WhenJames Gunnwas asked about his inspirations forSuperman, he said there were “too many to count.” Despite this, Gunn offered up a list of Superman stories that would influence the movie, includingKingdom ComebyMark WaidandAlex Ross— which inspired the S-shield worn byDavid Corenswet’s Man of Steel — andSuperman for All SeasonsbyJeph LoebandTim Sale, which also served as the bedrock forSmallville.Gunn’s most significant influence would beAll-Star SupermanbyGrant MorrisonandFrank Quitely, which is regarded as one of the greatest Superman stories of all time.
“All-Star Superman” Is a Superman Comic Unlike Anything That Came Before or After It
All-Star Supermanwas born out of a proposal developed by Grant Morrison, Mark Waid,Tom Peyer,andMark Millarin 1998, intended togive the Superman comics a fresh start. Morrison also drew inspiration from an encounter they had with a Superman cosplayer at San Diego Comic-Con, and they recalled the “true shamanic moment” they had when witnessing this person in action:
“He was perched with one knee drawn up, chin resting on his arms. He looked totally relaxed… and I suddenly realized this was how Superman would sit. He wouldn’t puff out his chest or posture heroically, he would be totally chilled. If nothing can hurt you, you can afford to be cool. A man like Superman would never have to tense against the cold; never have to flinch in the face of a blow. He would be completely laid back, un-tense.”
That approach is at the heart ofAll-Star Superman, whichfinds the Man of Steel with less than a year left to liveafter he conducts a rescue mission near the sun; the end result super-charges his cells with fatal levels of solar radiation. Superman resolves to help the world in his final days, revealing his secret identity as Clark Kent to Lois Lane while gifting her with a serum that replicates his powers for 24 hours and helping save a pair of Kryptonian astronauts, despite their efforts to kill him.All-Star Supermanis filled with plenty of the cutting-edge ideas that definied Morrison’s career, including Superman’s battle with Solaris the Tyrant Sun as well as meeting Samson and Hercules. But it’s the smaller moments that make it stand out. InAll-Star Superman #10, Superman talks down a girl named Regan as she’s about to jump off a building. It’s moments like those that makeAll-Star Supermanworth reading, and judging from James Gunn’s comments, it’s the approachhe wants to bring to his take on Superman.
‘Superman’ Throws You Right Into the Action, Plus 9 Other Facts We Learned From James Gunn on the Set of the First DCU Movie
Gunn talks about how ‘Superman’ is unlike anything he’s done before and how picking his Clark and Lois was his greatest moment in filmmaking.
Countless Filmmakers and Creators, Including David Corenswet & Nicholas Hoult, Were Inspired by ‘All-Star Superman’
James Gunn isn’t the only filmmaker who’s utilizedAll-Star Supermanas inspiration; over the years,multiple adaptations have drawn plot points or dialogue from the comic. The most notable is the animated adaptation ofAll-Star Superman, written by the late, greatDwayne McDuffie(Static Shock,Justice League Unlimited) and directed bySam Liu(Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths). Grant Morrison had nothing but praise for the adaptation, calling it “quirky, epic, and heartbreaking” while also praising it as one of the best superhero movies they’d ever seen. Another Superman film that drew heavily fromAll-Star SupermanisMan of Steel, as Jor-El (Russell Crowe)delivers a monologuethat’s adapted mainly from the penultimate issue of the comic series.
David Corenswet andNicholas Hoult, who plays Superman’s archnemesis Lex Luthor, both admitted thatAll-Star Supermanhelped them dig deeper into their characters. Corenswet, in particular, said that he turned toAll-Star Supermanfor inspiration — especially when the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes meant that he couldn’t communicate with Gunn:
“I was frankly a little bit confused by James’s script the first time I read it, and we didn’t get to talk about it very much because of the strikes until we got close to filming. So the fact that he had told me, even before I was cast, thatAll-Star Supermanwas one of his guiding lights was super helpful because the thing that I found in that was, I guess, the gentle nerdiness of Superman.”
Gunn and Hoult also revealed that the Silver Age of Comics, whichAll-Star Supermandraws inspiration from, heavily influenced their approach to Luthor; Gunn even referred to the bald billionaire asa “sorcerer” of science. Twenty years after its initial publication,All-Star Supermanremains a significant influence in the world of Superman.
Supermanpremieres in theaters on August 21, 2025.
