Recently, we learned that the upcoming follow-up to James Gunn’s Superman is not going to be your standard “Superman II.” The newly named Superman sequel, Man of Tomorrow would actually feature David Corenswet’s Superman in a co-lead role with Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor. But now we know that Man of Tomorrow is actually a team-up between the two mortal enemies. Via Variety, we learned that while appearing on Howard Stern’s show on SiriusXM radio, Gunn confirmed that Clark Kent and Lex Luthor will join forces against a common enemy in the new Superman movie. Here’s what Gunn told Stern about the upcoming sequel:
It’s a story about Lex Luthor and Superman having to work together to a certain degree against a much, much bigger threat. It’s more complicated than that but that’s a big part of it. It’s as much a Lex movie as it is a Superman movie. I loved working with Nicholas Hoult. I relate to the character of Lex, sadly. I really wanted to create something extraordinary with the two of them. I Just love the script so much.
So who could this much, much bigger threat be? Why, it turns out it’s Brainaic. And that makes a lot of sense to us. Brainiac is easily Superman’s second most notorious foe, right behind Lex. And he’s yet to appear in a Superman movie. Gunn even recently revealed that Brainiac was once considered for Superman. Additionally, in the comics and in Superman: The Animated Series, Lex Luthor and Brainiac often had an adversarial relationship of their own.
Brainiac is also a world-ending cosmic threat in DC’s world, comparable to Galactus in the Marvel Universe. And that’s something that even Superman might need help in dealing with. “Try saving the world with your sworn enemy,” Nicholas Hoult teased at CinemaCon 2026, and we can’t wait to see how that unfolds for everyone.
Of course, Lex and Superman’s common enemy will bring them closer in the sequel movie… But they’ll still have to survive one another. If James Gunn’s latest Man of Tomorrow tease is any indication, we might see them squaring off over a chess match—something that we’ve seen happen in the comics.
We’ll find out for sure how Superman, Brainiac, and Lex all get along when Man of Tomorrow hits theaters on July 9, 2027.