A week ago today, DC Studios head honcho James Gunn sent the internet into a frenzy with an eight word social media post, “Man Of Tomorrow. In theatres July 9, 2027,” accompanied by a piece of Jim Lee art featuring Superman and a mech suit sporting Lex Luthor. Further Superman sequel teases quickly followed courtesy of stars David Corenswet and Nicholas Hoult‘s socials, and then… radio silence. Until today that is, when James Gunn hit the airwaves on shock jock Howard Stern’s SiriusXM show, offering our first real steer on what’s next for Supes and his galaxy-brained, marbly-domed arch-nemesis.
While eagle-eyed fans were quick to note from Gunn’s choice of Man Of Tomorrow announcement art that it featured Lex Luthor in his classic comics Warsuit, an exoskeleton essentially designed to help Luthor level the playing field with the Kryptonian thorn in his side, Gunn confirmed to Stern that Hoult will actually be suiting up to fight alongside Corenswet’s Supes in their next movie. “It’s a story about Lex Luthor and Superman having to work together to a certain degree against a much, much bigger threat,” teased Gunn of his plans, before going on to suggest fans of Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor will be in for a treat with Man Of Tomorrow. “It’s more complicated than that but that’s a big part of it. It’s as much a Lex movie as it is a Superman movie. I loved working with Nicholas Hoult. I relate to the character of Lex, sadly. I really wanted to create something extraordinary with the two of them. I Just love the script so much.”
Now, at this stage, we’ve got a lot more questions than answers about what Gunn is cooking with Man Of Tomorrow, the next Super-Family film after Summer 2026’s already-in-the-can Supergirl. Will the movie eventually be renamed Superman: Man Of Tomorrow, making it a pure Supes sequel? Should we expect to see Milly Alcock’s Kara Zor-El suiting up with her Super-cousin here? Is Krypto going to be able to occupy the same space as Luthor without monching his shiny bonce off? And, most pressingly, could the ‘much, much bigger threat’ Gunn is teasing be classic silver age supervillain Brainiac? He is something of a deep-cut baddie, and Gunn had considered using him as Superman’s main villain at one point — plus, y’know, he’s dead brainy, which would give Supes a good reason to call Lex in as back-up.
The answer to all of these questions and more will be revealed soon enough. Man Of Tomorrow is slated to hit cinemas on 9 July, 2027, and Gunn has now confirmed that cameras will roll on the DCU sequel in April 2026. Super stuff!