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After a prolonged period of comic book movie fatigue, James Gunn’s Superman came out in theaters back on July 11. Prior to its release, there was a lot of both skepticism and hope that Gunn could successfully reboot the DC franchise after a long, uneven attempt to compete with the Marvel movies. (I really didn’t like either cut of The Justice League, sorry not sorry.)
Gunn’s gambit paid off, and as of September 2025, Superman has made more than $614 million globally. A follow-up movie, titled Man of Tomorrow, is already in the works with an April 2026 production start date and a targeted July 9, 2027 release date. Gunn appeared on Howard Stern’s show recently to share some more details about MoT. According to Gunn, the next movie will have a heavy focus on Superman and his arch-nemesis Lex Luthor working together. In fact, it will be just “as much a Lex movie as it is a Superman movie.”
Some more intel on James Gunn‘s Superman follow-up (not sequel), Man of Tomorrow. The Superman director and DC Studio Co-Boss told Howard Stern recently that the next movie is “a story about Lex Luthor and Superman having to work together to a certain degree against a much, much bigger threat.”
“It’s more complicated than that,” said Gunn, “It’s as much a Lex movie as it is a Superman movie.”
Gunn immediately went into developing the next DC movie involving Superman in the wake of his movie’s $614M-plus global success. Previously, it was reported that it would be more about the new characters introduced in his Superman, i.e. Green Lantern, Hawk Girl, etc. Superman did so well for Warner Bros, that they were able to push New Line’s Mortal Kombat II to mid-May next year as potential tentpole; the studio already reportedly in the black this year in regards to ROI, sources tell Deadline, before Paul Thomas Anderson’s Leonardo DiCaprio poltical action pic One Battle After Another opens.
“Milly Alcock, who plays Supergirl, might be the best bit of casting I think I’ve ever done in my entire life,” said Gunn.
In talking about the HBO series Lanterns, Stern told Gunn he’s always believed that Green Lantern could beat up Superman.
Gunn agreed: “Absolutely, he’s pretty powerful.”
I don’t know about y’all, but all I got from this was that we are in for a Superman/Lex buddy comedy! Just kidding. Superman and Lex Luthor have teamed up in the comics before, so the precedent is there, but they always remain arch-enemies. I do look forward to more Nicholas Hoult. He was a really great Lex Luthor, and I’m glad he’s getting his flowers. Mr. Rosie and I saw Superman in theaters. I liked it a lot more than I expected to. A big part of that was Hoult’s portrayal of Luthor. So many people, myself included, were lukewarm about Hoult’s casting when it was announced but he did such a great job with the role that I’m glad to stand corrected.
As for the rest of Man of Tomorrow’s potential plot, the common consensus among fans regarding the identity of its big bad is that it’s Brainiac, an alien cyborg that’s obsessed with collecting all of the universe’s knowledge. He’s widely considered to be one of Superman’s biggest enemies. This feels plausible. I’m also intrigued to see how season 2 of Peacemaker fits into all of this. I don’t know if Gunn is going to fully save the DCU movies, but I appreciate that he’s giving it his best effort.
Photos credit: Julie Edwards/Avalon, Dave Allocca/Starpix/INSTARimages, Jeffrey Mayer/Avalon, Cat Morley/Avalon, Julie Edwards/Avalon
