James Gunn Pulls a ‘Sonic’ Move, Tweaks Controversial Superman Flight Scene After Backlash

James Gunn has officially addressed the flying scene from the Superman teaser that caused a stir online earlier this year, and it turns out, the shot won’t be in the finished film.

The short teaser, released back in January, gave fans a first look at David Corenswet suited up as the new Superman.

But one specific moment showing him flying didn’t sit well with viewers. Many people jumped onto Reddit, X and other platforms to say the shot looked awkward and fake, especially pointing out how odd Corenswet’s face looked in motion.

Gunn, who is both the film’s director and head of DC Studios, recently spoke with Entertainment Weekly about the shot and the reaction it got. He admitted he wasn’t happy with how it turned out either.

“It was a TV commercial and it wasn’t a finished visual effects shot,” he explained. “So the part of him flying, it was a photograph of his face and him flying. It was a photograph of a drone flying in front of an actual background. All the pieces were real, but it was incorporated in kind of a funky way. I didn’t love the shot, so it’s not even the shot that’s in the movie.”

He also shared that some footage used in trailers and TV spots sometimes slips by without the same level of review. “Sometimes I’m pretty strict about when I’m going through a trailer and looking at each of the shots, but sometimes the commercials, I forget to look at this closely. So that one kind of got by me.”

The latest released NBA TV spot seemingly fixed the footage:

New ad spot for ‘SUPERMAN’ during the NBA Finals pic.twitter.com/qcsZBNeTMk

— DCU Updates (@DCU_Updates) June 23, 2025

This is not everything that Gunn addressed during the same shot in the first trailer. Superman does a barrel roll while flying, and fans were wondering whether this shot was taken out. It wasn’t, it’s just a different take shown as Gunn explained on Threads.

Speaking about the bigger picture and how working on Superman compares to his past projects, Gunn said this movie has been a big learning experience.

“This process has been more similar to the first Guardians for me than anything else because I’m learning so much about how to shoot stuff with Superman, which is very different,” he said. “The flying and figuring all that out and figuring out the simplicity and elegance of this character, which is so different from anyone I’ve ever written a movie for before. I’m learning a lot along the way.”

When speculation grew that Corenswet’s face had been digitally altered, Gunn cleared things up on Threads, replying to one fan with, “There is absolutely zero CG in his face. People’s faces can look different when you put a wide-angle lens up close. The background plate in Svalbard [a filming location in Norway] is 100% real as is David.”

Superman will release in theaters on July 8 in the US via early screening, followed by a UK premiere on July 11. The film stars Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, alongside David Corenswet as the Man of Steel himself.

Gunn has made it clear that the flying scene in the teaser was more of a placeholder and not a true representation of what fans will see in the movie.

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