James Gunn‘s box-office hit Superman is chock-full of cameos, and there’s one particular collaboration in the film that came about via the DC Studios co-CEO’s past connection to the MCU.
In the opening moments of the David Corenswet superhero vehicle, actors Bradley Cooper and Angela Sarafyan briefly appear as Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van, Kal-El’s birth parents, in a voice recording that hints at the grave reason for Superman’s presence on Earth.
The Silver Linings Playbook star’s role is one that was previously filled by the late Marlon Brando in 1978’s Christopher Reeve-starring Superman. Despite being attached to the 1980 sequel, The Godfather actor did not appear in the project due to creative differences and his suit against the film’s producers over profit-sharing; his excised scenes eventually made it into the 2006 restored Richard Donner cut.
Gunn said Cooper came to embody the role because of their previous working relationship on the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, in which the actor voiced the fierce raccoon Rocket.
“Well, Bradley’s a friend of mine, and I needed somebody who could play Jor-El — and I don’t think this is a spoiler, everybody knows about this — who had the stature of what we imagine that character being, somebody who could walk in the footsteps of Marlon Brando,” the helmer said.
Gunn continued of his take on the patriarch, “A lot of times, Jor-El is played by a 70-year-old man and that means he was 70 when he had a baby, so I wanted somebody that wasn’t too old. Everyone was bringing up all these actors that were too old for me. I think Bradley was perfect, he did it for me as a favor because he’s my friend, and I really appreciated him doing it.”
Additional cameos in the blockbuster include Will Reeve, John Cena, Sean Gunn, Pom Klementieff, Michael Rooker and Milly Alcock as Supergirl.
Released July 11 in theaters, Corenswet stars as the iconic bespectacled superhero, depicted in the movie as an already established reporter at the Daily Planet dating Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan). When he gets drawn into conflict at home and abroad, the Man of Steel — and his trusty flying dog Krypto — must contend with swiftly shifting public opinion as tech billionaire Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) spots an opportunity to ascend.
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