Whether they be created for television, film, or even comic books, the Man of Steel’s next cinematic adventure boasts a relatively large cast of named crimefighters for a non-team superhero project, with Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), Hawkgirl (Isabella Merced), Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi), and even Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan) set to appear in the streets and skies of Metropolis (there’s even word that Supergirl, as played by Milly Alcock, will make some sort of appearance).

In a further twist, Superman will also break from other such franchise kick-off projects like Iron Man or Man of Steel by portraying its title hero not as the herald of a new metahuman age, but rather the latest in a string of superhumans, aliens, and otherworldly beings to appear on the world stage.

And though the criticisms against Superman‘s narrative direction have been as extensive as they are loud, with pushback running the gamut from ‘You’re overloading audiences with backstory’ to ‘Who cares about Hawkgirl, we want Batman’, Gunn is remaining steadfast in his creative choice.

Asked for his thoughts on said criticism during a recent preview event in Rio de Janeiro, the DCU architect said that for all the backlash he had received for choosing to have the universe already “in progress” by the time of Superman‘s events, “I don’t think we’re doing anything very different from what the comics have always done.”

“When I first read comics at 4 or 5 years old, I didn’t start with an origin story of Superman or Spider-Man,” said Gunn, as recapped by Brazilian pop culture news outlet Omelete and machine translated by ChatGPT. “It was a world full of heroes. A world of magic and science so advanced it feels like magic. A world with robots, dogs, and kaijus.”

Later asked during a separate interview with Esquire Philippines if he ever feared the film’s expansive cast would be ‘confusing’ for audiences, Gunn asserted, “No not really, because I’ve screened the movie for so many people and saw that people aren’t confused. So I know from fact that it’s not confusing.”

“We’re used to seeing movies with protagonists and Superman is definitely the protagonist of Superman, and he has his work friends and he has his play friends,” the director added. “Now, I don’t know if the Justice Gang [as composed of Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, and Mister Terrific] are his play friends, or his work friends at the Daily Planet are his work friends or his play friends, but that’s the two groups of his friends from different places. And just because they have insignias on their costumes or superpowers doesn’t mean they’re not like any other supporting character in any movie.”

“I think Oppenheimer has three times as many speaking roles as we do,” he ultimately argued. “So I think people are fine.”

Notably, this is not the first time Gunn has chosen to have Superman break from conventional superhero movie wisdom.

During a 2024 interview with Omelete Editor-in-Chief Guilherme Jacobs, the director revealed how unlike the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the setup to any potential ‘overarching DCEU crossover’ would come second to making sure that the individual films could be enjoyed in their own right.

“Everything has to be good,” he explained. “Quality comes first in every project we do. And that’s more important than telling one big grand narrative.”

Attempting to further illustrate the differences between the two franchises, Gunn then offered up the admittedly confusing comparison of, “In a way, the DCU is like the MCU, because I made the Guardians movies and those films are independent.”

“You don’t have to watch anything else in the MCU to understand them,” he continued. “In Guardians Vol. 3, Chris Pratt explains the whole story of Infinity War and Endgame in an elevator. You never have to watch any other movie to understand these films. It will be the same way here.”

“At the same time, I’m also very inspired by Star Wars, Game of Thrones, and other things that tell different stories within the same continuity,” Gunn concluded. “It’s not about telling just one story.”

Barring any unforeseen delays, Superman is set to take to the skies on July 11th.