TV & Beyond on 2025-06-06 12:10:00

by | Jun 6, 2025 | TV & Beyond Articles | 0 comments

TV & Beyond on 2025-06-06 12:10:00

James Gunn’s “Superman” is approaching faster than the speeding bullet, with mere weeks left before superhero fans across the globe witness the dawn of a new DC Universe at the cinemas. A critical project for the future of both Warner Bros. and Gunn’s fledgling DC Studios, fans are expecting a version of the Man of Steel that avoids the pitfalls of, well, “Man of Steel” — and the rest of Zack Snyder’s DC Extended Universe, for that matter.

The key differences between Snyder and Gunn’s universes will most likely come largely as a result of the comics they drew their inspiration from. Synder famously loved gritty Elseworld stories like Alan Moore’s “Watchmen” and Frank Miller’s “The Dark Knight Returns,” and their influence was felt throughout his work in the DCEU. Meanwhile, Gunn himself has already proudly cited certain Elseworld stories, Moore comics, and even a dystopian alternate “Justice League” as being part of his creative foundation for “Superman.” 

Fans will certainly want to check out these classic DC Comics — as well as a few others that may have inspired the upcoming film — before “Superman” hits theaters.

All-Star Superman

Superman holds the world in his hand, smiling in DC Comics

DC Comics

Since James Gunn first tweeted a picture of a page from “All-Star Superman,” it was clear the series would be one of the pillars upon which the filmmaker would build his own “Superman” story. Written by Grant Morrison and illustrated by Frank Quietly, the late-2000s comic is widely regarded as one of the best “Superman” stories ever written, as well as one of the best DC Comics ever published. Most importantly, however, is that it happens to be Gunn’s favorite “Superman” comic personally.

Set apart from the mainline DC Comics continuity at the time, “All-Star Superman” begins with the Man of Steel saving the world from yet another dastardly plot carried out by an openly villainous Lex Luthor. Though he is successful in bringing Luthor to justice and preventing the destruction of the planet, the incident forces him to absorb more energy from our Sun than he ever had before. As a result, for the next 12 months, Superman will wield awesome, unmatched power — then, he will die.

Though Gunn’s “Superman” will not be an adaptation of this series, he has said that it served as the biggest inspiration for the film, specifically through its science fiction tone, portrayal of Luthor as an almost magically mad genius, use of monsters and alien creatures, and incorporation of Kal-El’s Kryptonian robots. It portrays the titular character in an aspirational, lovable, and relatable light we haven’t seen too often in popular media as of late — certainly not in the Zack Snyder iteration of the character, which showcases him in some of his worst moments. 

Gunn’s “Superman” movie will be all about kindness — echoing Morrison and Quietly’s epic about one person trying to do his best to take care of the people around him with the time he has left. Suffice it to say, “All-Star Superman” should be at the top of your “Superman” pre-read list.

Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?

Superman holds his head in sadness as Krypto watches in DC Comics

DC Comics

While the influence of “All-Star Superman” is quite apparent already on James Gunn’s “Superman” film, the influence of our next pick is far less obvious as of writing. In fact, we might not have selected it — or our next pick, for that matter — had Gunn himself not name-checked it recently when asked for “Superman” reading recommendations by a fan anxious to see his new movie. We are, of course, talking about the 1986 comic “Superman: “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?”

The climactic two-part event — written by legendary comic book writer Alan Moore and drawn by Bronze Age “Superman” stalwart Curt Swan — is another story about the end of Superman, both literally and, to a certain extent, metaphorically. This year was a particularly momentous one for comics as a whole, but especially for DC, as the end of the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” mega crossover event brought about a brand new DC Universe continuity. At the same time, books like “The Dark Knight Returns” and Moore’s own “Watchmen” began nurturing an interest in darker mainstream comic books. Though these efforts were lauded at the time, their legacy is clouded by arguments that they brought about a tonal shift that rebels against the necessary optimism inherent in great superhero stories — an optimism embodied by the Pre-Crisis Superman, whom Moore more or less eulogizes in “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?”

Since we don’t expect Gunn to be looking toward this story for ideas on how to kill-off his protagonist in his first film, it’s worth noting this context because superheroes are in a very similar, if not even more confused era, tonally, in film. This leads us to wonder if Gunn read “Whatever Happened…?” to ponder how he might steer superhero cinema back toward the light. Moore’s story also melds classic “Superman” elements with contemporary storytelling conventions and visual aesthetics, which is clearly a goal Gunn has with his film.

Kingdom Come

Superman looks down from the sky in DC Comics

DC Comics

Of James Gunn’s stated influences on his “Superman” movie, “Kingdom Come” is by far the hardest to square. Like “All-Star Superman” and “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?,” it is a story that is not meant to establish the character’s origins for new fans or prepare him for future stories down the line. Though in the case of “Kingdom Come,” Superman is not being prepared for death, but he’s instead living in a futuristic world where his ideals have been all but discarded.

In Mark Waid and Alex Ross’ 1996 epic, an aged Clark Kent watches somewhat helplessly as the new wave of heroes in the DC Universe adopt pessimistic worldviews and brutal, often lethal methods of fighting supervillains. This climate of so-called heroism ultimately prompts Clark to hang up his cape toward the beginning of the story and leads the rest of the Justice League down a dark path, as they try to meet the needs of the modern age and reckon with changing times without losing themselves along the way.

Superman’s costume in “Kingdom Come” very clearly inspired the insignia worn by David Corenswet’s character, but Gunn surely took more than a letter from Waid and Ross, if he’s citing the series as one of his four main “Superman” influences. While he likely didn’t take any direct plot points from “Kingdom Come,” it could be that the story’s central conflict between old-fashioned superheroism and new-age vigilantism has influenced the dramatic questions his film poses. After all, the Justice League seen in the trailers appear to be a more militant version of the team, more focused on enforcing the law than saving lives and spreading hope. If this is the case, Gunn’s “Superman” could be less of an origin for the character himself and more of an origin for the ideology of this DC Universe, with Clark championing a new age of heroism based in compassion, justice, and hope.

Superman for All Seasons

Superman crosses his arms in flight in DC Comics

DC Comics

Along with “All-Star Superman,” “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?,” and “Kingdom Come,” Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s “Superman for All Seasons” has been confirmed as having inspired James Gunn’s adaptation of “Superman.” (All four comics have even been bundled together in a box set by DC Comics and are being sold to help promote both the film and the comics themselves.) Of the four stories, “Superman for All Seasons” seems to best capture the way Gunn’s film will explore the impact Superman has on the people around him.

As the title implies, each of the four issues of “Superman for All Seasons” takes place in a different season of a different year, beginning with the spring of Clark Kent’s senior year at Smallville High School. While each issue tracks his progression as a person and a hero, they do so largely from the perspective of the regular people who know him best: his father Jonathan Kent, his co-worker Lois Lane, his nemesis Lex Luthor, and his childhood best friend Lana Lang. As they narrate each chapter in the life of the Man of Steel, readers will find “Superman for All Seasons” to be unexpectedly contemplative, even when it achieves the required action adventure beats of a classic “Superman” comic.

Gunn’s “Superman” has made waves in the comic book community for including more full-fledged superheroes than one would usually expect from a solo film — especially one meant to kickstart a new cinematic universe. But the filmmaker has also taken great care in filling out the non-superhuman supporting cast, perhaps to emphasize how this world isn’t just about gods, vigilantes, and lawmen but the people they care for and claim to protect.

The Terrifics

Mr. Terrific and his super-team in DC Comics

DC Comics

Speaking of James Gunn’s stacked superhero roster for “Superman,” there are plenty of comics not about the Man of Steel that will still get you hyped for the upcoming movie. The trailers released thus far have shown fans what Gunn’s initial Justice League will look like, featuring a line-up led by the super genius, inventor, and athlete Mr. Terrific (played by “X-Men: First Class” actor Edi Gathegi). 

As one of Gunn’s favorite characters from DC Comics lore, Terrific had long been teased by the filmmaker prior to his announcement as part of the “Superman” film — Gunn pointedly tweeted an image of Terrific in 2022, sparking speculation that character would be foundational to his DC Universe. Once production on “Superman” was in full-swing, Gunn tweeted another image of this character, this time from a comic that may well be influencing what his take on the character will be.

Starting in 2018, DC began publishing “The Terrifics,” a new team-up comic book series spun out of the pages of the “Dark Knights: Metal” event (though readers don’t need to go through that whole convoluted storyline to understand what’s going on here). To keep things simple, the aftermath of Batman’s multiversal war with… himselves… leads to Mr. Terrific assembling a team of weirder, mostly science-based superheroes that initially consists of the stretching, reformed petty-criminal Plastic Man, the ghostly Phantom Girl, and Metamorpho, an element-shifter who happens to be another major player in Gunn’s “Superman” (played in his film by “Barry” alum Anthony Carrigan). 

Given that the Terrifics are basically DC’s answer to the Fantastic Four (they even fight a villain called “Doctor Dread”) and that Gunn’s former coworkers at Marvel Studios are set to compete with his first DC effort with their equally-hyped “Fantastic Four” film, it isn’t hard to imagine that his DC Universe could be headed toward a direct adaptation of “The Terrifics” in the near future.

Strange Adventures

Mr. Terrific watches Batman think in DC Comics

DC Comics

Before we leave Michael Holt behind to recommend another team-up tale for Metamorpho fans, we’d like to offer another Terrific option for readers looking to better understand both the character of Mr. Terrific and the tone of future DC Studios films. This selection may be uniquely interesting to those following the key behind-the-camera creatives involved with James Gunn’s new vision for this universe, as it was written by a comic book writer who now finds himself partially responsible for two major DC Studios projects on the horizon.

In 2020, following the success of his “Mister Miracle” maxiseries for DC’s Black Label imprint, DC began releasing another maxiseries written by Tom King and drawn by Mitch Gerads and Evan “Doc” Shaner titled “Strange Adventures.” The story is largely a mystery thriller that follows intergalactic war hero Adam Strange as he attempts to build a new life for himself on Earth. While selling a book about his pivotal role in a conflict between the utopian Rann and their alien invaders, someone who claims to know a dark secret about this “Strange Adventure” is suspiciously murdered. Because Batman cannot impartially investigate Adam to determine his likely innocence in the killing, the Dark Knight brings in someone with a mind even greater than his own: Mr. Terrific, who serves as the story’s primary antagonist, searching for a truth that could end Adam’s life before it begins.

In addition to being a great Mr. Terrific story, “Strange Adventures” is also another showcase of King’s unique talent for pacing, drama, and theme. When he was writing the comic, “Mister Miracle” had already gotten him a job writing Ava Duvernay’s since-cancelled “New Gods” movie. Now, he’s attached to HBO’s “Lanterns” TV show, and his book “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow” (with artist Bilquis Evely) is one of the key comics behind Gunn’s DC Universe. Thus, “Strange Adventures” is great for Terrific fans and for DC fans interested in one of the franchise’s defining voices.

Justice League Europe

Metamorpho with Power Girl and the rest of Justice League Europe in DC Comics

DC Comics

For a character with a surprising number of solo series to his name, Metamorpho is still best featured in the pages of “Justice League Europe.” The 1989 series (a spin-off of another “Justice League” series that also made it on our list) sees him teaming up with the Elongated Man (and his ill-fated wife, Sue Dibney), the alternate universe Supergirl, Kara Zor-L (aka Power Girl), Animal Man (another hero who owes much of his modern prestige to Grant Morrison), and Wally West (having taken over the mantle of the Flash), all under the leadership of the nuclear-powered American hero Captain Atom (the character who inspired Alan Moore’s Doctor Manhattan).

Within the series, which has a light-hearted, self-referential tone relative to proper “Justice League” titles, Metamorpho shines somewhere between being the team’s comic relief and omniscient meta-commentator. He’s almost a writer/audience-insert character, in this way. “Justice League Europe” as a whole is a great deal of fun thanks to the unique dynamic created by these otherwise second-string heroes, all of whom are written in such a way that they could easily fit into James Gunn’s DC Universe. (Readers who enjoyed “The Terrifics” should take special note of “JLE” as well, as it’s something of a spiritual predecessor to the 2018 series.)

Justice League International

Guy Gardner surrounded by the Justice League International in DC Comics

DC Comics

By all appearances, the version of the Justice League seen in James Gunn’s “Superman” will draw inspiration from the 1987 Post-Crisis series “Justice League International.” We’ve come to this conclusion due to two major reasons.

The first is that the Green Lantern Guy Gardner (played by Nathan Fillion in the movie) has a prominent position on the Justice League team in “Superman,” just as he does in “Justice League International.” More noteworthy still is that this series helped define humorous elements of Gardner’s popular characterization that will surely play into Gunn and Fillion’s version of the character.

The second is that Gunn has already triple-cast his brother Sean Gunn (having voiced Weasel and G.I. Robot in “Creature Commandos”) in the DC Universe as scheming businessman Maxwell Lord. For a time, Lord was the benefactor and business aide to the Justice League International, one of the character’s most memorable storylines that a comic fan like James Gunn was surely aware of when he chose to use this character.

Hawkgirl: Once Upon a Galaxy

Hawkgirl looks down as she soars into the sky in DC Comics

DC Comics

Hawkgirl is one of those “Justice League” characters that, despite being relatively popular thanks to the “Justice League” animated series, never gets a fair shake in the comics. She has yet to receive a definitive solo-run, instead relegated to moments of greatness as a supporting character in “Hawkman” and “Justice League” comics (this was nearly her fate in the original DCEU, thanks to Dwayne Johnson’s “Black Adam”). With Isabella Merced playing the winged warrior, Hawkgirl could have a promising future in James Gunn’s DC Universe moving forward, and fans could certainly track down the best episodes of the “Justice League” animated series to get a sense of what he’ll do with her. As for the comics, “Hawkgirl: Once Upon a Galaxy” is a decent, contemporary story for new readers to spend more time with her.

Written by Jadzia Axelrod and drawn by Amancay Nahuelpan, it picks up at a recent point in the current DC Comics continuity in which the Justice League have disbanded, freeing Hawkgirl up to find herself by fighting crime in Metropolis. There, she meets and forms an unlikely alliance with Galaxy, a fellow alien of immense power whose bubbly personality clashes with Hawkgirl’s fierce independence. The entire six-issue run has plenty of fun, action, and humor, and at the very least tries to imagine Hawkgirl as the hero of her own story (though, even here, Axelrod often pushes focus toward Galaxy — Hawkgirl just can’t catch a break).

Lex Luthor: Man of Steel

A black and white image of a scowling Lex Luthor in DC Comics

DC Comics

After losing the part of Superman to David Corenswet, Nicholas Hoult arguably became the perfect choice to play the vengefully jealous villain Lex Luthor. James Gunn is clearly trying to ditch the whimsical psychopath persona cultivated by Jesse Eisenberg in “Batman v Superman” for a more serious kind of super-genius. He has stated that his inspirations for writing this version of Luthor came from Golden Age “Superman” comics, “All-Star Superman,” and, strikingly, the 2005 miniseries “Luthor: Man of Steel” by Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo.

As they did in their subsequent “Joker” miniseries, Azzarello and Bermejo tell a pointedly dark and often disturbing story from a supervillain’s point of view. In the comic, Luthor is at a stage in his life where his unlawful and immoral acts are restricted to business deals — though his growing hatred for the beloved, all-powerful Superman is beginning to test the limits of his restraint.

Across five issues, readers are taken through one of Luthor’s earliest attacks against Superman, withholding just enough information from them to keep them guessing at what his ultimate motivations might be. Without spoiling anything, the story explores the extent of Luthor’s jealousy of Superman, and how he might injure a man impervious to bullets and blades (spoiler alert: the answer isn’t kryptonite). Azzarello and Bermejo miss the mark slightly when it comes to characterizing the heroes featured in the story — as for Lex Luthor himself, however, “Man of Steel” is an artful character study you’ll want on your shelf before

“Superman” hits theaters on July 11, 2025.

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