David Corenswet wants his Superman to be “very bright and optimistic”

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 16: David Corenswet attends the Los Angeles Premiere of Netflix's "Look Both Ways" at TUDUM Theater on August 16, 2022 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 16: David Corenswet attends the Los Angeles Premiere of Netflix's "Look Both Ways" at TUDUM Theater on August 16, 2022 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images) /
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Earlier this week, newly installed DC boss James Gunn announced who would playing the next versions of Superman and Lois Lane: American actors David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan.

I knew Brosnahan from her work on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and can easily see her play a motor-mouthed reporter at The Daily Planet. I wasn’t familiar with Corenswet, who’s appeared in Ryan Murphy dramas like The Politician and Hollywood. But apparently, he’s had his eye on this role for a while. “[M]y pie-in-the-sky ambition is definitely to play Superman,” he told Entertainment Weekly back in 2019. Mission accomplished!

What’s more, he has an idea of the kind of Superman he wants to be. “I would love to see somebody do an upbeat, throwback [take on Superman]. I love the Henry Cavill dark and gritty take, but I would love to see the next one be very bright and optimistic.”

James Gunn: The next Superman should be “somebody who you want to give a hug”

Henry Cavill started playing Superman starting in 2013’s Man of Steel. He also appeared in Batman v Superman and Justice League. His latest and probably final appearance as Superman came at the very end of Black Adam.

It’s true that Cavill’s take on the character was pretty grim and serious, likely because Man of Steel was directed by Zack Snyder, who is about the dark and gritty side of life. But Gunn has a sunnier cinematic philosophy, and I can imagine he and Corenswet being on the same page about lightening things up around Metropolis.

“The next Superman has to be someone who has all the humanity that Superman has but he’s also an alien,” Gunn told Variety earlier this year. “It’s gotta be somebody who has the kindness and the compassion that Superman has and be somebody who you want to give a hug.”

David Corenswet is aware that he looks like Henry Cavill

Many fans are upset that Cavill is leaving the role. Will it help those people to know that Corenswet kind of looks like a younger Cavill?

WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 22: Henry Cavill attends the ‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout’ U.S. Premiere at Lockheed Martin IMAX Theater at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum on July 22, 2018 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by James Devaney/Getty Images) — NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 26: David Corenswet attends Netflix’s “The Politician” Season One Premiere at DGA Theater on September 26, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Netflix)
WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 22: Henry Cavill attends the ‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout’ U.S. Premiere at Lockheed Martin IMAX Theater at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum on July 22, 2018 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by James Devaney/Getty Images) — NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 26: David Corenswet attends Netflix’s “The Politician” Season One Premiere at DGA Theater on September 26, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Netflix) /

This was being pointed out to Corenswet years before he was up for the role of Superman. “It came to my attention before the internet got a hold of me,” he told EW.

Corenswet will debut as Clark Kent in Superman: Legacy, which is due out in theaters in July of 2025.

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