Superman - James Gunn Donnerverse Connection?

Welcome back to the channel. I hope you're all having a great evening. So I was thinking about, you know, what a lot of the controversy going on about James Gunn's Superman. Uh, controversy is good. Let's get people talking. Uh, movie coming out 2025, July 11th. And, uh, so, you know, we got a lot of people who are digging what they're seeing in this version of, uh, James Gunn— James Gunn's Superman, right? But one question that's come up is, is this Superman— is the, um, David Coren Sweat, uh, version of Superman, is he— does he exist as part of the Donnerverse, right? And, um, I just thought it was interesting because there are some elements that we recognize in this Superman, uh, that is, uh, relative to the Donnerverse, right? Some things we would see in the in the Donnerverse, right? So I'm gonna start with one of the, um, let's take a look and start at one of the, uh, main things we notice here. Let me see if I can find in the gallery. Okay, so we get a good shot of it, but the appearance of Superman Let's get a blowup of that. His famous, his famous curl. You kind of see it there leaning over his brow there, right? But he has that famous curl. Also, we noticed that David Corn Sweat, right? As, uh, you know, uh, for some reason James Gunn chooses that. Now, is James Gunn a big, uh, supporter and fan of the Donnerverse? I probably think so, because that looks like that would be James Gunn's generation, right? Looks like James Gunn would have— like most, a lot of people grew up, you know, on these Superman films, and, um, you know, probably had a, uh, it had a big impact on him, right? So his Superman looks a great deal like, uh, how Richard Donner envisioned. And if you don't— if you're not familiar with who Richard Donner is, of course he is the— who directed the Superman, the original movie. And, uh, really just directed that movie because he shot a lot of Superman II they kind of like shot two movies, you know, at one time, right? So really it's kind of like one movie, but apparently the genius Richard Donner was fired because he went over budget, right? You know, a case of not respecting the artist. Good work costs money, right? And, you know, looks like they should have brought him back. Look like they should have realized, hey, You know, um, you know, it looks like they should have realized, uh, this was one of the best superhero movies ever in history. And I'm sure it made back, you know, all the money that, uh, they thought was lost, right? Um, but also another thing that makes me feel like this Superman kind of exists in the, in the Donnerverse, right, is, uh, how colorful his, his, uh, his, his, uh, costume is, right? You know, you can see that this Superman, he likes the bright colors. The Derek Corn Sweat version, he likes the, the, the, the bright colors. And unlike Henry Cavill, who liked the, um, you know, the dark colors. Also, I don't think Henry Cavill had the curl. Yeah, he didn't have the curl. He didn't have the Donner curl, right? He didn't, he didn't have that. So, uh, you know, I don't consider him Superman, but you know, a lot of you guys do. Let's go over another point why I think this might exist as part of the, the Donnerverse. All right, so this version of Superman, right, the Fortress of Solitude, right, seems to have that pyramid-like ziggurat formation, right? Remember, there— all the fortresses don't appear this way, uh, in the— they're famous in the Donner films for, for appearing this way. And in addition to that Uh, also what's interesting about, um, the way that the, the fortresses in the trailers, it— they seem to grow out of the ground, right? Remember, uh, this is something that is a signature of Donner films, where the, the Kryptonian crystals inherit the properties of its environment, right? And so it was able to build these structures, right? That, that's something kind of unique to Everybody thought that was one of the most brilliant ideas, uh, thought of, right, when that Superman movie came out. Now, uh, we've seen other versions of this where it's kind of like in a mountain. It's a mountain, it's a hill in South America, or it's a mound in South America. There have been ideas where it's a spaceship, like what we saw in Man of Steel, and I didn't like any of those, uh, ideas. I, of course, I love the Donner depiction of the Fortress of Solitude inheriting the properties of its environment. And when we're speaking of the Donner films, I think officially that of course would include all the original Superman movies. Of course, that'd be Superman 1 through 4. It would include Superman Returns, right? I believe Bryan Singer, who directed Superman Returns, clearly indicated that that was a sequel right, to those Superman films, right? And then you get this universe of Superman where we're not sure, you know, if it's connected, but we certainly see the influence there, right? We certainly see this and, uh, this Superman being greatly influenced by that version of Superman with the Fortress of Solitude and stuff. So that, that's— I just think that's all very interesting. Uh, now whether it's tied to um, the Donner films or that continuation or not. I don't think it really matters, but I, I am pointing out that the, the, uh, you know, that the elements are there, right, for that. Um, yeah, uh, the character of Superman, about what type of Superman he is, right? This Superman to me already seems like he's gonna be closer to how Donner would have depicted him. Um, I think some of the problems with the Superman version of Man of Steel— this wasn't a very— here's, here's another thing that kind of points— well, I don't know if this is a— yeah, I would say this is a Donner, this is a Donner film type thing, right? Because as I recall, if you look back at Superman's version of Clark Kent He wasn't goofy, right? If you go back to the George Reeves, uh, Clark Kent, he wasn't goofy. He was, he was a reporter. Uh, Henry Cavill's, uh, Clark Kent wasn't a goofy, bumbling person, right, at all, right? He, he was none of that. He wasn't goofy, he wasn't bumbling around, any of that. Um, of course this Superman is much like Brandon Routh's Superman was from Superman Returns, and of course the Christopher Reeves version, right? These are signatures again of the Donner films, right? So that's what— so that's why I'm pointing that out, because, uh, you know, these Supermans aren't, you know, aren't all bumbling as Clark Kent. They're not all bumbling. In fact, some of them are kind of cool, right? You know, some of them, uh, are— come off kind of cool. So I don't— you know, I think the Lois and Clark Superman, uh, he wasn't goofy either. The Dean— the one Dean Cain played, I don't think he was goofy at all. Um, you know, I think he was a serious reporter, you know, cracking cases, kind of more similar to the George Reeves version, I think, right? Um, but you know, but of course, you know, these are the contrast between a person like Superman character like Superman and contrasting something totally opposite of Superman, which would be a bumbling, you know, uh, accident-prone type, you know, uh, person, right, who's geeky and nerdy as such. Uh, and that's, uh, you know, uh, how the Donner films version— and that's the one I like too. I like that version of— I, I, I like the idea of you, you wouldn't expect that person to be Superman, right? And uh, even how, uh, it's done, uh, so far we get to see in the trailers, you know, this, this guy, uh, this David Corenswet Superman looks like he'd be a totally different Superman. But I was just noticing the, the similarities, uh, to the Donner films in that. Tell me, guys, tell me all what you think. Do you think this, uh, you know, I don't think James Gunn's— he's doing his own Gunn universe. I don't, you know, uh, all I'm saying is I don't think he's pulling a Bryan Singer. You know, Bryan Singer was clear that this is a continuation of the Donner films, right? And I, I thought that was a great idea. I hate to see— I hated to see them take Bryan Singer off of there. My next video, I think I'm going to talk about Superman Returns because there's a lot of great stuff in that movie. But tell me all what you think about the comparisons here in the uh, in, in the, in the, in the Gunn's, uh, Superman and the Donnerverse. Uh, guys, if you like content like this, don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you can be notified, uh, when these videos come out. That way you can always catch them and not miss them. Until next time, take care of yourselves and each other.