James Gunn’s ‘Superman: Legacy’ could be set for the most controversial change since ‘Man of Steel’

It could be argued that Superman: Legacy has perhaps the biggest challenge of any upcoming superhero movie: how can writer/director James Gunn relaunch the Last Son of Krypton in a fresh and yet familiar way?

After the SnyderVerse proved too dark and gloomy for some, Legacy needs to hark back to the more hopeful optimism of the Christopher Reeve movies. And yet it can’t simply slavishly redo those films, as Superman Returns proved back in 2006. Gunn has the unenviable task of attempting to find the sweet spot between nostalgia and innovation.

So, naturally, there are bound to be things about Legacy, the first film to come out of the rebooted DCU, that will rub fans up the wrong way. And it looks like David Corenswet’s Superman costume could be one of them.

David Corenswet’s Superman suit will be unexpected and different from Henry Cavill’s

According to film journalist and producer Dan Marcus, the Superman: Legacy costume will come as a surprise to fans when it’s finally revealed and it’s hard to predict how folks are going to respond to it. As Marcus said: “Not that this matters at all, but I heard from a friend who is working on LEGACY that the Superman suit is not gonna be what we’re expecting and is very curious for how fans are gonna react. Take that for what you will.”

It sounds like we may have a similar situation to Man of Steel on our hands, as fans were shocked when the more alien, muted Henry Cavill suit was first unveiled way back in 2011. There was especially a lot of mourning over the loss of Kal-El’s outside underwear. It would be ironic if the thing that’s so unexpected about Corenswet’s suit is that it brings back the classic red trunks. Some fans would no doubt love their returns while others would probably decry the design choice as corny and old-fashioned.

Alternatively, maybe Gunn really loves the Nicolas Cage costume from Superman Lives that we glimpsed in The Flash and Corenswet’s going to wear a replication of that. One thing we can confirm is that he hasn’t just inherited Cavill’s old togs. As Gunn revealed on Threads, Corenswet had to wear Cavill’s suit for his screentest — and the ‘6 “4 star struggled to squeeze into his predecessor’s pants. “Yes everyone who screen tested was screen tested in the previous suit (although David had a hard time fitting as he’s so tall!)” Gunn stated.

With filming on Superman: Legacy due to launch in March 2024, expect our first glimpse at Corenswet in his unexpected Supes suit sometime in the early spring.