As the cast of James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy assembled in Atlanta for a table read ahead of the start of production, a couple of photos posted by stars who participated in the read may have given fans the first look at the all-new DCU’s crest of the House of El.
Both Isabela Merced, who will play Hawkgirl in the film, and Sara Sampaio, who will play Eve Teschmacher, posted photos of their nameplates to social media, providing a look at what just might be the new design for the Kryptonian symbol of hope that star David Corenswet will bear on his chest in Superman: Legacy.
The logo is clearly inspired by the DC Elseworlds tale Kingdom Come, a four-issue limited series by Mark Waid and Alex Ross that was published in 1996. Following the death of Lois Lane and the public’s acceptance of a new hero willing to kill, Superman spends a decade in the Fortress of Solitude before returning to a world that’s become increasingly short on old-fashioned values. Parts of the story were adapted in the CW’s Crisis on Infinite Earths in which Superman Returns star Brandon Routh sported the black and red crest on his chest.
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 gray which allow us to tell complex stories.
James Gunn on Superman
While it seems unlikely that Gunn will be adapting Kingdom Come for Superman: Legacy (it seems far too dour of a story for the film set to launch the DCU and Gunn’s project seems to have taken a fair bit of inspiration from Richard Donner’s 1978 Superman), the idea of the Kryptonian hero existing “in a world that thinks of kindness as old fashioned,” as explained by Gunn, does reverberate with one of the themes of Kingdom Come. Returning from his self-imposed exile, Kal-El found the world greatly changed and its heroes no longer embracing “goodness” as a core value. It’s possible that theme will carry over into Superman: Legacy with a younger Kal-El serving as an example of all that is good for heroes like Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner, a Green Lantern who is often depicted as a prick.
Production on Superman: Legacy is expected to kick off in March in Hell, Norway before returning to America to film in Cleveland and Atlanta. The film is currently expected to be in theaters on July 11, 2025.
