Don't Expect Any Sort Of Origin Story In James Gunn's Superman: Legacy

Remember way back when Superman first came onto the scene? At the time, he wasn't exactly the ultra-powerful superhero we've all come to know and love. In fact, his most heroic feat on the cover of Action Comics #1 was ... lifting a car. But everything else intrinsic to the All-American Boy Scout was more or less set in place, including being sent away from his alien planet as a baby to avoid its destruction (though it was not named Krypton at the time), his adoption by humanity, and his motivation to use his abilities for the betterment of the world.

Although live-action adaptations of his origin story don't quite measure up to the number of times we've had to sit through either Peter Parker's transformation into Spider-Man or Bruce Wayne's traumatic childhood that gave rise to Batman, there's not a single person with access to the internet who doesn't know how Superman traditionally came to be. That didn't stop Zack Snyder from retelling the story anyway in 2013's "Man of Steel," but the DC Universe's next attempt at rebooting the world's most famous superhero is apparently ready to go in a slightly different direction. For "Superman: Legacy," director James Gunn seems intent on skipping over all this table-setting.

The news comes from the most trustworthy source imaginable: no less an authority than Gunn himself, responding to fans on Instagram Threads. While once again clearing up rumors about the project (he does that a lot), Gunn directly addressed how much of this first official installment of the new DC franchise will involve rehashing another origin story. In short, "None." And there was much rejoicing.

Sometimes, less really is more. Superhero movies recently went through a bit of a phase where seemingly every major reboot simply had to shoehorn in an origin story, whether it was merited or not. Once you get to a point where a movie called "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" kicks things off with a slow-motion rendition of poor Bruce Wayne watching his parents getting murdered right in front of him (only 10 years after watching the same thing happen in Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins," no less), you know things have gone a little off the rails. Well, don't expect DC to repeat any of the same mistakes with new leadership James Gunn and Peter Safran now in charge.

Correctly assuming that we all know how the story goes is probably the right call, if you ask me. There's so much more to Superman/Clark Kent's story than just the tragedy of how he ended up on Earth in the first place. With "Superman: Legacy" in particular, it sure seems like there wouldn't be much room to spend on retreading familiar territory, anyhow. We already know that the action will include Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner/Green Lantern, Anthony Carrigan as Metamorpho, Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl, and approximately a dozen other superheroes, too. (That's only slightly exaggerating.) With Warner Bros. in desperate need to revitalize its flagship (non-Batman) superhero, well, it makes sense that they'd want things to get off to a more refreshing start this time around.

"Superman: Legacy" is due to arrive in theaters on July 11, 2025.