We officially have a name and release date for the next iteration of James Gunn’s Superman in the DCU, and it’s titled Superman: Man of Tomorrow. This is actually the second Superman movie with this title, as there was a straight-to-video animated film of the same name released in 2020. That was an origin story, so we doubt that project will inspire Gunn’s in any way. But what does the name (and the image included with the reveal) tell us? And is this still a “Super family movie,” and not just a new Superman II with David Corenswet, as Gunn has suggested? First, let’s dive into the title itself. It’s a lesser-used term to describe Superman than the often-used “Man of Steel” and “Last Son of Krypton.”
The term “The Man of Tomorrow” was first used for Superman very early in his publication history. It appeared in New York World’s Fair Comics #1, back in 1939. This is just one year after Superman’s debut in Action Comics #1. The actual New York World’s Fair was all about celebrating the exciting “World of Tomorrow.” It even had an exhibit called “Futurama.” (Nope, Matt Groening did not come up with that title.) Because of this, DC saw fit to give this new sci-fi hero that nickname. In the minds of his creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Superman represented all their hopes for a brighter future, amid the Great Depression and looming war. That’s definitely something James Gunn leaned into in his iteration of the character.
By the time issue two of World’s Fair Comics hit in 1940, the Man of Tomorrow was centered on the cover. He appeared there along with DC’s new hit characters, Batman and Robin. This second (and last) issue of World’s Fair Comics was the first time Batman and Superman shared a cover together. This cemented them as the publisher’s biggest assets. However, the two didn’t appear in a story together. That wouldn’t happen until 1952, believe it or not. This is despite World’s Finest Comics featuring Superman and Batman together on the cover for almost a decade. Fun fact; the first person to ever portray Superman was at the World’s Fair in 1940, an actor named Ray Middleton. But, we digress. By 1940, “Man of Tomorrow” had become a term frequently used to describe Superman.
Decades later, in the ’90s, Superman: The Man of Tomorrow would become the title of a regular series. It ran from 1995 to 1999, lasting sixteen issues. Why just sixteen issues over that many years? Because DC Comics published Man of Tomorrow only in months with five weeks instead of four. They designed this to fill in the gaps of series like Superman, Action Comics, Man of Steel, and Adventures of Superman. That way, fans were assured a new Superman chapter every single week of the year, no matter what. In the wake of The Death and Return of Superman, Kal-El had become one of DC’s biggest sellers again. They wanted to make sure fans got a weekly dose of the Metropolis Marvel without fail. (Now, don’t expect “Metropolis Marvel” to be the name of a DC Studios movie, for obvious reasons.)
Man of Tomorrow as a sobriquet evokes Superman’s optimistic side more than his strength (Man of Steel) or status as a refugee (Last Son of Krypton). So this means that Gunn’s new movie is leaning into those themes. So we expect some big sci-fi ideas at play. We see Lex in his power suit in the released image, indicating these two are going to duke it out. But what if they also team up? We already know Brainiac might be the villain. Superman and Lex vs. Brainiac, possibly along with Supergirl and Krypto, feels like a natural next step. In the 2001 story, “City of Tomorrow,” Brainiac gives Metropolis a high-tech upgrade. Could that be a hint of what we’ll see? One thing we’re sure of, with a title like Man of Tomorrow, we know that brightness and hope for the future are once again on the menu.
The post What the Title MAN OF TOMORROW Could Mean for the SUPERMAN Sequel appeared first on Nerdist.
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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