James Gunn Reveals How ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Influenced ‘Superman’
James Gunn is offering a sneak peek into what fans can expect from his upcoming Superman.
The filmmaker and DC Studios co-chief spoke to the press on the set of the highly-anticipated superhero movie earlier this year (via Gizmodo), where he teased the beginning of the film, how Top Gun: Maverick influenced the movie and how they landed on Superman’s suit. Superman stars David Corenswet as the titular superhero, with Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor.
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Gunn admitted shooting scenes in the sky “is really hard,” however they had another iconic action film starring Tom Cruise to pull some inspiration from.
“We took a lot from films like Top Gun: Maverick,” he explained. “We shoot a lot of our action with actual drones flying in and around Superman and the people that he’s flying with, The Engineer and whoever else that he’s fighting up in the air. And we did that on sound stages. We got these really small, crazy drones now. We’ve got some of the best flyers in the world here who are working with it.”
The Guardians of the Galaxy director also teased the opening scene of Superman, which explores the titular superhero’s journey to reconcile his alien heritage with his human family.
“We just start in the middle of the action,” he said. “Superman already exists. Lois and Clark already know each other. Lex hates Superman’s guts from the beginning, although they don’t know each other personally. So we start right in the middle of the action.”
Gunn added that after dropping Superman into all the action, the film’s main story will take place over “a short amount of time.”
Elsewhere, the Peacemaker creator also shared just how they decided on the new Man of Steel costume, which sees Corenswet in the iconic red trunks.
“We were trying on all these different versions, and we screened tested with trunks and no trunks,” Gunn recalled. “And one of the things David said is that Superman wants kids to not be afraid of him. He’s an alien. He’s got these incredible powers. He shoots beams out of his eyes… He’s this incredibly powerful, could be considered scary, individual and he wants people to like him. He wants to be a symbol of hope and positivity.”
He continued, “So he dresses like a professional wrestler. He dresses in a way that makes people unafraid of him, that shows that hope that shows that positivity. And that really clicked in for me. And I think trying to pretend that Superman’s costume doesn’t have some frivolity to it at its base, trying to make it look serious, is silly because he is a superhero. He’s the first one, brightly colored and that’s who he is.”
Superman is set to hit theaters on July 11, 2025.
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