James Gunn Announces David Corenswet As His Superman And Rachel Brosnahan As Lois Lane For ‘Superman: Legacy’

John F. Trent |

Jun 27, 2023

Superman: Legacy director James Gunn announced that David Corenswet will play Superman and Rachel Brosnahan will play Lois Lane in the upcoming film.’

Deadline initially announced that Corenswet and Brosnahan nabbed the roles claiming they were among six actors who filmed screen tests during the June 17 weekend including Nicholas Hoult, Tom Brittney, Emma Mackey, and Phoebe Dynevor.

Gunn confirmed the announcement on Twitter, writing, “Accurate! (They are not only both incredible actors, but also wonderful people).”

The confirmation comes after Gunn announced he would no longer have Henry Cavill continue in the role of Superman despite Warner Bros. Pictures having Cavill return for a cameo role in Black Adam as well as Cavill announcing he would be returning to the role in future films.

Gunn previously claimed he did not continue with Cavill because he’d be focusing on an earlier part of Superman’s life. He tweeted, “our story will be focusing on an earlier part of Superman’s life, so the character will not be played by Henry Cavill.”

Cavill would later make it clear that Cavill would not return as Superman because of his age. Cavill just turned 40 and Corenswet turns 30 in July. Brosnahan turns 33 in July. Gunn wrote on Twitter, “As I said yesterday, it is very simple, he’s a different age.”

Gunn went on to claim his Superman would be “merely younger” and thus Cavill did not fit the bill.

Gunn’s narrative on why he and Safran canned Cavill changed when they announced the DC Studios late at the end of January. He told The Hollywood Reporter, “I like Henry, I think he’s a great guy. I think he’s getting dicked around by a lot of people, including the former regime at this company. But this Superman is not Henry, for a number of reasons.”

Gunn never elaborated on what those reasons were.

Gunn’s age narrative would also be called into question following the announcement of The Brave and the Bold film where Gunn detailed the film “is a story of Damian Wayne, who’s Batman’s actual son that he didn’t know existed for the first eight to ten years of his life. He was raised as a little murderer and assassin. He’s my favorite Robin.”

Given Batman would be old enough to have a child, there were questions as to how much older Batman would be compared to Superman given the two are usually depicted as peers around the same age.

Gunn addressed those concerns telling Collider that Superman’s “working. He’s a reporter. He’s at the Daily Planet. Again, we’re coming into a world where superheroes exist and have existed.”

Gunn then acknowledged, “So, does that mean Batman might be a couple years older than Superman? Yes, it could be.”

As for what to expect from Superman: Legacy DC Studios CEO Peter Safran revealed during the initial DC Studios slate announcement, “It’s not an origin story. It focuses on Superman balancing his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing. Superman represents truth, justice and the American way. He is kindness in a world that thinks of kindness as old fashioned.”

Gunn provided more details in March writing on Twitter, that the film “in many ways [centers] around Superman’s heritage – how both his aristocratic Kryptonian parents and his Kansas farmer parents inform who he is and the choices he makes.”

More recently Gunn told Michael Rosenbaum that he’s creating an aesthetic in the film that has never existed before, “With how we’re doing Superman we’re creating an aesthetic that hasn’t existed before.”

He went on to inform Rosenbaum about his vision for the film, ““I think that people know I was offered Superman years ago. I said no because I didn’t know quite how to tackle it. And I think that but because of that I kept thinking about it and thinking about and thinking about it. How could I create a Superman that’s true to the character of Superman that absolutely loves the character of Superman and yet is a take on Superman that’s different enough that it’s worth making a big budget movie about it. That it’s worth people seeing it. That it won’t be boring. All of those things.”

“So now I feel good about. So now it’s fun,” he concluded.

Recent rumors indicate the film will feature The Authority and that the superhero team could be the main antagonists in the film.

The Hollywood Reporter initially claimed the film is casting “members of supergroup The Authority, which are to be introduced in the movie.” Scooper Daniel RPK then claimed the members of the team introduced in the film would be Jack Hawksmoor, The Doctor, and Angela Spica.

Scooper and film critic Grace Randolph would later claim that the team would be the main antagonists saying during a recent livestream, “I did hear, by the way, a rumor that it is going to be Superman vs. The Authority right off the bat, which I hope is not true ’cause that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“To me that just sounds like a really bad DC movie, but from like the old regime,” she continued. “So like nothing changed.”

“I think that to have a Superman story up against The Authority, which is a weird group that I don’t feel gels with Superman whatsoever, but it is very James Gunn though. So I really hope that is incorrect,” she opined.