The long road to the DCU’s Superman: Legacy has so far been paved with fairly frequent updates from director and DC co-head honcho James Gunn, who’s provided details on the ensemble cast when available, from future Man of Steel David Corenswet himself to the supporting heroes and villains. One of his latest reveals came still shrouded in secrecy, which puts a spotlight on just how baffling Hollywood deals and contracts can be.
While answering some fan questions on Threads, Gunn offered an update on Superman’s costume for the new film, along with the progress that has been made for Superman: Legacy’s score and musical themes. Nothing too amiss here, and it's pretty exciting all in all. In his words:
The costume is mostly done but we’re still going back and forth on some elements. A lot of the score - maybe even most of the major themes - have already been written.
The filmmaker obviously didn't divulge exactly which costumer elements are still being debated, knowing that fans are dying to see the full and finished look coming to the upcoming superhero movie. And while his score info was certainly encouraging, it sparked someone to ask why the person responsible for composing any of the film's already written pieces hasn't been identified yet.
This is where the Hollywood magic comes into play and requires some suspended logic and disbelief, thanks to Gunn's relatively candid response:
I’m not sure the deal is closed yet. I have to check. (And yes I know that sounds crazy since so much of the score has been written, but when you’re riding the waves of inspiration, what are you going to do? I wrote most of Peacemaker and all of Creature Commandos before I had a closed deal!)
James Gunn himself was clearly aware of how bonkers this order of events sounds, since he offered up an explanation for it right there in the answer. The concept of tackling the majority of a project’s duties before even getting officially hired for that project would be entirely unheard of in the majority of professional industries, at least at this scale.
But I guess the level of weirdness here depends on how much confidence one has about securing a particular gig. In this case, the unnamed Superman: Legacy composer is presumably as close as possible to cementing a deal, with a few details still need to be ironed out, and without any of those details being potential deal-breakers.
That's still not exactly the norm throughout most career paths, and it's something I'll likely never really understand. But so long as Superman: Legacy's score crushes out as hard as the movie itself, not as much attention will be directed to exactly when the themes were crafted in the pre-production process.
With Nicholas Hoult as arch foe Lex Luthor, Superman: Legacy is currently set to fly into theaters on July 11, 2025.
