Who will direct ‘Superman: Legacy’?

The writer of ‘Superman: Legacy’, James Gunn, filmmaker and CEO of DC Studios, along with the help of Peter Safran, will direct the next episode in the ‘Superman’ franchise. Safran is the executive producer on the project.

The latest segment in the ‘Superman’ movie franchise is yet to be cast, but the global release date is already scheduled for July 11, 2025.

Gunn’s reasons for the project

Gunn posted the news to Twitter, along with a touching story about his late father’s birthday coinciding with the release date.

“Yes, I’m directing Superman: Legacy to be released on July 11, 2025,” Gunn wrote in the caption. “My brother Matt told me when he saw the release date he started to cry. I asked him why. He said, ‘Dude, it’s Dad’s birthday.’ I hadn’t realized.”

The acclaimed director continued the tribute to his dad in the comments section of the post.

“I lost my Dad almost three years ago. He was my best friend,” Gunn wrote. “He didn’t understand me as a kid, but he supported my love of comics and my love of film and I wouldn’t be making this movie now without him.”

“It has been a long road to this point, Gunn continued. “I was offered Superman years ago — I initially said no because I didn’t have a way in that felt unique and fun and emotional that gave Superman the dignity he deserved.”

“A bit less than a year ago I saw a way in, in many ways centering around Superman’s heritage — how both his aristocratic Kryptonian parents and his Kansas farmer parents inform who he is and the choices he makes.”

What to expect for ‘Superman: Legacy’

According to the film’s synopsis, ‘Superman: Legacy’ “tells the story of Superman’s journey to reconcile his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing as Clark Kent of Smallville, Kansas.”

“He is the embodiment of truth, justice and the American way,” the synopsis describes the movie’s hero, “guided by human kindness in a world that sees kindness as old-fashioned.”

A trial of the new DC universe

‘Superman: Legacy’ is one of the first products of the constructed universe DC is striving to make uniform across all its super-hero productions. The multi-portrayed universe, still in its trial “Phase 1″, called ‘Gods and Monsters’.

Upon the release of DC’s film ‘Shazam 2′ in March 2023, Gunn said the studio was aiming for a way to unify each of their blockbuster superhero movie productions into one universe.

According to Gunn, this is the central mission of the company:

“So how can we take these things together and make them make sense and have them unified, and have it one real universe, one real world,” Gunn said.

“And I think that we’ve gotten lucky with the next four movies,” he continued, “because we have ‘Shazam’ which leads into ‘Flash’, which resets everything. Which then goes into ‘Blue Beetle’, which is totally disconnected, he can totally be a part of the DCU. Goes into ‘Aquaman’, which leads into Superman, our first big project.”