James Gunn Was Unaware Of A Major Superman Debate Before Working On The Movie

Superhero fandom can be a wonderful thing, providing a haven for nerds of all kinds to come together in celebration of their favorite fictional figures. It can also result in some pretty heated discussions on the finer points of how those various figures should be depicted, and James Gunn found out just how seriously many fans take those debates when he started working on "Superman." Specifically, the director and DC Studios co-head quickly discovered that Superman fans really care about whether the character wears trunks or not.

Yes, it turns out Superman's knickers are the source of much controversy, which surprised Gunn when it came time to design the suit for his film. During a 2025 appearance on the "Smartless" podcast, Gunn revealed that he "wasn't aware of this conversation" until he started work on designing the costume for the movie, and he had no idea how contentious a topic Superman's trunks actually were. "I am sure that somebody would kill somebody else over the fight over whether Superman should have trunks or not," said the newly-enlightened director.

Indeed, fans have been debating whether Supes should be trunkless or not for some time, both in terms of his comic book and on-screen depictions. While it might seem like a fairly minor aspect of the character (which it sort of is) it also represents something bigger, as evidenced by the fact that Gunn himself quickly became conflicted about whether to put trunks on his version of Superman (who differs from other on-screen iterations in important ways).

A remnant of the strongman aesthetic that influenced early superhero designs, Superman's trunks have become a topic of ceaseless debate over the years. That debate has only intensified in the age of the superhero blockbuster, and James Gunn was entirely unprepared for it. That's a tad surprising, given that the "Guardians of the Galaxy" director (who spoke to /Film about the balance of sadness and hope in "Superman") is such a well-known comic book fan and has taken great pleasure in showcasing lesser-known characters in his movies. Still, this admittedly arcane aspect of superhero discourse seemingly caught the man by complete surprise.

"We think our world is divided in terms of Republicans and Democrats and that everybody's fighting about that stuff," he said during his "Smartless" appearance. "That's because there are whole factions of people that [...] barely know who Donald Trump is and all they care about is whether Superman has trunks or not." Despite initially being taken aback by the intensity of the debate, however, Gunn quickly found himself fretting over the decision of whether to add trunks to his version of the character.

Referencing Henry Cavill's trunk-less Superman in "Man of Steel," Gunn told the "Smartless" hosts, "Zack Snyder came in and that was like the dark, more mean, cool version of Superman, and he didn't have trunks. And so when Zack took away the trunks, there were tons of fans that were outraged." It seems, then, that Gunn was very much in a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation with the trunks, so what was it that prompted him to restore Superman's pants?

While preparing to reintroduce the Man of Steel to the masses, James Gunn actually took advice from Zack Snyder on one Superman detail. Yep, the trunks. Even though Gunn had one very clear directive for the Superman suit, he had a tough time deciding on whether to retain this particular aspect, and he even found that Snyder went through the same struggle. Gunn told Screen Brief that Snyder told him that he went through "like a billion versions with the trunks and just never got there," something to which Gunn could relate. "I didn't know about the trunks," he admitted. "I wanted to use the trunks, but I couldn't, I kept taking them off. And I came in, it's very colorful, the trunks are on, and I'm like, 'God, I don't know. It's just so colorful.'" The deciding factor? Star David Corenswet, who, when asked by Gunn what he thought of the trunks, replied, "I love it."

That was the right choice for many reasons. As Gunn pointed out in his "Smartless" episode, "The truth is Superman always had trunks in the comics." But beyond that, "Superman" is a silly but charming crowd-pleaser of a film that seems designed as an antidote to the dour self-serious superheroism of the erstwhile DC Extended Universe or "Snyderverse." Rather than being a stoic paragon of truth and goodness, the Superman of Gunn's movie, as portrayed by Corenswet, is a bit of a dork. That was very much by design, as Gunn wanted to signal to audiences that his burgeoning DC Universe heralded a change of pace for the troubled IP. So, as insignificant as they may seem to most casual viewers, the trunks became emblematic of this more lighthearted tone, which in turn has come to represent an important shift in how Warner Bros. and DC will be depicting their heroes moving forward.