There’s a particular kind of comfort in knowing a filmmaker has done the homework. Not the press tour confidence, not the “we’re so excited to share this journey with you” corporate enthusiasm — but the actual, unglamorous, 3 AM-at-the-desk homework. The sketches nobody will ever see. The shot lists that run for pages. The arguments with yourself about whether the camera should push in or hold still.
James Gunn just showed us a glimpse of that work on Man of Tomorrow. And honestly? It’s the most reassuring DCU news I’ve heard in years.
The Bible Before the Cameras
Gunn revealed on Threads that “a huge chunk but not most” of Man of Tomorrow has been storyboarded. For a film that won’t release until July 9, 2027, that’s significant. We’re not talking about a director who’ll figure it out on the day. We’re talking about someone who already knows where the camera goes before anyone builds a set.
When asked what happens once storyboards are complete, Gunn’s answer was revealing: “Storyboards and the accompanying shot lists go to the department heads and anyone who needs to have them. They’re the Bible as much as the script is.”
The Bible. That word choice matters.
I’ve been watching superhero movies get made — and unmade — for decades now. I remember when DC films felt like they were being assembled mid-flight, scripts changing during production, entire plots restructured in editing bays while executives panicked about runtime. The Snyder Cut discourse, for all its passion, was fundamentally about a film that never got to be what its director intended. Justice League theatrical wasn’t a movie — it was a compromise wearing a movie’s skin.
Gunn’s process is the opposite of that. It’s Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner storyboards. It’s Spielberg planning Raiders frame by frame. It’s the old-school approach that says: know what you’re shooting before you shoot it.
What “Methodical” Actually Means
Gunn elaborated on how the storyboards function in practice: “We have large group meetings where we project and go through every shot and what it will need to accomplish the shot. Sometimes for a big action scene we’ll do that many times. For a smaller more simple scene, often just once.”
This is production infrastructure. This is a director treating a superhero sequel like a military operation — every department head aligned, every shot justified, every resource allocated with purpose.
I’ll confess something: I was skeptical when Gunn took over DC. Not because of his talent — the Guardians films are genuinely great, and The Suicide Squad was the best DC movie in years — but because the job seemed impossible. How do you rebuild a cinematic universe that had been publicly dismantled, rebooted, abandoned, and mocked? How do you convince audiences to care again after the Snyderverse wars, after Flash’s behind-the-scenes disaster, after Shazam 2 and Blue Beetle underperformed?
You do it by being boring. By being methodical. By having the storyboards ready two years before release.
The Brainiac Question
While Gunn hasn’t confirmed it, The Wrap recently reported that Brainiac will be the main antagonist in Man of Tomorrow. If true, it’s a fascinating choice — and one that speaks to Gunn’s sensibilities.
Brainiac is, at his core, a body horror villain wrapped in science fiction clothing. A collector of civilizations who shrinks cities into bottles, who processes entire populations like data. He’s cold where Lex Luthor is hot, cosmic where Zod was military. And he’s the kind of antagonist who requires massive visual effects work — exactly the kind of thing you’d want storyboarded meticulously before cameras roll.
There’s something almost Cronenbergian about Brainiac done right. The violation isn’t just physical — it’s intellectual, existential. Your city doesn’t just get destroyed. It gets preserved. Catalogued. Filed away. You become a specimen in someone else’s collection.
If Gunn brings even a fraction of the practical creature work he championed in Guardians to Brainiac’s design… I don’t know. I’m getting ahead of myself. But the potential is there.
The Returning Players
David Corenswet and Nicholas Hoult return as Clark Kent/Superman and Lex Luthor respectively. Their chemistry in Superman was one of that film’s genuine surprises — Hoult’s Luthor wasn’t the manic scenery-chewing we’ve seen before, but something colder, more calculating. Corenswet brought an earnestness to Clark that felt retro in the best way.
Frank Grillo will reprise Rick Flag Sr., connecting Man of Tomorrow to Peacemaker and the broader DCU that Gunn is constructing. It’s a small detail, but it matters. This is a universe where characters actually persist, where casting decisions carry forward, where the continuity isn’t just marketing speak.
We’ve been burned before. I know. The “connected universe” promise has been broken so many times by so many studios that skepticism is the only rational response. But Gunn treating storyboards as sacred text — holding department-wide meetings to review every single shot — suggests he’s building something designed to last.
Or at least designed to be coherent. Which, for DC, would be an improvement.
The Long Wait
July 9, 2027 feels far away. It is far away. Two full years from now. But that runway is exactly what this kind of production needs.
Superman released in 2025. Assuming it performs well — and early tracking suggests it will — audiences won’t be starving for more by 2027. They’ll be ready. The gap allows for anticipation without exhaustion, for the cultural conversation to build organically rather than being manufactured through oversaturation.
Marvel’s problem in Phase 4 and 5 was volume. Too many projects, too quickly, too little quality control. Gunn seems to understand that less can be more — that a storyboarded, carefully planned sequel released at the right moment beats three rushed productions fighting for attention.
Or maybe I’m being too optimistic. It happens. Especially with superhero films, which have broken my heart more times than I care to count.
But something about those storyboards — the fact that they exist, the fact that Gunn shared them, the fact that he calls them a Bible — makes me think this time might be different.
What Gunn’s Storyboard Approach Signals for the DCU
This isn’t a director improvising. “A huge chunk” storyboarded two years before release means every major sequence has been visualized, debated, and locked.
Department heads are aligned early. Storyboards as “the Bible” means VFX, production design, and cinematography all work from the same visual blueprint.
Brainiac (if confirmed) suits Gunn’s sensibilities. A villain requiring body horror aesthetics and cosmic scale plays to strengths he demonstrated in Guardians and The Suicide Squad.
The July 2027 date allows breathing room. Unlike Marvel’s oversaturated slate, Gunn is spacing releases to let each film land with impact.
Continuity is actually being maintained. Frank Grillo’s return as Rick Flag Sr. proves characters carry forward — something DC has historically failed at.
FAQ
Why does James Gunn storyboarding Man of Tomorrow matter for the DCU’s future?
Because DC’s recent history is defined by chaos — films recut in post, directors fired mid-production, continuity abandoned between projects. Gunn treating storyboards as sacred text signals a fundamentally different approach: plan meticulously, execute precisely, build something that coheres. It’s not glamorous, but it’s what the franchise desperately needed.
Is Brainiac a good villain choice for the Superman sequel?
If the reports are accurate, he’s a fascinating one. Brainiac offers something Lex Luthor can’t — cosmic scale and body horror potential. He’s a collector, a cataloguer, an intelligence that sees civilizations as data to be archived. Done right, he could be genuinely unsettling in ways Superman villains rarely achieve. Done wrong, he’s another CGI army. Gunn’s track record suggests the former.
Can James Gunn actually fix the DC Extended Universe?
“Fix” might be the wrong word — he’s not repairing what existed. He’s building something new on the ruins. The storyboard approach, the casting continuity, the deliberate pacing — these are foundation-laying activities, not rescue operations. Whether audiences buy in depends on Superman’s performance. But the infrastructure Gunn is constructing looks more stable than anything DC has attempted since Nolan’s trilogy.
Why is there a two-year gap between Superman and Man of Tomorrow?
Partly creative — Gunn wants time to properly develop the sequel. Partly strategic — spacing releases prevents audience fatigue. And partly practical — these are massive productions requiring extensive visual effects work. The gap isn’t a problem; it’s the plan. Marvel learned the hard way that more isn’t always better. Gunn seems to have taken notes.
I’ve been burned by DC promises before. We all have. The Snyderverse restoration that never came. The Flash movie that should have been a triumph and became a cautionary tale. The constant reboots and recastings and restructurings that made “connected universe” feel like a punchline.
But there’s something about a director who storyboards his Bible two years out. Something about department-wide meetings where every shot gets reviewed. Something about the methodical, unsexy, genuinely difficult work of building a franchise that’s meant to last.
Man of Tomorrow releases July 9, 2027. That’s a long time from now. Long enough for everything to go wrong, for studio interference, for creative differences, for the market to shift in ways nobody can predict.
But also long enough to do it right.
I’m not saying trust Gunn blindly. I’m saying watch what he does with the time. Watch whether the storyboards translate to coherent action on screen. Watch whether DC finally becomes the universe it’s been promising to be for a decade.
And if you’re still skeptical — good. Skepticism is earned. But maybe, just maybe, keep one eye on those storyboards. They might be telling us something.
