Is tomorrow just another day, as the adage goes? Or is it suddenly a franchise-within-a-franchise, a special wing of the nascent DC Universe focused in hard on what all those nutty Kryptonian super-cousins have been up to? What we do know, thanks to studio boss James Gunn in a series of social media splurts, is that Tomorrow is most definitely the future. Gunn has revealed that his follow-up to Superman will be titled Superman: Man of Tomorrow, due out in 2027. Now you might think you’ve heard the title before, and that would be because you have: next year sees the release of the already announced Supergirl, which up until June was titled Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.
What are we to make of that title? In the comics, “Man of Tomorrow” has long been one of Superman’s many sobriquets, a hopeful tagline suggesting he represents the future rather than the past. It’s cropped up in everything from old radio serials to Alan Moore’s bittersweet Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? graphic novel, and even lent its name to a 2020 animated movie. It’s a phrase that carries the weight of the best part of a century of mythology. And yet given Gunn’s online spats with Trumpian anti-immigration types – hello Dean Cain! – over what the latter saw as Superman’s overly friendly attitude towards immigrants, it’s hard not to imagine the film-maker chuckling to himself at the new title’s liberal undertones.
What else can we glean from Gunn’s announcement? Well, the title hints at hope and futurism; the concept art suggests a bald billionaire trying to punch his way to relevance. Somewhere between those two extremes probably lies Gunn’s film, but in the absence of anything solid to chew on, we’re in the realms of conjecture and wild-eyed fan theory.
Some have suggested the “Tomorrow” in the title might not even refer to Superman at all, but to Conner Kent – the broody Superboy clone who arrived after Superman “died” in the early-90s Death of Superman/Reign of the Supermen comic book arc, and is therefore often framed as representing the next generation of Krypto-heroism. Conner was later revealed as half Superman, half Lex Luthor, and all attitude: stomping around in a leather jacket and shades like a Kryptonian extra from Beverly Hills, 90210. The idea was that he might one day grow into the mantle of Superman, but mostly he spent his early years sulking, flirting and trying to work out whether it was OK to call Lex “Dad”. If Gunn does bring him in, then “Tomorrow” suddenly looks less like an aspirational tagline and more like the galaxy’s most unexpected custody battle.
Others reckon the mech-suit, and a pic from Gunn’s posts in which Superman seems to be about to hand Lex a screwdriver, hints at a reluctant team-up between the pair – perhaps after they are faced with a greater threat. But whether this is a necessary plot device to ensure Earth has enough firepower to take down Brainiac, Darkseid, or some other interstellar monstrosit, there’s still something absurd about the idea of Luthor prowling about like Iron Man’s embittered tech bro cousin.
And then there are the optimists who think “Tomorrow” means Superman will finally tackle issues such as climate collapse, LGBTQ+ rights and the plight of migrants everywhere. Maybe this really is the film where Superman stops trading punches with the supervillain of choice and turns his attention to saving us from ourselves. Or perhaps Hollywood has got enough existential crises to deal with thanks to James Cameron’s 23 upcoming Avatar sequels and their increasingly waterlogged metaphors for late-stage capitalism and environmental burnout.
Tomorrow has been Superman’s tagline for 80 years. It’s been painted on lunchboxes, scribbled across duvet covers, and used as an excuse to reboot the same origin story at least once every decade in print. The question is whether in Gunn’s hands it will finally mean something.
