James Gunn is one of those directors who loves working with the same actors time and time again. So it wasn’t a surprise to learn that some of his former Guardians of the Galaxy stars like Pom Klementieff Nathan Fillion, and Michael Rooker have roles in Superman. But now Gunn has confirmed, in an interview with Jake’s Takes (via Comic Book), that one of the principal actors in the Guardians series will have a small role in Superman. Gunn confirmed what was rumored for months, that Bradley Cooper will play Jor-El, Superman’s Kryptonian father, in the Superman film. Here’s what Gunn had to say about the Rocket Raccoon voice actor and Oscar nominee landing a Superman role:
Really, Bradley’s just doing me a favor. He’s a friend. We’ve stayed in close contact since the Guardians movies, and I admire him greatly as an actor and as a director. I just said, ‘Hey, will you do me a favor? Come down, go to England, we’re going to shoot you in a 3D environment, make a hologram of you, and you can play Jor-El. He was like, ‘Okay.’
Gunn additionally shared more about the Bradley Cooper Superman cameo as Jor-El with Entertainment Tonight. He offered, “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.” Gunn further noted, “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.”
Gunn shared news of Bradley Cooper’s Superman cameo with the press well before the movie released in theaters. And, indeed, Cooper’s role wasn’t a huge reveal in the film. If you’re wondering how Jor-El appeared in a Superman movie that’s not an origin story, there’s a very simple answer to that. Gunn mentioned holograms in his interviews, and indeed, in Superman, we received the AI version of Jor-El that exists in the Fortress of Solitude. The idea of an AI Jor-El has been around since Superman: The Movie in 1978, and the comics later adopted it.
In the DCU’s Superman, Cooper’s version of Jor-El appears in a corrupted vision of a message left to his son, detailing the Kryptonian’s hopes for what Clark/Kal-El could achieve on Earth. Of course, at first, this message from Jor-El seemed sweet and kind, emphasizing that Clark should use his super powers to help humanity in any way he can. But it ultimately transpires that Jor-El actually hoped Superman would lord over the world he was sent to live in. Whether the message we end up with in Superman is an accurate representation of Bradley Cooper’s Jor-El or not remains to be seen.
Regardless, this role puts Bradley Cooper in pretty great company, as James Gunn notes. Previous cinematic Jor-Els have included Marlon Brando and Russell Crowe. Both actors won Oscars, so maybe this bodes well for Cooper finally getting his statue. It seems playing Superman’s dad equals Oscar gold.
Originally published on July 2, 2025.