Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for James Gunn’s Superman
After watching James Gunn’s Superman, it’s fun to look back at All-Star Superman. While James Gunn pulled from several different comics and pieces of source material for the DCU’s first major movie, All-Star Superman is confirmed to be one of the bigger ones. To that end, finding the moments first seen on the page that most likely influenced the epic new movie is pretty cool.
All-Star Superman was written by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely, a 12-issue series published between 2005-2008. A timeless story written without continuity constraints, All-Star Superman is widely considered to be one of the most beloved and critically acclaimed Superman comics ever, an incredibly introspective epic as Kal-El reflects on his legacy and humanity. As such, here are some of the best nods James Gunn’s Superman makes to All-Star Superman.
11
Superman Robots
Inspired by All-Star Superman
First and foremost, the Superman Robots in the Fortress of Solitude are very much inspired by All-Star Superman. Attending to Superman’s needs as autonomous caretakers, the addition of the Superman Robots in James Gunn’s Superman is very fun. It’s very cool to see how they all have blue capes, just like in the original comic. That said, the DCU’s versions are certainly more entertaining (particularly Alan Tudyk’s #4/Gary).
10
Lex’s Voice-Command Superweapon
Mirroring Ultraman
In James Gunn’s Superman, Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor has an entire mission control room of technicians and henchmen helping him control Ultraman, his incredibly powerful enforcer, who’s revealed to be a clone of Superman himself. Not only does this mirror Bizarro (who is featured in All-Star Superman), but the way in which Ultraman is controlled by Lex Luthor seems to be lifted from All-Star as well.
At the beginning of All-Star Superman, Lex Luthor is shown using a remote-controlled living superweapon he controls with a voice command sequence. This is not unlike the DCU’s Lex Luthor calling out fight codes to Ultraman to rival Superman in battle, as Luthor had memorized and developed countless fight patterns after years of study.
9
Lois Lane Knowing Superman’s Secret Idenтιтy
Similar To All-Star
Because James Gunn’s Superman throws audiences into an established universe, Lois Lane already knows that Superman is Clark Kent. However, they’ve only been dating for a few weeks, meaning the reveal must have been quite recent. This is not unlike All-Star Superman #1, where Clark Kent reveals to Lois that he’s Superman for the first time.
8
Superman’s Struggle With Recording Devices
Clark Kent Prefers Shorthand
Getting the chance to interview Lex Luthor in prison, Clark Kent is mocked by Luthor for taking shorthand notes instead of using a recording device like every other journalist in the modern era. In response, Clark claims he has trouble getting them to work. Humorously, David Corenswet’s Kent struggles to turn off Lois’ recording device during their interview in James Gunn’s Superman.
7
“Brain Beats Brawn, Every Time”
Said By Both Lex And Superman
One of my favorite nods that James Gunn’s Superman makes to All-Star Superman is a simple line: “Brain beats brawn, every time”. In All-Star, Lex Luthor says this key phrase during his prison interview with Clark Kent, only for Superman to echo the line after Lex Luthor’s plans are foiled, issues later. Superman successfully outwitted Luthor (even when Lex had superpowers of his own via a serum).
The DCU’s Lex similarly and triumphantly claims “Brain beat brawn!” while using Ultraman to repeatedly beat Superman into submission. However, Superman ends up smiling before saying the same thing, having Krypto take out all the drones Lex was using to give his Superman clone commands. As such, both Superman and Lex using the line is one of the biggest and best nods to All-Star Superman.
6
Krypto and Superman On The Moon
James Gunn’s Superman Recreates The SH๏τ In Live-Action
All-Star Superman #6 has a big focus on Krypto the Superdog. In the comic, Superman plays fetch with Krypto (using an entire tree) before chasing each other in space. However, they then sit back on the moon and watch the Earth together.
Without question, the moon page with Superman and Krypto is one of All-Star Superman’s most iconic. Likewise, this same sH๏τ was recreated in live-action for Superman’s promotions, while also being one of Superman’s post-credit scenes. Without a doubt, it’s similarly one of Krypto’s cutest moments in the movie.
5
Krypto To The Rescue
“Krypto, Get The Toy”
It’s also worth noting that Krypto isn’t just around to be cute in Morrison and Quitely’s All-Star Superman. When Superman clashes with variant Supermen from the future, Krypto comes to his aid, loyal as ever. Likewise, the same occurs in James Gunn’s Superman, where Krypto becomes a key ally by the movie’s end, helping Kal-El take on Ultraman as well as Luthor’s Raptor forces.
4
“What A Man Says and What He Does”
Similar Guidance From Pa Kent
After Pa Kent pᴀsses away in All-Star Superman after suffering a heart attack, Clark gives a eulogy at his father’s funeral. He shares that Jonathan Kent taught him that “the measure of a man lies not in what he says, but in what he does“, having shown Clark by example “how to be tough, and how to be kind, and how to dream of a better world.“
Similarly, the DCU’s Pa Kent echoes this advice when Clark is struggling with the idenтιтy of who he thought he was, based on the message from his Kryptonian parents and the dark truth he never knew. In James Gunn’s Superman, Pa Kent tells his son just how proud he is of him before giving him similar guidance: “Your choices, your actions, that’s what makes you who you are.“
3
Krypton’s Truth
Superman Encouraged To Conquer Earth
All-Star’s Superman isn’t told by Jor-El that he was meant to conquer humanity and turn Earth into a “New Krypton”. However, Superman is met by a pair of Kryptonian astronauts who were lost in space for years following Krypton’s destruction.
Named Bar-El and Lilo, these new Kryptonians are disgusted with how Superman has been serving humanity when he could have spent his time on Earth as its ruler. As such, this is more than likely a key bit of inspiration for the DCU’s big twist on Superman’s Kryptonian origins.
2
Superman Having Faith In Lex’s Redemption
“That’s My Greatest Strength”
One of the best moments during Superman’s ending is when Superman confronts Lex Luthor face-to-face. Even after everything Lex Luthor does in Superman to end Clark’s life, the Man of Steel still has hope for Luthor himself and that he can still be redeemed:
“I’m as human as anybody. They’ve always been wrong about me. I love. I get scared. But that is being human, and that’s my greatest strength. I hope one day, for the sake of the world, you realize it’s yours too.”
The same thing occurs in All-Star Superman. Even after Luthor overexposed Superman’s cells to solar radiation and effectively put a timer on his life, Superman still believed that his greatest nemesis could be redeemed. Sure, that’s a recurring sentiment across Superman’s entire comic book mythos, but the parallel still feels notable all the same.
