“How can someone not think it’s real?” — James Gunn addresses rumors about Jor-El’s message in the Superman movie being doctored

American filmmaker James Gunn recently opened up about his latest film, Superman, during his appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. In an interview uploaded to YouTube by host Josh Horowitz on July 18, 2025, he addressed rumors surrounding the message sent by Superman’s biological father, Jor-El, shown in the movie. This clip from the interview was again uploaded on the channel on July 21.

Josh Horowitz asked the director whether Jor-El’s message in Superman was “real” or “doctored.”

“How can someone not think it’s real? How can someone? I don’t understand,” Gunn commented.

For context, following the release of Gunn’s film, many fans debated a major plot involving Superman’s origin story. Unlike most Superman films, where Kal-El (Superman) was sent to Earth solely to escape Krypton’s destruction, Gunn’s film revealed that Jor-El had more complex motives.

In his version, Jor-El and Lara sent their infant son to Earth, believing he could rise as a savior by dominating humanity. Kal-El was unaware of this hidden agenda because parts of his parents’ original message were damaged during his pod’s journey to Earth. Later in the story, Lex Luthor uncovered the unsavory part of the message and broadcast it globally. This twist led many fans to speculate that Luthor may have doctored the footage.

However, Gunn firmly refuted this theory on the podcast. He explained that Superman went to great lengths to establish the authenticity of the message. According to him, even the characters in the movie confirmed it hadn’t been altered.

“In the movie… Mr. Terrific says, ‘I know those computer forensics guys. There’s no way.’ That’s Mr. Terrific. Smart as Lex Luthor. Then I have my Secretary of Defense say, ‘I think whatever you think about Luthor, but it’s real,’” he said.

James Gunn further added that he wanted to leave no room for doubt in the narrative. So he even scripted a conversation between Lex Luthor and President Gurkos to solidify the truth further.

“The clincher is that Gurkos and Lex are walking together. And you know, Gurkos says, ‘Ah, you doctored the message. This is great.’ And Lex says, ‘It’s not a message. You know, it’s not doctored. It’s real. And who thought his own parents would be the ones to bring him down?’” he explained.

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James Gunn discusses Henry Cavill, says it was “terrible,” telling the actor he was replaced as Superman

James Gunn and Henry Cavill (Images via Getty)

James Gunn, during his appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, also opened up about the difficult process of transitioning the role of Superman from Henry Cavill to David Corenswet.

For the unversed, Henry Cavill had portrayed the Man of Steel in three DC Extended Universe (DCEU) films between 2013 and 2017 as well as in a post-credit scene cameo in 2022’s Black Adam. He had originally been reported to be reprising his iconic role after the 2022 movie.

However, Gunn explained during the interview that by the time he officially became co-chair of DC Studios alongside producer Peter Safran, the plan to reboot the character with a new face had already been set in motion. He admitted this created an “unfair” and “terrible” situation for Cavill, who was caught in the middle of studio transitions and internal confusion.

“It’s terrible... the day our deal closed, all of a sudden they were announcing that… Henry was back, and I’m like, ‘What is going on? We know what the plan is.’… The plan was to come in and do Superman. So it was really unfair to him and was a total bummer,” he said.

Gunn explained that the confusion stemmed from a lack of leadership at the time, which created a “vacuum.” He said that various factions within the studio, at the time, were pushing their visions for DC. One sector, according to Gunn, was even attempting to “force” their creative agenda into the evolving DCEU, even though that vision “was never part of the equation.”

He further revealed that by the time he and Safran took charge, the situation had already been mishandled, and Cavill had to be informed that he would not be returning as Superman.

“So Peter and I [thought] the right thing to do was to sit down with [Cavill] and talk to him. And we sat down and we talked to him. He was an absolute gentleman, a great guy about it,” James Gunn explained.

The director also shared that Cavill had only one request at the time: that he be allowed to share the news with his fans directly. And Gunn respected that wish.

Notably, Cavill followed through with the request in December 2022, when he posted a statement on Instagram to announce that he would not be reprising his role as Superman in the new DC Universe (DCU) after all.

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James Gunn is currently on the promotional run for his latest film, Superman, which was released on July 11, 2025. He is also actively involved in overseeing other major projects within the DC Universe, including the upcoming Supergirl film and The Brave and the Bold.

Edited by Ankita Barat