The premiere date for Superman has been drawing closer and closer, but with the release of the first teaser trailer on Thursday the movie is finally beginning to feel real. This film will not only introduce David Corenswet as our new Clark Kent, it will launch the new DC Universe continuity on the big screen, introducing several other DC Comics superheroes in the process. Here’s the run-down on the new cast and all the characters we’ll be meeting in this soft reboot.
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Superman is written and directed by James Gunn, the co-CEO of DC Studios spearheading the company’s new DCU continuity. Plot details on the movie are scarce, but we know we’ll be meeting some major characters from DC Comics, including the Green Lantern Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi), Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan) and The Engineer (María Gabriela de Faría). Of course, we’ll also meet the new version of Superman’s archnemesis Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult), and his love interest Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan).
We’ll meet new versions of some important characters without superpowers as well, including Clark’s adoptive parents Jonathan Kent (Pruitt Taylor Vince) and Martha Kent (Neva Howell), as well as his colleagues at The Daily Planet editor Perry White (Wendell Pierce) and photographer Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo).
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The sprawling cast of this movie provides some tantalizing clues about where the story might be going, but we don’t know anything for certain yet. Gunn has declined to answer questions that might give it away — for example, he won’t even say whether Lois knows about Clark’s secret identity or not. Those that want to formulate their own fan theories can compare this character list with the comics for some relevant plot arcs. Here are the characters we’ll be meeting when the DCU takes flight on July 11, 2025.
David Corenswet
Corenswet, 31, will play journalist Clark Kent and Kryptonian refugee Superman. According to Gunn, this version of Clark is meant to be around 25 years old, and he is already established as a superhero. It will not be an origin story.
Corenswet grew up in Philadelphia and studied acting at Juilliard in New York City. His first mainstream starring role was in the 2018 political thriller Affairs of State. He also had some prominent guest-starring roles on TV and streaming series including House of Cards, Elementary and Instinct. He found continued success at Netflix, starring in the series The Politician and Hollywood, followed by the film Look Both Ways. Fans have likely seen Corenswet on the big screen as well — in 2022 he co-starred in the A24 horror Pearl, and just this year he played the tornado chaser Scott in Twisters.
Gunn has gushed about Corenswet at every opportunity, proclaiming him the perfect person to play Superman. On Thursday, he said: “I’ve never worked in my entire life with such a rigorous actor. He challenged me on a daily basis to really get the most out of his character, get the most out of his story. Everything he does in the movie is utterly true. You don’t ever have a moment, even watching dailies, where you go, ‘David did something that feels stupid, that doesn’t feel real, that feels like he’s faking and he’s phoning it in,’ never. He’s always completely present.”
Rachel Brosnahan
Lois Lane is played by 34-year-old Rachel Brosnahan, best known for starring in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, for which she won an Emmy. She and Corenswet technically already have a credit in common, though Brosnahan’s role in House of Cards from 2013 to 2015 was much more significant than Corenswet’s one-episode appearance in 2018.
Earlier this year, Brosnahan described her take on Lois Lane as “fiercely intelligent” and “feisty.” The character is integral to a good Superman story — even more so than many of the other love interests in mainstream comics. One of the biggest questions hanging over this movie is whether Lois will already know Clark’s secret when it begins, or if we will see her figure it out for herself.
Nicholas Hoult
Nicholas Hoult is playing Lex Luthor in this movie, and many fans were glad to see that he is already bald in this trailer. Unlike many of the DC characters below, Luthor has already been portrayed many times on screen, putting a lot of pressure on Hoult to live up to previous versions while still doing his own thing. On the other hand, comics provide plenty of untapped potential for Luthor’s characterization that the DCU can explore.
Thankfully, Hoult is a veteran of comic book adaptations — best known for playing “The Beast” Hank McCoy in X-Men: First Class through X-Men: Dark Phoenix. Even beyond that, his geek credit runs strong with genre film roles in Clash of the Titans, Mad Max: Fury Road, Tolkien and Renfield. Hoult, 35, has a starring role in the upcoming A24 horror Nosferatu, which hits theaters on Christmas day.
Edi Gathegi
Kenyan-American actor Edi Gathegi also appeared in X-Men: First Class, playing the mutant Darwin. Gathegi takes on a similarly powerful role in Superman as Michael Holt, a.k.a. Mr. Terrific. This version of the character is an unprecedented genius with advanced knowledge of sciences including engineering and medicine. He takes up the mantle of previous Mr. Terrific, using his intellect to master martial arts and create technology that helps him fight crime. That includes his hovering robotic “T-Spheres,” which circle around him and help him in everything from fighting to espionage. His signature mask allows him to control the spheres and detect various forms of energy around him.
Gathegi, 45, was born in Kenya but grew up in California. An injury cut his college basketball career short and he pivoted to acting classes, falling in love with the craft. He moved to New York for a graduate program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and began his career on stage before landing his first film role as the cab driver in Crank. Gathegi is best known for his role as Dev in the Apple TV+ series For All Mankind, which ended earlier this year.
Isabela Merced
The youngest member of this ensemble, 23-year-old Isabela Merced is best known for starring in the 2019 live-action movie Dora and the Lost City of Gold. She also played the war orphan turned Autobot ally Izabella in Transformers: The Last Knight, and most recently played Kay in Alien: Romulus. Earlier this year, she made her comic book movie debut in Madame Web, playing Anya Corazón. 2025 will be another huge year for Merced, who will join the cast of HBO’s The Last of Us as Dina.
DC fans are very familiar with Hawkgirl not just from the comics, but from the animated series of the 2000s including Justice League Unlimited. Those shows used the character Shayera Hol (Maria Canals-Barrera), an alien from the planet Thanagar sent to earth with her partner in pursuit of a criminal. Once their mission was complete, they felt compelled to return to earth to study its crimefighting methods, which led them to joining the Justice League.
It’s hard to say if the DCU will use Shayera or the other version of Hawkgirl, Kendra Saunders, who is the reincarnation of the Golden Age Hawkgirl Shiera Sanders Hall. There are many iterations of this character even just in comics released in recent years. Elements of different Hawkgirls’ backstories have been remixed so many times that Gunn may settle on a completely unique version of the character, cherry-picking what he wants.
Nathan Fillion
Nathan Fillion’s role is much more straightforward. He plays the Green Lantern bruiser Guy Gardner, a delinquent-turned-cop who is the runner-up for the Green Latern ring that ultimately chooses Hal Jordan. There are various backstories for how Gardner ends up with a ring of his own, but it looks like this movie version is well-established and has been for a long time.
Fillion, 53, appeared in Gunn’s 2021 DCEU film The Suicide Squad as The Detachable Kid, but that is no longer canon in the DCU. Of course, Fillion was a geek culture legend long before that, from Firefly and Serenity to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. His DC credits run very deep, but mostly in voice over. He played Vigilante in Justice League Unlimited, then became the voice of the Green Lantern Hal Jordan in six of the animated movies released between 2011 and 2018. You can stream these now on Max.
Fans are dying to know more about the role of Gardner and the Green Lantern Corps in Superman, but details are scarce. It’s unclear if Gardner has been operating in the open and if he already has a relationship with the Man of Steel, and we don’t even know if he’s the only earthling Green Lantern at this point.
Anthony Carrigan
Barry star Anthony Carrigan will play Rex Mason, a.k.a. Metamorpho. Carrigan, who has the autoimmune disease alopecia, has said that he is excited to be playing a hero after being frequently typecast as a villain. The 41-year-old told Rolling Stone he hopes to bring some “authenticity and truth” to the role. At the same time, he’s a familiar face for DC fans, having played the Batman villain Victor Zsasz on Gotham from 2014 to 2019.
Metamorpho dates back to 1965, but he has appropriately been through many changes over the years. He has the ability to transmute his own body into nearly any elemental compound and form at will, allowing him to shapeshift, become impervious to attacks, and squeeze into tight places. He gained this power during his work as an archaeologist when he was exposed to an ancient Egyptian artifact made from a radioactive meteorite.
María Gabriela de de Faría
Finally, the last super-powered person in this cast is Angela Spica, The Engineer, played by
María Gabriela de Faría. The Engineer is a member of the superhero team The Authority, which is getting its own movie in the DCU’s first story arc. It makes sense that they’ll be set up here, though there’s no release date for the stand-alone movie yet. Angela is the second character to use the name The Engineer, and like the first, she has nanites in her blood stream that give her superpowers.
Faría comes from Venezuela, and is best known for Spanish-language TV and movies airing in South America. Her American credits include the TV shows Deadly Class, The Moodys and Animal Control. To international fans, she is best known for starring in a Nickelodeon sitcom called Isa TKM.
Skyler Gisondo
With the superheroes out of the way, we move on to Clark’s civilian friends and family, starting with Daily Planet photographer Jimmy Olsen. He will be played by Booksmart star Skyler Gisondo, a 28-year-old former child star with some very recognizable credits to his name. His most recent film credit is Licorice Pizza, while his most recent role in a TV series main cast was The Resort. He is also known for The Righteous Gemstones and Santa Clarita Diet, while some of his childhood roles include The Bill Engvall Show and Psych. Comic book fans might recognize him for playing Howard Stacy in The Amazing Spider-Man and its sequel.
Jimmy Olsen is a fan-favorite character in Superman’s orbit — sometimes a friend and confidante, sometimes a sidekick and wide-eyed witness, occasionally even a rival. There’s no telling what part Jimmy will play in this movie.
Wendell Pierce
Pierce has a long list of credits that make him more than qualified to play the Daily Planet‘s beleaguered editor Perry White. The 62-year-old actor played Detective Bunk Moreland on The Wire and Reverend Hosea Williams in Selma, but he has balanced drama with fun in action roles like Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan.
Perry White is often pivotal to stories where Clark’s secret identity is at stake, which might be a clue to the plot of this movie. It’s worth noting that this movie takes inspiration from the 2005 comic book series All-Star Superman, and White plays an important role in that arc.
Pruitt Taylor Vince
This version of Pa Kent should have a lot of wisdom to draw on considering how many comic book adaptations he’s appeared in before. Vince has been seen in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Walking Dead, The Cape and Constantine, among many other credits. The 64-year-old actor is best known for roles in Identity, Angel Heart and Mississippi Burning.
That being said, we don’t know yet how big of a role Jonathan Kent will play in this story. Gunn has said it’s not an origin story, yet Jonathan’s death is often a pivotal moment in Clark deciding to become Superman. He could be on hand just for flashback sequences, or it’s possible that the DCU will be exploring alternate timelines right out of the gate.
Neva Howell
Finally, Neva Howell will play Martha Kent, or “Ma” to Clark. Howell is best known for the movies Burden, Run the Race and Novitiate, as well as the TV series The Resident. She takes on one of the most emotional roles in any Superman story as his moral compass, his support and an object of his protection all at once.
There are other characters rumored to be appearing in this movie as well, though they haven’t been officially added to the cast list yet. Most notably, House of the Dragon star Milly Alcock is playing Supergirl, but we don’t know if she’ll appear in this movie. We’ll see for ourselves when Superman hits theaters on July 11, 2025.
