Why did James Gunn drop 'Legacy' from his Superman film title? Details explored

James Gunn's upcoming Superman film was originally titled Superman: Legacy at the time of its announcement in 2023. However, the David Corenswet starrer will now be titled only Superman.

CEO of DC Studios, James Gunn, has recently shared his views on why the term 'Legacy' was dropped from the movie's title. As per reports, he insisted the production crew carry out a pre-mortem to identify potential issues that could lead to the project's failure.

Everyone on set reportedly spoke their mind on the possible problems. All of it came down to the movie's title where the word legacy had 'a looking back feeling about it,' as per James Gunn.

Why did James Gunn drop 'Legacy' from his Superman film title?

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James Gunn reportedly mentioned the 'Legacy' part in his film's title:

"One of the things was I thought maybe the title had a looking-back feeling about it. And this isn't about looking back, this is about looking forward."

However, he clarified that the theme of 'legacy' will still play a pivotal role in the movie's plot. He will reportedly work on Superman's lineages and explore whose legacy is carried by Clark Kent.

Gunn further mentioned in a statement:

"When you see the movie, you'll understand where Legacy comes from because it is, again, it's about Clark and his relationship to his Kryptonian parents and his relationship to his human parents and whose legacy is he really? And so it's about that."

So, now the film will have the title Superman as the word 'legacy' emphasizes a lot of what has happened in the past. On the contrary, James Gunn wants to drive the character's story in the forward direction.

When asked on set about how his upcoming project will set up the remaining DCU timeline, Gunn replied:

"Zero. Zero. I mean, maybe two little things, two moments, but basically, if something's there just to set up something else, f**k it. I even say that. And for all I know, those things can be cut by the time we get to the editing room because something has to exist for this movie. And if that works in tandem with setting up characters that exist in other media, then that's great."

What more do we know about James Gunn's Superman?

Superman is set for a theatrical release on July 11, 2025. We will see David Corenswet as the new Clark Kent (Superman) as he is joined by co-stars Rachel Brosnahan and Nicholas Hoult.

The official logline of the movie reads:

"Follows the titular superhero as he reconciles his heritage with his human upbringing. He is the embodiment of truth, justice and the human way in a world that views this as old-fashioned."

The 1978 film (going by the same title) by Richard Donner explored a humorous and heroic avatar of Superman, while in Man Of Steel, viewers witnessed a rather darker side of the superhuman. So, restoring the one-word title makes sense to the story James Gunn is planning to tell.