For James Gunn, rebooting ‘Superman’ meant returning to the superhero’s roots — in Cleveland

LOS ANGELES — In a summer full of blockbusters, writer-director James Gunn’s “Superman” might have the most riding on it. It’s not just a reboot of one of the most beloved superheroes of all time — the film, in theaters July 11, is also the first entry in a new cinematic universe intended to revive DC Studios after years of misfires and scattered storytelling.

And for six weeks last summer, Gunn, the “Guardians of the Galaxy” filmmaker named co-chair of DC Studios in 2022, brought the high-stakes production to a place close to the character’s roots: Cleveland.

“We cast cities in the same way we cast actors,” Gunn said in an interview with cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer in Los Angeles. “We looked all over for the best Metropolis. We liked Cincinnati a lot, but we really liked Cleveland. It’s because of all the old Art Deco architecture that people really don’t know about. Although we were making whatever city we filmed in a much bigger city than it is, Cleveland worked best for all of the basic architecture we’re using up close.”

Cleveland: The perfect Metropolis

Indeed, Cleveland’s building stock provided the timeless aesthetic that production designer Beth Mickle envisioned for Metropolis, where Superman’s alias Clark Kent works as a reporter with Lois Lane at the Daily Planet, and where his nemesis Lex Luthor, operates a billion-dollar tech company.

In this age of digital effects and virtual sets, the city’s role is bigger than locals might expect. Gunn and his crew shot scenes at Public Square, the Arcade, City Hall, Progressive Field and the Leader Building, which stands in for the Daily Planet. During the opening battle, the Hammer of Boravia slams Superman to the ground at PNC Plaza, leaving a huge crater. Later, Superman saves a woman from a building crashing down on the Detroit-Superior Bridge. The scenes are dazzling, and the local landmarks are instantly recognizable.

The payoff isn’t just seeing Cleveland on the big screen — there was an economic boost, too. Based on the tax credit it received, the production spent an estimated $37 million in Northeast Ohio. (Gunn has pushed back, however, on reports about the exact size of the film’s overall budget.)

Honoring Superman’s roots

The city certainly looked the part, but filming here meant more to Gunn and DC Studios co-chief Peter Safran than architecture and tax credits. The character of Superman was created by Glenville students Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in the 1930s. The first iteration of Metropolis was based on their hometown.

“The idea that we were shooting in the town in which this character was born — there was something very poetic about that,” Safran said in the production notes.

Gunn didn’t make that connection until he arrived in the city last June.

“I didn’t really know that they were from Cleveland until I was in Cleveland,” he said. “Right after I heard that, I came around the corner and the Terminal Tower was there, and they had lit it up in the colors of Superman. It was a really magical moment.”

For his vision of Superman, Gunn was influenced by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s “All-Star Superman,” a 12-part comic book series that ran from 2005 to 2008. The series presented Superman as optimistic, selfless and compassionate. But there was plenty to mine from Siegel and Shuster’s original creation, too.

“The heart of Superman — the goodness and the purity — started with those guys, even the basic look of Superman,” Gunn said. “Superman has had many collaborators over the years, but none of it exists without the seed that was planted by Jerry and Joe.”

The director made sure to honor their legacy throughout the film. In the Arcade scene, every business sign is either a comic book reference or a nod to Siegel’s family. The street signs in Metropolis are named after DC artists and writers. Siegel’s grandsons, Michael and James Larson, actually appear in a scene inside the Daily Planet newsroom. Gunn also shared the script with them ahead of filming, as a way to include them in the process.

“The one moment I really shed a tear was when Jerry’s grandsons read the script for the first time,” he told Extra TV. “They were just effusive. They were like, ‘This is the Superman movie we’ve been waiting to see. Our grandfather would have been so proud.’ That meant a lot.”

A fresh take on an icon

Gunn’s Man of Steel is a departure from the brooding, emotionally guarded hero portrayed by Henry Cavill in Zack Snyder’s Superman trilogy. The director also eschews the traditional approach of starting on Krypton, watching Clark grow up in Smallville and following him to Metropolis. Instead, this is a coming-of-age story that picks up three years after Superman reveals himself to the world, still struggling to find his place in it.

“We’ve seen Superman’s origin more times than we can count,” Gunn said. “We’ve also seen a lot of Superman post-relationship with Lois, whether they’re (already) boyfriend-girlfriend or married. I think seeing Superman when he’s in the first three months of the relationship, when Lois can’t figure out what she wants this to be, was fertile territory. It’s something that’s never really been focused on in any media.”

David Corenswet, stepping into the blue suit, red cape and trunks (yes, they’re back!) for the first time, praised the decision to skip the origin story.

“It allows us to meet these characters where they’re already embedded in the most basic, important parts of their lives, and yet it feels like the beginning of a whole new adventure,” he said in the production notes. “You get to just dive right in and pick up the pieces along the way, which is definitely how I like to watch a movie.”

Gunn wanted the franchise to move away from the dark, brooding antiheroes that have dominated comic book movies for the past two decades. His Superman is good and noble in a world that no longer values those things. His powers are almost secondary to his humanity. He’s grounded, relatable — he even has an unruly superdog named Krypto.

Gunn’s Superman isn’t made of steel. He’s not indestructible. In fact, in the film’s opening scene, he’s bleeding after suffering his first real defeat.

“One of the interesting things is we come into this movie and we’re like, hey, we want to be Superman. We want to be superhuman, super strong, fly, beams out of our eyes,” Gunn said. “And then we realize over the course of the movie that Superman wants nothing more than to be human, to be us. That’s what he cherishes.”

In the film, Superman is torn between his Kryptonian origins and the human values instilled in him by his adoptive parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent (played by Pruitt Taylor Vince and Neva Howell). At his core, he doesn’t want to rule or dominate — he wants to belong. That, Gunn believes, is what makes the character feel more relevant than ever.

“Over the years, people have thought of Superman as old-fashioned and too Pollyanna. But I think all those things are what make him the world’s biggest rebel right now,” he said. “It goes against the grain of what our popular culture is like these days.”

Bringing a comic book to life

To bring this version of Superman to life, Gunn assembled a cast that embraced the emotional depth of the story and his creative approach to filmmaking. Corenswet plays Superman/Clark Kent with warmth and vulnerability. Rachel Brosnahan brings sharp wit and fearless energy to Lois Lane. Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor is a worthy adversary whose sophisticated demeanor masks truly evil intentions. Cleveland native Isabela Merced portrays the flying, mace-wielding warrior Hawkgirl.

“The main reason I wanted to do this is because of James. I’m a big fan of his work,” Merced told cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. “He always has a clear vision. And it may be weird and out there, but it works because that’s his true artistic expression.”

The large cast of characters also features Daily Planet staffers Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo) and Perry White (Wendell Pierce); Hawkgirl’s Justice Gang teammates Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi) and Guy Gardner/Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion); Lex Luthor’s goons the Engineer (María Gabriela de Faría) and Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan); plus a few surprises from the DC Universe. But Gunn made sure the world-building didn’t distract from the movie he was making.

“First and foremost, I always care about just this movie by itself,” he said. “I’ll never sacrifice any moment in this movie for some future thing. I’m not going to put stuff in there that hurts the movie. But it just so happens that because I wanted Superman to have friends — both superhuman like the Justice Gang and human like the Daily Planet gang — it works pretty well for setting up future stories.”

But when pressed about the through line for the first phase of the DCU, intriguingly titled “Gods and Monsters,” Gunn refused to take the bait.

“I think we’ll have to wait around and see that.”

He admitted that launching a franchise with a character as iconic as Superman was daunting at first — not just because it marks the start of a whole cinematic universe, but because of what Superman represents to so many people.

But once he dug in, that pressure turned into something more familiar — and personal.

“When I started working on the film, it became pretty easy because I’m a Superman fan,” Gunn said. “So, I found it pretty easy to be true to how I conceive Superman, how most people conceive Superman. Most Superman fans see Superman. But at the same time, adding some things that maybe we hadn’t seen in a movie before — that comes from my love of Superman in the comic books.”

Whether fans embrace his “Superman” — and how its box office performance shapes the future of the DCU — remains to be seen. Gunn and the cast are currently touring the globe, making sure people see it. But no matter what happens next, he’ll always have a soft spot for where it all began.

“I had the greatest time in Cleveland. The Cleveland people were great,” he said. “I think they know how much I like them, if they’ve seen any of my posts. They were just fantastic throughout (filming).

“And I’ve got a billion Cleveland T-shirts that I wear to this day.”

“Superman” opens in theaters on Friday, July 11