‘Superman’ Director James Gunn Says DCU Man Of Steel Is “More Vulnerable” Than Other Versions: “We Do See Him Bleed, Which Is Different”
According to Superman director James Gunn, the biggest delineating factor between the DCU’s live-action version of The Last Son of Krypton and those who preceded him is the fact that he will display notable levels of physical and emotional vulnerrability.
The DC Studios boss spoke to the differences in David Corenswet’s portrayal of the hero compared to such other actors as George Reeves, Tom Welling, and Henry Cavill, during a recent interview given to ScreenRant‘s Felipe Rangel.
Asked whether it was “accurate” to say that the DCU Superman was “more emotionally or physically vulnerable than we’ve seen”, and if so whether that change was intentional, Gunn explained, “Yes. It is, both to some degree.”
“Emotionally, for sure, simply because we’re invited into Superman’s personal life,” said the film’s director. “This is about his interior life. At the core of the story – it’s surrounded by pyrotechnics and flying dogs and robots – but at the core of the story it’s about a person who thinks of himself in a certain way, finds out that isn’t true, and has to recontextualize who he is in the face of that. That isn’t really what your normal Superman story is, nor any hero’s story, for the most part. So I think that’s a difference. He’s more vulnerable in that way.”
“And then physically – I mean, listen, he’s fighting an equal and opposite force,” he continued. “So, in some ways, it’s no different than when Superman was fighting the bad guys in Superman II, in Donner’s film.”
“But we do see him bleed, which is different,” Gunn added. “He can’t make the world go backwards in time through spinning around it. So I kind of took a Superman that was a mix of different Supermans throughout the comics in terms of his power set.”
Given Gunn’s need to set Gunn’s DCU apart from its Zack Snyder-helmed predecessor, it should come as no surprise to learn that said vulnerability is not the only difference between Corenswet’s Man of Steel and those silver- and small-screen portrayals that came before .
As detailed to Brazilian pop culture news outlet Omelete during a recent preview event, rather than being the first ever public superhero in his respective universe, the DCU Big Blue will instead find himself debuting into a world whose metahuman history is already “in progress”.
“I don’t think we’re doing anything very different from what the comics have always done,” Gunn asserted. “When I first read comics at 4 or 5 years old, I didn’t start with an origin story of Superman or Spider-Man. It was a world full of heroes. A world of magic and science so advanced it feels like magic. A world with robots, dogs, and kaijus.”
With just four days ’till touchdown, tickets for Superman‘s July 11th premiere are now on sale.
