‘Superman’ Director James Gunn Confirms Jor-El’s Krypton Message Is Real, Says Fans Hoping For A Retcon Or Twist Reveal Are “Sh*t Out Of Luck!”
While many a fan have been taken aback by Superman‘s depiction of the title hero’s Kryptonian parents, James Gunn has confirmed that not only was Jor-El’s revelatory message to his son 100% real, but that he also has absolutely zero plans to backtrack on this creative decision.
[SPOILER WARNING: Significant spoilers for DC and James Gunn’s Superman (2025) follow below. If you’d like to avoid them, please refrain from reading any further.]
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Ask anyone with even a passing knowledge of Superman’s lore as to what they know about his birth parents, Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van, and it’s likely you’ll hear something along the lines of ‘They were two Kryptonian scientists who, after discovering that their planet is soon to explode and subsequently having their warnings ignored by its leaders, placed their infant son in a single-occupancy rocket ship and shot him off to Earth in order to save him from certain doom.”
And understandably so, as that’s how they’ve been depicted in practically every version of Big Blue’s origin story, from its original telling in Action Comics Vol. 1 #1 (and its first proper detailing in More Fun Comics Vol. 1 #101), to its respective Man of Steel Vol. 1 and Action Comics Vol. 2 revamps for the post-Crisis and New 52 eras, to the more ‘dark’ takes seen in the Superman: Earth One Vol. 1 and Absolute Superman Vol. 1 continuities, to say nothing of the fact that its every film and television adaptation also runs with this version of the story, even Zack Snyder’s ‘darker’ Man of Steel.
But in going against this usual canon, Gunn’s Superman features the plot-crucial reveal that in the new DCU, the Man of Steel’s parents actually intended for him to subjugate its peoples and use them as fodder to carry on Krypton’s genetic and memetic legacies:
Jor-El: “The people there are simple and profoundly confused; weak of mind, spirit, and body. Lord over the planet as the Last Son of Krypton.”
Lara Lor-Van: “Dispatch of anyone unable or unwilling to serve you, Kal-El. Take as many wives as you can so your genes and Krypton’s might and legacy will live on in this new frontier.”
Jor-El: “Do us proud, our beloved son. Rule without mercy.”
ignoring the DC Rebirth revelation that the still-living, main Earth-Prime Jor-El has come to lose faith in humanity after being exposed to its worst elements, there are only two instances in which he, his wife, and/or Krypton at large are shown as universal conquerors: The Flashpoint continuity, where Kal-el was similarly sent to Earth as a one-man Kryptonian invasion advance force, and the 2018 Syfy series Krypton, which concludes with Brainiac taking a baby Jor-El to Earth with the intent of him lording over humanity as a god.
And though many left theaters hoping that said message was either doctored by Lex Luthor as part of his plans to turn the world against Superman or intentionally presented out of context in service of a twist reveal sometime down the road, Gunn has confirmed that there is no ‘happy ending’ for Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van’s reputations.
Asked about his creative decision during a recent interview with Rolling Stone‘s Brian Hiatt, after first explaining that it was inspired by both Krypton’s portrayal in John Byrne’s aforementioned Man of Steel Vol. 1 and Mark Waid’s Superman: Birthright Vol. 1 – “Listen, I read [Man of Steel Vol. 1] when it came out. I definitely had that in my head. And isn’t it also a little bit in Birthright, too? So I did have the comic background excuse to do it.” – the director was asked by his host if he had anything to tell those fans who were hoping the message “will somehow get retconned or revealed as a double-secret trick or somethin.”
In turn, Gunn declared, “They’re sh-t out of luck!”
Then met with the observation from Hiatt that “The problem is, fundamentally, that would undo the entire emotional arc of the movie, right?”, Gunn asserted in turn, “That’s right”.
“That’s the whole point of the movie, that Superman thinks he is doing something because it is his destiny and his Kryptonian parents have set him out to do this thing, and along the way he discovers through the love of the people who are actually his parents that he’s doing these things not because of someone else, but because of himself,” he explained. “It’s like taking accountability in the deepest way possible that his morality is not based on some figure outside of himself, but on his own choices. I think it’s really beautiful in that way, and I’m not gonna change that.”
“And I don’t really even think of Jor-El and Lara as being totally evil,” Gunn concluded. “They just have this mindset that humans are less than what they are. We’re sea turtles to them. They’re just trying to keep the Kryptonian genes alive.”
