James Gunn’s DC Universe (DCU) kick-starter Superman now has a confirmed runtime, with the writer and director denying rumours that parent company Warner Bros. “forced” its relatively shorter length.
Opening in cinemas on 11 July this year, Superman will clock in at two hours and nine minutes, inclusive of its credits, a number confirmed by Gunn on social network Threads. By comparison, 2013’s Man of Steel ran for two hours and 14 minutes, while its 2016 follow-up, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, ran for two hours and 31 minutes.
While its two-hour runtime might not seem that short in the context of modern superhero films, Superman is set to feature a plethora of side characters such as Mister Terrific, Guy Gardner and Hawkgirl, sparking questions on how the film would include them all into its brisk pace while ensuring they are more fleshed out rather than mere cameos.
Perhaps one way the film would circumvent its shorter runtime is by removing the origins element of Superman completely, with its trailers making it seem like the superhero is already an established name in the eyes of the public, and Gunn himself previously stating that he was uninterested in making yet another Superman origin story. In addition, Gunn also explained during an Instagram Live session that the film would focus solely on Clark Kent, Lois Lane and Lex Luthor, and wouldn’t be an ensemble piece à la The Avengers.
Alongside unveiling the film’s runtime, Gunn was also quick to shoot down rumours that Warner Bros. had forced him to shorten the film. “Zero truth to that,” he replied to a comment on Threads, “And they couldn’t even if that’s something that they wanted to. It’s a DC Studios film.”
With this statement, it seems clear that the director has creative control when it comes to his rebooted DCU, which does help to alleviate some of the concerns surrounding Superman’s shorter runtime when it hits theatres on 11 July 2025.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
Si Jia
Yonk
