Sean Gunn Confirms His Superman Movie Role, What James Gunn Told Him He Could Say And Addresses Playing The Same DC Character As Pedro Pascal

The new Superman movie will officially mark the debut of Maxwell Lord in the DC Universe. Since the DCU franchise will be serving as a soft reboot for DC Studios, there are numerous characters getting recast for James Gunn’s new superhero franchise. While multiple iconic heroes have new actors portraying them in the DCU, Gunn’s Superman movie will also be reimagining several popular villains, including Pedro Pascal’s Maxwell Lord from Wonder Woman 1984.

Sean Gunn was recently at Northern Fancon (courtesy of @DCFilmNews) and a fan asked him about entering the DCU franchise as the next live-action version of Maxwell Lord, as well as how he prepared for that character, who was previously played by Pascal. While he couldn’t give away spoilers, Gunn finally confirmed that Maxwell Lord is in Superman, as he shared the following about the conversations he has had with his brother about adapting this DC character in the DCU:

I can’t believe Pedro Pascal and I keep going after the same roles! [laughs] I can’t answer most of those questions, I asked my brother [James Gunn] recently if I can even say that I’m in the movie & he was like ‘you can say you’re kinda in the movie’. So I’m kinda in the new Superman.

I have really enjoyed the process of exploring the character – there is source material that my brother and I discussed, but I kind of can’t talk about any of that. I can say that whole world where Pedro Pascal played the character beautifully is very, very different from the world we are operating in. I think just the casting alone makes that obvious – I joke, because you are not going to look at me in general for those same type of roles [as Pedro Pascal,] he is amazing.

I’ll be able to talk so much more freely about this after the movie comes out, but in the meantime, I can say that I loved the process of working on it. [From] what I have seen from the movie, which is not all of it, I’m very excited for an audience to see it. I have very high hopes as to how the audience will respond to it.

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As Gunn is confirmed to be in Superman as Maxwell, this is just one of several characters that he portrays in the DCU franchise. Outside the Superman movie, Gunn voices G.I. Robot in the animated Creature Commandos TV show, where he also reprised the role of Weasel from the DCEU.

What Sean Gunn’s Superman Movie Comments Mean

When it comes to Maxwell Lord’s depiction in the DCEU movie timeline, Pascal played an iteration that was a one-and-done for that franchise, especially given that he debuted in Wonder Woman 1984 rather than in the present. For the DCU, however, including everything Gunn just revealed, the Superman movie marketing has already revealed how they are positioning Lord as a big player in the present timeline. Even though he hasn’t appeared in any of the trailers yet, the character’s presence is already being felt through the Superman story, but through other characters.

With the introduction of Guy Gardner, Hawkgirl, Mister Terrific, and Metamorpho, the Superman trailers have shown that they are wearing LordTech-branded uniforms, confirming that these are superheroes who work or are affiliated with a corporation. That alone lines up with Gunn’s tease about how the DCU timeline is taking Maxwell Lord in a very different direction from Pascal’s version in the DCEU. While he hasn’t said it in one way or another, the Maxwell that audiences will see in the DCU may also be less villainous and more in line with some of his early comic book history.

Our Take On Sean Gunn’s Superman Movie Comments

While time will tell how the DCU will utilize Maxwell Lord, it will be exciting to see how Gunn’s comments line up with his character’s debut in Superman. As there is a lot of rich history of Maxwell Lord from the DC canon, there really are a lot of fascinating directions they can take with the character both in and after Superman. Hopefully, when the next Superman trailer gets released, it will finally give the DCU audience a first look at Gunn’s Maxwell Lord.