Well, DC is definitely going down the unknown actor path for Superman. The new head of DC James Gunn has revealed that David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan will play Superman and Louis Lane, respectively, in Gunn’s Superman: Legacy reboot of the DC franchise.
I’ve got to be honest, I have no idea who these people are. Sort of.
James Gunn, DC, and Warner Bros. have made the two biggest announcements of their new, young DC universe yet as Gunn’s Superman: Legacy film will feature House of Cards and The Marvelous Ms. Maisel actress Rachel Brosnahan as Louis Lane and upcoming actor David Corenswet as Superman. And, to be honest, I’m not quite sure how I like these moves.
Honestly, these moves could really go one way or another: be great hirings and fill into the shoes of Superman and Louis Lane, or it could be an awful move as their star power just can’t handle the responsibility, fandom, and dedication it takes to be Superman and Louis Lane. I like to think it’s going to be the first one of these two options, but we just frankly won’t know until we see these two on screen as there’s just not a lot of material to judge them on.
Now, Rachel Brosnahan is obviously the far more popular and experienced of the two actors as she’s played a supporting role in Netflix’s House of Cards (2013-2018) and was the leading star of Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, a role that won her the 2018 Best Actress at the Golden Globes and Emmys, the 2019 Best Actress at the Golden Globes and SAG Awards, 3 total Golden Globe nominations (2018, 2019, 2020), and 4 total Emmy nominations (2018, 2019, 2020, 2022).
So, it’s obviously that Brosnahan is a great actress capable of leading award-winning (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel did win two Best Comedy Series awards at the Golden Globes and Emmys) shows and has a decent amount of “street cred” in the Hollywood world, but I’ve got to be honest and say that the vast majority of DC fans will have never heard of or seen any of her projects.
Maybe they will recognize her character, Rachel Posner, in House of Cards, but even that might be a stretch as the character of Rachel Posner was just a side character who got killed off prior to the three final seasons of the show. As for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, I really doubt the vast majority of DC fans have watched the show or even know the show exists.
So, Brosnahan’s past accomplishments mean nothing in the world of DC and Superman: Legacy as being Louis Lane not only is one of the most popular and well-known roles in the history of cinema and comics, but it is also VASTLY different than to the other notable roles she’s had.
(Amazon Prime Video-The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel-Official Trailer)
Or, in other words, she’s got to prove her accomplishments can translate over into the world of superheroes and blockbuster cinema…which goes 100X over for David Corenswet.
At least Brosnahan has been in shows that have either had very popular followings or have won major critical awards, while Corsenwet has literally been in nothing I’ve ever heard of apart from a guest appearance in…House of Cards. Yeah, it’s kind of funny how these two are going to be co-stars again after having part-time/secondary roles in a T.V. show over 7 years ago now, but here we are.
Still, the one good thing going for Corenswet is that he looks a lot like Henry Cavil and the classic Superman look…but it’s one thing to look like Cavil and Superman, and another thing entirely to fill their massive shoes.
I was really hoping for a more established, well-known actor to fill Cavil’s shoes as Superman as it would have made the rather unfair transition a little more palatable (in my opinion), but I see why Gunn cast a young, little-known actor like Corenswet. Superman: Legacy is supposed to be a Superman Origin story, after all.
Anyways, I’m going to have to wait and see what these two looks like in costume and promotional material to give a definitive reaction about whether or not they’re more or less believable than Henry Cavil and Amy Adams were, but they have potential.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Warner Bros. Discovery/DC) (Man of Steel – Official Trailer 3 [HD] – YouTube)
In Text Image 1: (Amazon Prime Video) (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 1 – Official Trailer [HD] | Prime Video – YouTube)
