The Superman shoot took an alarming turn this week when filming for the 2025 superhero reboot was forced to halt after a stunt performer suffered an injury during a high-speed motorcycle chase gone awry.
The movie from director James Gunn resumed shooting in Cleveland, Ohio — which is doubling up as Clark Kent’s home city, Metropolis — on Monday, July 8. Unlike prior days, which have allowed various eye-popping glimpses of stars David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan in costume as the Man of Steel and Lois Lane, no major cast was on set for this day of filming. Instead, the production took over the Detroit-Superior Bridge as a scene in which an unknown character on a motorcycle is chased through traffic.
Unfortunately, shooting was interrupted when one stunt person fell from his bike mid-chase, injuring his leg. As per Cleveland.com, the biker “took a spill, clutching his knee as he hit the ground. The camera crew stopped filming as he was placed on a stretcher and put into an ambulance. The stuntman received treatment for several minutes before the ambulance left the scene with him inside.”
Footage of the moment it happened can be seen in the following tweet:
Impressively, although the stunt person was removed and taken to hospital, shooting was only held up for about 40 minutes before filming rolled once more. This probably says something about how common stunt mishaps are on superhero film sets, even 30 years on from Brandon Lee’s death on of The Crow. Thankfully, in this case, it wasn’t anywhere near as serious, although we don’t currently have an update on this stunt performer’s condition and whether he’ll be fit enough to return to work on this movie.
The accident does seem to have been a complete fluke, however, and there’s no sign of any negligence. “The stuntman rehearsed the scene several times without incident,” Cleveland.com writes. “In the action, he and another stuntperson on a motorcycle are fleeing Metropolis on the bridge at a high rate of speed when one of them causes a staged collision between six cars.”
As said above, it’s unknown who the stuntman was subbing in for, but going by his black clothes it’s possible he was doubling up as Rick Flag Snr., as played by Frank Grillo. We’ll first meet Grillo’s character in this year’s Creature Commandos animated series, which just goes to show how intricately interconnected Gunn’s DCU will be.
Superman soars into cinemas on July 11, 2025.