James Gunn’s casting of Lars Eidinger as Brainiac in the DCU movie Man of Tomorrow has been a surprise to many, with the German actor being well outside the list of names that several internet scoopers have claimed to be on the shortlist for the part. However, the casting has drawn a lot of praise, and in his usual sweep of social media comments, Gunn has revealed why he did not choose an A-list celebrity for the role.
Eidinger is certainly not new to acting, but there are a lot of DCU fans that will never have seen anything he has been in. Some of his most-seen roles have been in All the Light We Cannot See and George Clooney’s new Netflix movie, Jay Kelly. For Gunn, though, the actor being an instantly recognizable name is not the thing he looks for, as he explained in a Threads post.
“I wouldn’t leave Chris Pratt, David Corenswet, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Milly Alcock, or Daniela Melchior, etc, out of that mix! All of them were people who came in and auditioned and weren’t thought of as ‘movie stars.’ I’m always interested in casting the best person for the role, no matter what route that takes – and often the best route is through auditions.”
Recent reports from Nexus Point News and several X accounts claimed that a number of stars had auditioned for the role of Man of Tomorrow’s villain, and were even part of a shortlist that were almost guaranteed to get the role. Gunn was quick to shut this down, noting that actors including Matt Smith, Claes Bang, and Sam Rockwell had never been in the mix.
“None of them even screen tested. I’m not even sure any of them auditions. Total made-up stuff.”
Brainiac’s Casting Adds Another Piece of the Puzzle for ‘Man of Tomorrow’
Man of Tomorrow’s original announcement was quite unexpected in many ways. Coming hot on the heels of the summer’s Superman release, the Lex Luthor and Superman-centric movie had not been part of James Gunn’s slate of announced movies, so it came from very left of field.
Currently, the plot and exactly what we can expect from the movie is being kept under wraps, but we do know that it will be released in 2027, around a year after Supergirl arrives next summer, and it will see Nicholas Hoult’s Luthor reluctantly teaming up with David Corenswet’s Superman in order to defeat the ultra-smart android that is Brainiac. Although casting details are still sparse, it is expected that Superman stars such as Rachel Brosnahan, and members of the “Justice Gang” such as Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner and Isabela Merced’s Hawkgirl could also feature.
What has become apparent is that even with other movies like Clayface and The Bold and the Brave coming down the line, Gunn’s DCU is very Superman orientated, with the Man of Steel playing some kind of role in three of the first movies released by DC Studios before Batman has made a single appearance. Whether this leads to a switch-up once his “Superman saga” is done is something that we can only wait and speculate on, as it seems Superman is going to continue to be a big focus of the DCU for at least the next two years.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
