We finally get our first look at David Corenswet as the Man of Steel, complete with a charming costume image posted on social media by Superman director and lord of the DCU James Gunn. In our first look at this Superman suit, we see that it has many influences from Kal-El's 86-year history. These influences come from comic book costumes as well as other Superman media over the years. Let's break it all down.
The “New 52” Superman Suit.
The biggest influence on this new suit is Jim Lee's 2011 update for DC's “New 52” initiative. Lee gave Superman his most radical redesign in decades for this reboot. He gave Superman a raised collar for the first time and added tons of piping and extra detail to the suit itself. The red boots suddenly had new ridges on the side and, most famously, a red belt replaced the red trunks. The dress was always controversial, and the classic dress made a comeback just a few years later. This new movie dress keeps the extra details, like the high collar. Fortunately, the red logs also returned.
The muted tones of recent live-action Superman costumes
In the comics, and in most media outside of the comics, Clark's colors were bright red, blue, and yellow. But in live action, that changed with 2006 The return of Superman. Brandon Routh's suit changed the bright red to an almost maroon color, but kept the classic blue. Since then, Superman's suit has become increasingly desaturated on screen. Both the man of steel dressed as well as Tyler Hoechlin is on the move Superman and Lois they have extremely muted tones. With this latest costume, it looks like the red pops, but the blue stays muted. We should note that the image James Gunn released shows a mostly dimly lit Superman. In the places where the light reaches her dress (in the knee area) the blue looks rather bright. So we'll have to wait and see what this new Superman suit looks like when his DCU movie arrives.
The classic Superman Spit Curl
It's not technically part of Superman's “costume,” but it's a classic part of his overall look. From almost the beginning of his comic book career, Superman has had a stylized curl in his black hair. It's almost like a little “S” on the forehead (mark, people!) The original 1940s Superman, Kirk Alyn, had it, but TV's George Reeves didn't. Christopher Reeve saved it for his incarnation of the last son of Kryptonjust like live action Superboy TV series from the 1980s. However, most of the live-action Superman actors have dropped him. Dean Cain on the move Lois and Clark in the 90s he had straight hair, just like Henry Cavill. Brandon Routh, whose Superman was a version of Christopher Reeve's iteration, kept the curl. We're glad David Corenswet is staying traditional and bringing the spit curl back to modern times.
The Kingdom come “S” shield.
Although we've already seen it, I'd be remiss not to mention the 'S' badge. Artist Alex Ross designed this new shield for the series Kingdom come. this 1996 miniseries by writer Mark Waid it was about an older Superman who returns to the scene years after retiring. In that comic, yellow was replaced by black. This version of the emblem has been seen live before. Brandon Routh used it in the 2019 Arrowverse Crisis on Infinite Earthss crossover event. At first, it was a direct homage to the Kingdom Comand look By the end of this crossover, however, it was a version with Superman's traditional colors. In fact, one of the first things James Gunn teased when he took on the Superman job was an illustration from Kingdom Come.
Of course, we won't really know what this DCU suit looks like until we see Superman in action. We know that this Superman suit is definitely full of influences from many previous versions of his iconic suit. It remains to be seen if this one will become as legendary as many of the others. Superman released on July 11, 2025.
