James Gunn's Superman Reportedly 1 of the Shortest Man of Steel Movies Ever Made

Aaron Fonseca
May 27
3 min read

The debut adventures of David Corenswet's Man of Steel will be shorter than some fans might have expected. International distributors have received the official runtime for James Gunn's Superman, and it's set to be one of the iconic superhero's shortest movies ever made.

Per DCU Superman News on X, Superman will have a runtime of two hours and two minutes, or 122 minutes. This is a significant runtime drop from the last solo movie featuring Superman, Zack Snyder's Man of Steel (2013), which clocked in at 143 minutes long. In fact, Gunn's movie is the fourth-shortest Superman movie ever made, having a runtime longer than just Superman and the Mole Men (58 mins), Superman IV: The Quest for Peace(90 mins), and Superman II: The Richer Donner Cut (116 mins). The longest Supermanmovies remain the television cut of Superman: The Movie (an astounding 188 mins) and Superman Returns (154 mins).

"In his signature style, James Gunn takes on the original superhero in the newly imagined DC universe with a singular blend of epic action, humor and heart, delivering a Superman who’s driven by compassion and an inherent belief in the goodness of humankind," reads a logline for Superman, which will be the first movie released as part of the DCU's Chapter 1: Gods & Monsters.

Corenswet will headline Superman with Rachel Brosnahan, who portrays Daily Planet journalist Lois Lane. The ensemble also includes several recognizable Superman characters, such as Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen, Sara Sampaio as Eve Teschmacher, Terence Rosemore as Otis, Wendell Pierce as Perry White, Pruitt Taylor Vince as Jonathan Kent, Neva Howell as Martha Kent, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor.

Superman Looks Set to Rectify the DCEU's Box Office Mistakes

With roughly two months to go until Superman hits theaters, a lot could change with the DCU movie's box office tracking. However, as it stands at the time of writing, Superman is reportedly eyeing a massive $175 million opening weekend in North America. If Supermanmanages to reach those box office heights, it would break the record for the best opening ever for a movie based on a DC Comics character, beating Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice's $166 million domestic debut.

Even an opening above $100 million would be a remarkable improvement for a DC movie. The last eight years have been rough for DC Studios and its precursor DC Films, with none of the final installments in the DC Extended Universe managing to open above $100 million. However, for what it's worth, a $67 million opening weekend didn't stop Aquaman from legging out a final box office haul of $1.13 billion. However, outside the Aquaman franchise, no DCEU movie released since 2018 has managed to crack the $400 million milestone at the global box office.

A $175 million domestic debut would be huge for Superman and show Warner Bros. and DC Studios that audiences are invested in the new shared universe that Gunn is building with a talented team of creatives. After Creature Commandos dipped audiences' toes into the DCU last December, 2025 is the year that the DCU will truly come alive, with Superman set to be followed by the second season of Peacemaker, which will premiere on the soon-to-be-renamed Max in August. This DCU momentum will continue into 2026 with the HBO drama series Lanterns, based on the Green Lantern Corps, and the Superman spinoff movie Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.