This story contains spoilers for Superman.
Superman, even by his standards, has a lot of heavy lifting to do. Writer-director James Gunn’s new Superman film, out this week, doesn’t just have to establish a new version of the Man of Steel, played by David Corenswet—it’s also the big-screen kickoff for the DC Universe, Gunn’s much-anticipated reboot of Warner Bros. Discovery’s interconnected DC superhero properties.
And while much of the initial discussion around Superman has been about tone—Gunn’s “kindness is punk rock” treatment of his title character represents a significant pivot away from the grim vibes of the Zack Snyder era, and tells us a lot about the approach he’s taking to the DCU as a whole—the new film also drops some bread crumbs, some more apparent than others, about where the DCU is headed next.
In case you missed them—there’s a lot going on in this film—or need further context, we’ve rounded up Superman’s most significant nods to the DCU’s future. Here are all your burning Superman questions, asked and answered.
What’s the Deal with the Justice Gang?
By the end of the movie, Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan) has joined a superhero team tentatively known as the Justice Gang, alongside Guy Gardner/Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), Hawkgirl (Isabel Merced), and Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi.) Longtime comic book readers will undoubtedly note the similarities between the Gang—headquartered at the Hall of Justice and overseen by tech CEO Maxwell Lord (Sean Gunn)—and the late-’80s incarnation of the Justice League. Created in 1987 by writers Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis and artist Kevin Maguire, the ‘80s League—also known as Justice League International, or “JLI”—featured an eclectic mix of DC heroes, including Gardner and Metamorpho as well as Lord, the group’s entrepreneurial founder. Giffen and DeMatteis took a comedic approach to the League that’s in line with Gunn’s aesthetic; highlights of their run include a fan-favorite moment where Batman, fed up with Guy Gardner’s bullshit, knocks out the Green Lantern with one punch.
Superman posits that the Justice Gang is very much a work in progress, no matter who is “of the cloth.” By the time it’s all said and done, might the Gang turn into a League? And might Superman be a part of it? While DC has yet to announce any kind of crossover event uniting the various players in the Gunn-era films the way Avengers did for the MCU’s heroes, there’s little doubt we’ll eventually see a larger gathering of heroes if audiences continue to respond to future DC films in a positive way.
Wait. Superheroes Have Been Around for How Long?
The opening scroll of Superman drops a lot of context in quick fashion, setting up “Gods and Monsters,” the first chapter of the overarching DCU storyline—think of it as “Phase One” of the Gunn era. One seemingly critical plot point established in that info-dump: In this version of the DCU, superheroes and other metahumans have existed for centuries. This presumably includes mythological characters like Wonder Woman and mystical forces like Swamp Thing, both of whom will appear in upcoming DCU films—but Superman also seems to establish the existence, in the new DCU timeline, of the group known as the Justice Society.
