After plenty of whispers about everyone from Nicholas Hoult and part-time Elvis impersonator Austin Butler to Euphoria star Jacob Elordi being in contention to replace the perennially squandered Henry Cavill, Deadline has revealed David Corenswet will don the red cape in James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy as the latest iteration of Clark Kent / Kal-El / the eponymous Man of Steel.
Corenswet, 29, is reportedly set to star alongside the one and only Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs Maisel), the latter of whom has been tapped for the equally coveted gig of portraying Daily Planet reporter and canonical love interest Lois Lane; effectively beating out the likes of Emma Mackey and Phoebe Dynevor.
But who exactly is David Corenswet? And aside from the prerequisite height (6’4″), piercing blue eyes, and all-American aesthetic… what are this Philadelphia native’s credentials for taking on such an iconic mantle?
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While the name might not sound familiar, the Julliard graduate has appeared in a handful of projects you will have definitely comes across — if not directly then certainly via pop cultural osmosis. Whether he made an impression upon you, however, is another matter entirely.
The new Superman was cast as Reed in the seventh episode of House of Cards season 6, before working his way into decidedly meatier main roles in two of Ryan Murphy’s Netflix hits: The Politician, in which he played ex-boyfriend and rival student body president candidate River Barkley, and Hollywood, in which he played WWII veteran turned rent boy turned actor Jack Costello.
It wasn’t until he brought veteran narcotics task force investigator David McDougall to life in HBO’s We Own This City that we really got to experiencing his acting chops. The gritty crime drama co-created by David Simon (The Wire) and based on real-life tales of corruption within the Baltimore Police Department’s Gun Trace Task Force served as the perfect launch platform for the next stage of Corenswet’s career.
DC Studios co-heads James Gunn and Peter Safran has previously indicated Superman: Legacy will mark the “true beginning” of the rebooted DCU.
“It’s not an origin story. It focuses on Superman balancing his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing,” noted Safran.
“Superman represents truth, justice, and the American way. He is kindness in a world that thinks of kindness as old fashioned.”
Gunn added: “With our stories, we want to take it away from good guy vs bad guy.”
“There are really good — almost saintly — people and Superman is among them. There are really terrible villains like Gorilla Grodd or the Joker. And then there’s everybody in between them, so there are all these shades of grey which allow us to tell complex stories.”
Parallel to all this, Gunn and Safran are also developing a DCU Batman based on Grant Morrison‘s run of the ongoing mythology, The Brave & The Bold, featuring Batman’s son with Talia al Ghul: Damian Wayne — the lethal protégé raised by the League of Assassins from birth who eventually takes on the mantle of Robin.
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“So this is the introduction of the DCU’s Batman. It is not Robert Pattinson. It is not Ben Affleck. This is a story of Damian Wayne, who is Batman’s actual son, who we didn’t know existed for the first eight to 10 years of his life,” explained James Gunn.
Hence why from this point forward, projects such as The Batman Part II and Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie A Deux will be referred to as the “DC Elseworlds.”
“This is obviously a feature film, and it’s going to feature other members of the extended Bat-Family. Just because we feel like they’ve been left out of the Batman stories in the theatre for far too long,” said Peter Safran.
The Brave & The Bold will apparently be helmed by The Flash director Andy Muschietti. Which is… slightly concerning.
Superman: Legacy starring David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan has locked in a release date: July 11th of 2025.
