James Gunn’s Superman, which is due in theaters in July 2025, already has an assembly cut in place as Gunn and his crew work on post-production. According to Gunn (on Threads), who was responding to online rumors that the movie already had an assembly cut, one has ben in place for a long time already. That may be surprising to comic book movie fans, since so many of those films seem to take right up until the last possible moment to wrap up, but Gunn’s process seems to be highly organized, with production and post-production done in a fairly short window.
Certainly, that hasn’t stopped him from going down to the wire once or twice — Guardians of the Galaxy reportedly had a handful of visual effects shots being completed just before the movie hit theaters — but a tight shoot and extremely limited reshoots add up to a lot of extra time to fine-tune the footage than many filmmakers have on tentpole blockbusters.
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An assembly cut (as many DC fans will remember from years of talking about Zack Snyder’s cut of Justice League) is often the first “complete” cut of the movie. It is simply what it sounds like: it takes the scenes from the movie and assembles them in order, so that the director can watch it back and get a sense for the movie’s pacing and how it plays as a narrative. Generally, these aren’t seen by anyone outside of the film’s production since they don’t have final music, visual effects, color correction, or editing…but it does mean there exists a version of the movie that plays from start to finish.
Superman stars David Corenswet as the title character, with Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane. Little is known about the story, other than that it will involve a version of Superman who is settled into his role as the world’s protector, but who also has a network of allies to fall back on. Superman will also star Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen, Wendell Pierce as Perry White, Sara Sampaio as Eve Teschmacher, Terence Rosemore as Otis, María Gabriela de Faría as Angela Spica / The Engineer, Isabela Merced as Kendra Saunders / Hawkgirl, Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner, Edi Gathegi as Michael Holt / Mr. Terrific, Anthony Carrigan as Rex Mason / Metamorpho, Beck Bennett as Steve Lombard, Mikaela Hoover as Cat Grant, and Christopher McDonald as Ron Troupe.
Gunn is lining up some familiar talent on the project, with cinematographer Henry Braham (The Suicide Squad, Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3); production designer Beth Mickle (The Suicide Squad, Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3); costume designer Judianna Makovsky (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Avengers: Endgame); and art director David Scott (Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Spider-Man: No Way Home). Casting is by Yellowstone and Oppenheimer‘s John Papsidera.
Superman flies into cinemas on July 11th, 2025.
