Superman
Release Date: July 11, 2025
Director: James Gunn
Writer: James Gunn
Cast:
• David Corenswet – Superman/Clark Kent
• Rachel Brosnahan – Lois Lane
• Nicholas Hoult – Lex Luthor
• Maria Gabriela de Faria – Engineer/Angela Spica
• Nathan Fillion – Green Lantern/Guy Gardner
• Isabela Merced – Hawkgirl/Kendra Saunders
• Anthony Carrigan – Metamorpho/Rex Mason
• Edi Gathegi – Mister Terrific/Michael Holt
• Milly Alcock – Supergirl/Kara Zor-El
• Sean Gunn – Maxwell Lord
• Sara Sampaio – Eve Teschmacher
• Skyler Gisondo – Jimmy Olsen
• Wendell Pierce – Perry White
Although this will not be James Gunn’s first involvement with the DC Universe (changed from DC Extended Universe), Superman will make a grand entrance for the revamped film series that Gunn is overseeing, similar to how Kevin Feige runs the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Gunn has previously developed The Suicide Squad and its Peacemaker spin-off show, and now will be heavily involved in Superman, again serving as both writer and director.
The cast of this movie has quickly come together, with David Corenswet as the son of Krypton. This is unfortunate for DCEU fans who were fond of watching Henry Cavill fly around on the big screen. The other big parts filling in the story are Rachel Brosnahan's Lois Lane, Nicholas Hoult's Lex Luthor, and Nathan Fillion as the Guy Gardner edition of Green Lantern. Fillion is a notable James Gunn regular, recently applying his straight-faced humor in Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Similar to previous Superman iterations, such as Richard Donner’s original Superman, Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns and Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel, the titular hero will be played by a lesser-known actor. Corenswet’s career will likely benefit from his super-role, the way it did for Christopher Reeve, Brandon Routh, and Henry Cavill.
It is the juicy villainous part where highly regarded actors are brought in. Gene Hackman had already won his first Oscar (for The French Connection) before playing Lex Luthor. Kevin Spacey claimed two statues (The Usual Suspects and American Beauty) before taking on the same role. The antagonist switched to Zod for Man of Steel, portrayed by Oscar nominee Michael Shannon. Now, James Gunn has found his Luthor in Nicholas Hoult – not yet a major award winner, but one could prognosticate a comparison to the other thespians, based on his performances in A Single Man, Mad Max: Fury Road, and The Favourite. Not to mention, he just had a killer few months, with the release of Juror #2, The Order, and Nosferatu in late 2024.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Release Date: July 25, 2025
Director: Matt Shakman
Writers: Josh Friedman, Jeff Kaplan, Eric Pearson, and Ian Springer
Cast:
• Pedro Pascal – Mister Fantastic/Reed Richards
• Vanessa Kirby – Invisible Woman/Sue Storm
• Ebon Moss-Bachrach – Thing/Ben Grimm
• Joseph Quinn – Human Torch/Johnny Storm
• Ralph Ineson – Galactus
• Julia Garner – Silver Surfer/Shalla-Bal
• John Malkovich
• Paul Walter Hauser
• Natasha Lyonne
The Fantastic Four have already had two cinematic endeavors this century. The most recent was directed by Josh Trank in 2015 and was a dismal affair. Despite Black Panther’s Michael B. Jordan standing in as the Human Torch, the film was a critical and commercial failure. Ten years prior, Tim Story helmed a Fantastic Four duology; a fun family friendly superhero series with Chris Evans portraying Johnny Storm not too long before suiting up as Captain America in the MCU. Evans had an outrageous cameo as Human Torch in Deadpool & Wolverine.
The most unique aspect about this Fantastic Four story is that it will take place in an alternate, futuristic 1960s setting. Whereas Hank Pym’s Ant-Man operated covertly in the 1970s and '80s main MCU timeline, explaining public obscurity in the Avengers' world, the Fantastic Four are universally popular in their time. The simple clarification for the foursome’s existence within the MCU would be the multiverse. So, aside from the promise of vibrant aesthetic qualities and a quartet of gripping actors portraying Marvel’s First Family, an intriguing element will be the narrative’s connectivity to the larger franchise.
John Krasinki stunned fans when he played Mister Fantastic in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. That variant of the character was also outside of Earth-616’s universe. In First Steps, pop culture icon Pedro Pascal will look to dominate yet another beloved universe. Ebon Moss-Bachrach has some experience in this genre after portraying Micro in Netflix’s The Punisher. And Joseph Quinn is no “stranger” to admired genre properties; he was fan-favorite Eddie Munson in Stranger Things. However, the cast member with perhaps the least invitations to Comic-Con is the finest actor of the quartet, Vanessa Kirby.