It’s pretty safe to say that James Gunn’s reboot of Superman this summer was a hit. It’s the highest-grossing superhero film of the year, earned a “Certified Fresh” rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, and recently announced a sequel, Man of Tomorrow. So far, Gunn has teased the follow-up as a team-up between Superman and Lex Luthor “against a much, much bigger threat.” Filming is expected to begin in April 2026 for its summer 2027 release.
However, even though Gunn has alluded to the story for Man of Tomorrow almost entirely being worked out, there’s one aspect that the new film will hopefully deliver on that the fans found lacking in Superman: the presence of Clark Kent.
As much as the general population seemed to embrace Gunn’s take on the Man of Steel, his Superman was not without its criticisms. One of the biggest and widespread concerns about the film was the lack of Superman’s (David Corenswet) alter ego, Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent. We only see Clark at The Daily Planet once, early on, where he receives a range of reactions from praise to suspicion for his front-page article and interview with Superman. The scene sets up one of Superman’s most memorable moments – Lois Lane’s (Rachel Brosnahan) interview with the hero, where he switches between personas while she grills him about his intervention between the warring fictional countries Jarhanpur and Boravia. And while his adopted parents refer to him as Clark, the rest of the film is solely focused on Superman striving to save the day from Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult).
Meanwhile, we do spend a good amount of time in Superman production designer Beth Mickle’s stunning art deco Daily Planet set as Lois and Jimmy Olsen (Skylar Gisondo) unearth the ulterior motives behind Luthor’s involvement in the Boravia-Jarhanpur conflict. To be fair, in Gunn’s film, we meet more members of The Daily Planet‘s staff than in most other Superman movies, with the inclusion of editor-in-chief Perry White (Wendell Pierce), and reporters Cat Grant (Mikaela Hoover) and Steve Lombard (Beck Bennett). Jimmy certainly did more in a Superman film than he ever has before; his past relationship with Luthor’s girlfriend Eve Teschmacher (Sara Sampaio) proved invaluable to the good guys winning. Yet, perhaps it is because we spend so much time in Clark’s place of work without him present that led to fans feeling short-changed.
In fact, the clamoring for more of the mild-mannered journalist means Gunn and Corenswet are doing something right. Corenswet’s portrayal of the contrast between Clark and Superman drew favorable comparisons with how his predecessor, Christopher Reeve, inhabited the two different sides of the character, while Corenswet also excelled at playing something in the middle of the two during his fateful interview with Lois. And while we understand Gunn had several storylines to service in Superman as well as a ton of world-building to establish, as this is the first feature film installment of his newly launched DCU, the filmmaker has already baked in so much compelling tension and subtext into Clark’s existence that we left the theater hungry to see more.
With the basics of Superman’s corner of the DCU firmly fleshed out and the major players introduced, we hope this will allow more time for Gunn to explore how Kal-El balances (or doesn’t) being Clark Kent and Superman. Especially after he and Lois professed their love to each other, but they seem to be keeping their romance to themselves at work. There’s rich potential for tension given that Superman has two secrets not to keep at The Daily Planet – his identity and his relationship – and Lois being in the know also presents an opportunity for a new dynamic between the characters that has really only been explored on the small screen rather than in a Superman film. Given Gunn’s adeptness as a filmmaker, we can see him mining a great deal of comedy, anguish, or both out of Clark’s expanded presence in Man of Tomorrow.
More Clark Kent also means that Superman could interact with Lex Luthor in disguise, which would make for riveting exchanges between the two characters. In Superman, Luthor makes his hatred for Superman abundantly clear, along with the fact that he doesn’t know that Superman is also Clark Kent. Since we begin Superman with Lois already aware of his double identity, there’s potential for Lex to demonstrate his intelligence and shrewdness by finding out for himself. Or if Clark tells him, and his inherent trust in others is challenged by Luthor’s reaction.
We’d love to see the billionaire have a fondness for Clark, only to have his world rocked when he puts two and two together. Knowledge of his civilian identity could be quite the cudgel for Lex to exploit, even if the pair are working together for most of Man of Tomorrow, and would bring an immediately relatable human element to the hero’s struggle, because we assume that Superman’s primary concern would be how this would impact the safety of his loved ones. Overall, giving us more Clark Kent would only further humanize and allow us to bond with a character that Gunn has already done a fantastic job making an empathetic hero.
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