Superman Legacy Is Now Just “Superman”

Security has been pretty tight on WB’s Superman Legacy; no one really knows what the plot is or what the film’s about other than “Superman is in it.” It’s kind of important that they get it right: it’s supposed to launch the revamped DCU and a zillion films in its wake, and it has to do that WHILE fighting the well-documented “superhero fatigue” at the box office.

But if anyone can pull that off, it’s James Gunn, who managed to produce a blockbuster superhero film (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3) in a year when everything else failed. The hiring of Gunn may be the only smart thing that’s ever happened in the Zaslav Administration.

Anyway, Gunn had an update yesterday: a small one, but an update nonetheless. He told his Instagram followers, “Overjoyed to be announcing the start of principal photography on SUPERMAN today, February 29, which just so happens to be – coincidentally and unplanned – Superman’s birthday.” Superman was born on Leap Year Day? Who knew? Do he and Lois celebrate his birthday once every four years? Wait, did they have Leap Year day on KRYPTON? How can they figure this?

Oh wait, there was a more important thing in there: a name change. Up to now the movie has been referred to as “Superman Legacy,” but now Gunn is just calling it “Superman.” Gunn doesn’t go into story reasons, but says revisions to the script made it clear to him. “When I finished the first draft of the script, I called the film Superman: Legacy. By the time I locked the final draft, it was clear the title was SUPERMAN.”

There is obviously a film called just “SUPERMAN” already, or maybe the actual title was “SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE.” We should probahly call it that from this point to avoid confusion. Superman will star David Corenswet as Clark, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, and maybe Milly Alcock as Supergirl when it’s released in July of 2025.