James Gunn Casts SNL Alum Beck Bennett in SUPERMAN as Steve Lombard
James Gunn has added Saturday Night Live alum Beck Bennett to the cast of his upcoming Superman movie and the director revealed that he’s taking on the role of Steve Lombard.
Steve Lombard was Introduced in Superman #264 in 1973, he is a sports reporter and anchor at the Daily Planet known for his brash and often obnoxious personality.
Lombard frequently plays pranks on his colleagues, especially Clark Kent, unaware of Kent's alter ego as Superman. Despite his seemingly abrasive demeanor, Lombard is portrayed as a competent journalist with a good heart.
When talking about Lombard, who appeared in nearly every published Superman story. Action Comics writer Martin Pasko explained the character's popularity, saying: "Lombard is one of the few examples of a character that all of us Superman scripters at that time wrote in more or less the same way - as opposed to, say, the way Lana Lang seemed to be a totally different character when she'd show up in Action on occasion.
“I think that's because Lombard was one of the most sharply drawn and purposefully designed (though not particularly complex) characters I've ever handled - the most clearly communicated idea I've ever heard from an editor and the writer who co-created it: the jock doofus unwittingly trying to bust Superman's cajónes.
“The audience waits for it, knowing that a hotfoot with a match won't trump a hotfoot from heat vision, or whatever. And I gather the other Superman writers thought so, too. That's why Lombard became, for me, at least, one of the best examples of what, in sitcoms, we call the 'run-through character'.
“That's certainly what Ted Baxter was on TV: the character you knew you could 'run through' a scene and get laughs just from his showing up. ... The audience starts laughing when they show up because they're laughing at what they're imagining is gonna happen. They're 'waiting for it'"
Michael Kelly previously played Lombard in Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel.
Superman will tell the story of “Superman’s journey to reconcile his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing as Clark Kent of Smallville, Kansas. He is the embodiment of truth, justice and the American way, guided by human kindness in a world that sees kindness as old-fashioned.”
Superman also stars David Corenswet as Clark Kent / Superman; Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane; Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor; Nathan Fillion as Green Lantern; Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl; Edi Gathegi as Michael Holt / Mr. Terrific; Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen; María Gabriela de Faría as Angela Spica, aka The Engineer; Sara Sampaio, as Eve Teschmacher; and Terence Rosemore as Otis.
Superman will launch the movie part of DC Studios’ Gods and Monsters: Part 1. It’s scheduled for a theatrical release on July 11, 2025.