Superman writer-director and DC Studios president James Gunn confirmed that three scenes caused some arguments behind the scenes.
On the Happy, Sad, Confused podcast hosted by Josh Horowitz, Gunn opened up about some scenes that riled up “heated debates” during the movie’s editing process. Superman officially kicked off the new DCU, though there were a few moments that fans may not have gotten to see hit the silver screen. Superman’s squirrel-saving moment during the kaiju battle almost wasn’t included, though Gunn insisted upon the squirrel being spared. “Saving the squirrel, heatedly debated. Some audience members [said] ‘Why is he saving a squirrel?!’ Because it’s a cute little adorable squirrel that was about to be crushed by a tail! It wasn’t a small amount of people, a lot of squirrel haters out there, and this is in Los Angeles! Like, Michael Rooker, he eats squirrels, he hunts and eats squirrels. The squirrel was a huge debate,” Gunn said.
Nathan Fillion’s Guy “Green Lantern” Gardner quickly became a scene-stealer, though one nearly-vulgar moment was deemed as controversial and nearly left behind on the cutting room floor. There’s a moment where Gardner calls Superman a “wuss,” though it’s incredibly obvious that a more profane insult was alluded to. Per the podcast, Gunn said, “another debate was, and this was probably the biggest, the other debate was Guy Gardner didn’t call him a wuss in the first part, he called him something else,” to which Horowitz replied, “The P-word, I assume.” Gunn confirmed that this was true. “Yes, and it got an enormous laugh, because he said ‘Don’t be such a p****.’ And this is what was cut, Clark goes, ‘Hey! There are kids here!’ And then Guy goes, ‘I said don’t be,’ and then he walks away. So that was a big debate on whether we were gonna keep that word.”
Skylar Gisondo’s Jimmy Olsen and Sara Sampaio’s Eve Teschmacher’s post-battle reunion was almost struck from Superman as a whole, and the scene was played with before Gunn settled on what would make the final cut. “The other big one was, does Jimmy smile at the end when Eve hugs him? That’s the biggest, I think, that one and the P-word. At the end, we had different versions of Eve, and I got them on purpose, so Eve hugs Jimmy, and in one version, he just smiles. And in another version, he just stares into the dark void that goes on forever. And in the third version, he kind of accepts his fate and then he gives in to it and smiles, because she did save the day, she is the unsung hero of this movie. So there were three different versions,” he said.
Superman Will Return In Man Of Tomorrow
Image via DC Studios
David Corenswet will don the cape again in Man of Tomorrow, which will see Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) and Superman team up to take on a new, unknown threat. Gunn is confirmed to return to both write and direct Man of Tomorrow, which he believes is “as much a Lex movie as it is a Superman movie.” The internet has speculated who may anatognize Superman and Lex Luthor, with many expressing hopes for Brainiac’s DCU debut. Man of Tomorrow soars into theaters on July 9, 2027. In the meantime, Gunn’s DC Universe has been barreling head-first into its initial chapter, Gods and Monsters, with Supergirl and Clayface both locking in 2026 release dates.
Superman is streaming on HBO Max.
Release Date
July 11, 2025
Runtime
130 minutes
Rachel Brosnahan
Lois Lane