Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No! It’s a buzzy bit of casting news for James Gunn’s upcoming Superman sequel, Man Of Tomorrow, actually. Following a frenetic few weeks of whispers, rumours, and counter-rumours about who may be set to play alien anti-heroine Maxima in Gunn’s sophomore directorial effort in the DCU, the movie has found its alien queen (no, not that Alien Queen.) Per Variety‘s reporting, Splitsville and Andor star Adria Arjona has officially signed on to play Maxima in Man Of Tomorrow as pre-production ramps up on the superhero sequel.
As has been well publicised and widely reported in recent weeks, casting for the role of Maxima — who, in the comics at least, first appeared as a tyrannical despot obsessed with Supes before later reforming and joining the Justice League — took an intense audition process to nail. In the end, Arjona saw off Eva De Dominici (The Cleaning Lady), Sydney Chandler (Alien: Earth) and Grace Van Patten (Tell Me Lies) to land the part, a role which reaffirms Gunn’s desire to dig into some lesser spotted DC deep cuts and embrace a more cosmic side of the comic books that we haven’t seen so much on the big screen to date.
We still don’t have anything by way of an official synopsis or logline for Gunn’s Man Of Tomorrow just yet, but we do know that the movie will see David Corenswet’s Superman and Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor team up to take on Lars Eidinger’s Brainiac — an iconic comic book villain with an insatiable appetite for knowledge, destruction, and really just making Supes miserable. We also do know that among the movie’s wider ensemble will be returnees Rachel Brosnahan (Lois Lane), Skyler Gisondo (Jimmy Olsen), Isabela Merced (Hawkgirl), Guy Gardner (Nathon Fillion) and Edi Gathegi (Mister Terrific). And there’ll also be a big-screen DCU debut for Lanterns star Aaron Pierre, who’ll be reprising the role of Green Lantern John Stewart in Gunn’s film.
Will Maxima get her (Super)man? Can Clark Kent and Lex Luthor stop fighting long enough to fend off the threat of Brainiac? And will Krypto be around for all the fun after that Supergirl trailer? We’ll find out the answers to those questions — and more — when Man Of Tomorrow hits cinemas on 9 July, 2027.
