Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman. Is it not time for us to get a break from this?

The trailer does feature Rachel Bosnahan’s Lois seeming to look at Corenswet’s Clark in some type of knowing way. Then the trailer also shows the two locking lips whilst Clark isn’t wearing his signature glasses.

Now, this could very well be some kind of dream sequence. Maybe Clark is using some kind of technology in the fortress to see how things would play out if Lois knew who he was? Again, only time will tell.

Gunn was a bit coy when asked outright if Lois will know Clark is Superman, so maybe those moments in the trailer were on purpose. But surely it’s time to go back to the good old days of Lois not knowing? More interestingly, what if she knows but just doesn’t let on for some reason? Hmmm.

ARGUS have Superman imprisoned

We’re going back to images of filming, and some of you may remember seeing images of The Engineer, Rick Flag Sr, the Superman clone(?) and various agents putting Supes in cuffs and marching him off.

We then saw in the teaser trailer that Superman was punching his way out of a glass jail cell whilst appearing to be surrounded by other individuals in their own cells (potential cameos for other comic book characters by the way?).

Now if you didn’t marry these two bits up initially, you would probably assume that it is Lex who has Superman contained, which would make sense and make for something pretty cool. However, with who ARGUS are and the fact we’ve seen them slap the cuffs on him, it seems more likely they’re the ones keeping him locked up. Maybe they have found out about how kryptonite and know how to utilise it discreetly?

Superman hits cinemas July 11, 2025.