Superman first look: James Gunn unveils David Corenswet as Man of Steel

The ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ director teased the forthcoming film with the message: ‘Get ready’

Superman director James Gunn has offered fans a first glimpse of David Corenswet in character as the Man of Steel.

Gunn, 57, previously directed the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise for Marvel Studios before taking over as the co-CEO of rival comic book studio DC in 2022.

Soon after taking the role, Gunn announced that his rebooted DC universe would begin with a Superman movie titled Superman: Legacy. In February that title was shortened to simply Superman.

Gunn shared the first image of Corenswet wearing the iconic Superman suit on Threads earlier today (6 May).

It shows a stone-faced Superman in a dirty suit, pulling his boots on.

Gunn captioned the picture: “Get ready. Superman 7.11.25”.

David Corenswet as Superman in the forthcoming DC movie from director James Gunn (James Gunn/Threads)

In a follow-up post, Gunn noted: “The above photo was taken on set by Jess Miglio and was entirely in-camera.”

Fans on Threads praised the return of the classic Superman costume, with one writing: “Thank you for restoring the red underpants” and another adding: “Underpants! Hooray!”

Corenswet, 30, first broke out in Ryan Murphy’s 2019 Netflix drama series The Politician before starring in A24’s acclaimed indie horror Pearl. You can read more about his life and career here.

Rachel Brosnahan will star as Superman’s love interest, Lois Lane. Brosnahan, 33, is best known for her lead role in the popular Amazon Prime Video period comedy series The Marvelous Mrs Maisel.

In February, Nicholas Hoult revealed he had shaved his head to play Lex Luthor, mirroring depictions of the infamous supervillain character from the DC comic books originated in 1940.

‘Superman’ director James Gunn in 2021 (Getty Images)

Milly Alcock has also been cast as Supergirl, although it remains unclear whether she will make her DCU debut in Superman.

Gunn recently hit back at speculation that comedian and TV host Bassem Youssef was fired from the upcoming film for speaking out about the conflict in Gaza.

The filmmaker reposted an IGN article on his X/Twitter account, which reported that the character Youssef had been approached to play was entirely cut from the script prior to his comments about Palestine.

Gunn wrote about the article: “This is accurate.”

Superman is set to arrive in cinemas on 11 July 2025.