A Never-Used Superman Villain Is Perfectly Set Up For James Gunn’s Sequel

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A great villain for the next movie in James Gunn’s Superman series is already in place within the DC Universe, and this character hasn’t yet appeared in a live-action film. As the first movie and live-action project to launch the rebooted DCU, Superman established some promising story possibilities for the future of the franchise. In addition to introducing David Corenswet as Clark Kent, Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, the members of the Justice Gang, and others, Superman also featured a character who has the potential to become one of DC’s most important and well-known villains.

In September, James Gunn announced that the story of Superman and Lex Luthor will continue in Man of Tomorrow, a sequel planned for release in theaters on July 9, 2027. Gunn shared that Clark and Lex will face “a larger threat,” leading fans to guess which villain they will team up against. Although Brainiac is a favored pick for the antagonist in Man of Tomorrow, there’s another strong possibility who has already appeared in Superman.

2025’s Superman May Have Already Told Us Bizarro’s Origin Story

There’s been speculation that Bizarro could be the ideal villain for Man of Tomorrow, and Superman may have already hinted at this character’s backstory within the DCU. Bizarro has appeared in various forms in DC Comics, initially debuting in 1958’s Superboy #68 as a duplicate of young Clark Kent. The most well-known version of Bizarro was made by Lex Luthor, who used a Duplicator Ray to create a flawed copy of Superman in 1959’s Action Comics #254, similar to what Hoult’s Lex Luthor did in James Gunn’s Superman.

David Corenswet portrayed both Clark Kent’s clone and the real Superman in the film. This clone was rather clumsy and not very bright, but possessed similar powers to Superman. However, Lex Luthor completely controlled him, disguising the clone as characters like the Hammer of Boravia and Ultraman. Krypto intervened, destroying Luthor’s cameras and severing his control over the clone. This gave Superman the opportunity to defeat the clone by throwing him into a black hole that endangered Metropolis, though we didn’t witness the clone’s death onscreen.

A common idea suggests that the duplicate of Clark Kent in Superman didn’t really perish, but might have been transported to a different universe through the black hole. In DC Comics, Bizarro and Bizarro Lois Lane build their own world called Htrae, which is shaped like a massive cube. The presence of cubes within Lex Luthor’s alternate dimension in Superman strengthens the belief that the clone will create his own cube-shaped world after being cast into the black hole, potentially establishing him as a formidable antagonist in Man of Tomorrow.

Why Bizarro Would Be Perfect For the DCU’s Man of Tomorrow

James Gunn has revealed that Clark Kent and Lex Luthor will be joining forces in Man of Tomorrow to face a greater danger. Considering these two are usually enemies, this collaboration feels surprising, meaning the DCU will need to introduce a villain who poses a threat to both of them. A perfect candidate would be Superman’s clone, Bizarro. Lex Luthor originally created Bizarro using a piece of Superman’s DNA and controlled him for a significant period. Later, Clark Kent apparently destroyed Bizarro by sending him into a black hole.

Bizarro would be an enemy to both Superman and Lex Luthor, and he could become even stronger if he’d spent time building a following and gaining more power on his own planet. It would be logical for Superman and Lex Luthor to join forces against him, though he might not be a large enough threat to be the main villain of Man of Tomorrow. This creates an opportunity to introduce other DCU villains, potentially Brainiac, or enemies from the strange Earth X seen in Peacemaker season 2. However, we won’t find out who Superman and Lex Luthor will fight next in the DCU until July 2027.

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2025-09-30 20:14