The First Image of David Corenswet’s Superman Arrives Online

Look, up in the sky! No, that’s not the sky. That’s James Gunn’s Threads account. That is where the first first official image of David Corenswet as Superman in the upcoming reboot of the Man of Steel just debuted.

The picture shows David Corenswet putting on his red Superman boots in what I assume is Clark Kent’s apartment while some sort of strange glowing menace is threatening Metropolis through the apartment’s windows. His Superman costume is a little dirty and dusty, like he’s been zapped a few times with some laser beams. One presumes Supes is doing all of this at super-speed, but he looks remarkably calm for a guy who is putting on his boots while his hometown is getting obliterated in the background.

The costume itself, with its lines and panels, recalls some recent versions of the classic Superman suit from DC Comics, including Jim Lee’s redesign from the company’s “New 52” era of the 2010s. The “S” shield itself is inspired by Kingdom Come, a Mark Waid and Alex Ross miniseries set in a dystopian future where Superman and his Justice League compatriots must come out of retirement to confront a new generation of reckless younger heroes.

Here is the full image Gunn shared on his Threads account with a simple caption reading: “Get ready. Superman 7.11.25.”

Warner Bros.

This may be reading way too much into a simple photograph, but the message this image conveys to me is an emphasis on the “man” more than the “super.” We have never seen Superman put on his boots (sitting down, no less, like an ordinary bloke) in a movie. Typically he just runs into a phone booth as Clark Kent and runs out and he is fully dressed in Spandex. Or he spins really fast and his clothes magically transform. Here, we’re emphasizing this costume as real physical clothes; it has boots, it gets dirty, it doesn’t fit Corenswet’s body super-seamlessly. You can see wrinkles and bunching around the shoulders and arms. It’s not perfect, apparently by design.

Now, whether that plays into Gunn’s vision of the character, I don’t know. But that’s what I take away from looking at this image. James Gunn’s Superman is currently scheduled to open in theaters on July 11, 2025.