James Gunn has a clear message for anyone hoping he will retcon the big Superman origin story twist, or maybe even reveal it as a fake-out, declaring: “they’re s**t out of luck!”
Warning! Spoilers for Superman follow:
DC Universe kickstarter Superman switches up the established Superman origin story to present his parents, Jor-El and Lara, as villains of a sort. As Superman learns over the course of the events of the movie, his parents sent him to earth not to protect humanity, but to rule over it — a revelation that sends Kal-El spiralling for a time.
Some Superman fans were so shocked by this twist on the characters’ motivations that they have speculated that Gunn plans to either retcon this plot point, or eventually show the message upon which it is based to be fake or misleading.
However, in a new interview with Rolling Stone, Gunn insisted there is no confusion here: Superman’s parent’s devastating message is real, understood, and there’s no going back. “They’re shit out of luck!” he said in response to the suggestion some fans are hoping for a U-turn.
Gunn then agreed with the idea that going back on Superman’s parent’s message would undo the entire emotional arc of the movie.
“That’s the whole point of the movie, that Superman thinks he is doing something because it is his destiny and his Kryptonian parents have set him out to do this thing, and along the way he discovers through the love of the people who are actually his parents that he’s doing these things not because of someone else, but because of himself,” he said.
“It’s like taking accountability in the deepest way possible that his morality is not based on some figure outside of himself, but on his own choices. I think it’s really beautiful in that way, and I’m not gonna change that.”
Gunn went on to say that he doesn’t think of Jor-El and Lara as being “totally evil,” despite their nefarious intentions. “They just have this mindset that humans are less than what they are,” he continued. “We’re sea turtles to them. They’re just trying to keep the Kryptonian genes alive.”
In the same interview, Gunn responded to what some had called a plot hole in Superman that revolves around his parent’s message: why didn’t Supergirl tell Superman about his parent’s wishes?
“You’re assuming that everybody on Krypton is the same!” Gunn countered. “And how would she know? She’s younger than him, so she wouldn’t know. She wouldn’t know anything about his parents.”
Perhaps we’ll see this explored further in Supergirl, which is set for release June 26, 2026. Check out IGN’s Superman review to find out what we think, and then head over to our Superman Ending and Post-Credits Explained to find out what it all means.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
