James Gunn Reveals SMALLVILLE Easter Egg in His SUPERMAN Movie
Director James Gunn has proven himself in the superhero genre in films like the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy at Marvel, and The Suicide Squad at DC. Now as the head of DC, he is playing in several new properties, but he is kicking off his new chapter with a fresh take on the classic fan-favorite hero, Superman.
I believe one major reason why Gunn has had success in the superhero genre is because he is a fan. He knows what other fans want to see, and it feels deeply personal to him to do well in telling these stories.
One way he pays homage to the history that’s within the worlds he builds is by including Easter eggs which include other characters in the same universe, as well as little choices that point to the other iterations of the same superhero’s story. Gunn revealed that he did the latter in Superman, which some eagle-eyed fans pay have noticed in the first teaser for the film.
In a recent interview with ComicBook, Gunn said that he chose to put Lex Luthor in charge of LuthorCorp, which is a Smallville Easter egg. He explained:
“When I was making this movie, I really was taking stuff from all sorts of different comic books and TV shows and movies. And I’m a Smallville fan. It was LutherCorp in Smallville and so it is that. But also, first of all, most people don’t name their corporations after their first names, right?
“So, I believed it more in terms of that. And also, you know, it leaves the door open for, you know, was his father, in any way, ever a part of this, or his mother.”
Outside of the Smallville connection, Gunn’s reasoning for going with LuthorCorp is practical. It’s common for characters/people to use their surnames when naming a company. Marvel has multiple instances of this, including OsCorp (founded by Norman Osborn) and Stark Industries (founded by Tony Stark).
So it’s just logical for Gunn and the DCU to run with LuthorCorp. It’ll be interesting to see if Superman dives into Lex’s family history and details whether or not his family have any role with the company.
Superman hits theatres on July 11th.