James Gunn Introduces Stephen Blackehart As Sydney Happersen In 'Superman'
He's letting you meet an old friend of his
It seems Superman cast reveals aren’t over, and Eve Teschmacher won’t be Lex Luthor’s only underling with a name. The film’s director, James Gunn has revealed that Stephen Blackeheart will be playing one of the more obscure characters of DC Comics, Sydney Happersen.
Gunn shared a photo of Blackeheart in the role on his socials posting or captioning it “Meet Stephen Blackehart as Sydney Happersen in #Superman in a shot live off the on set monitor. 5.15.2024”. Blackeheart, like co-stars Nathan Fillion (here as Green Lantern Guy Gardner), Mikaela Hoover (Cat Grant), and Michael Rooker (Kryptonian robot), has a longstanding professional relationship with Gunn, dating back to their days at Troma Entertainment, meeting as Gunn wrote Tromeo and Juliet, where Blackeheart played Benny. He subsequently produced he produced Gunn’s comedy web series PG Porn for Spike, pilot Humanzee! For Xbox Live, and even Jenna Fischer’s earlier mockumentary Lollilove, starring her and James as the pair were married at the time, where Blackeheart also appeared as a Channel 7 cameraman. His more mainstream parts in Gunn work include Quill in Super, a Knowhere dispatcher who would become known as Steemie over the course of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, Robert Hickland in The Belko Experiment, Brahl in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Travis in Brightburn, Briscoe in The Suicide Squad, and Charlie the Gorilla in an episode of Peacemaker. He first started posting about his Superman role on June 9, but has evidently left it to Gunn to reveal it.
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Created by John Byrne and first appearing in Superman Vol. 2 #2 (1987), Happersen in the comics is a top scientist and deeply loyal assistant to Lex Luthor, who in the DC Universe is played by Nicholas Hoult. Happersen is frequently part of LexCorp’s more secretive and morally questionable projects. During the “Fall of Metropolis” storyline, when Luthor hesitated to launch ultrasonic missiles at the city, Happersen activated the detonation switch himself. This caused his death by electric surge and massive damage that Superman, Supergirl, and Superboy couldn’t stop. He’s made other appearances as well, like Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, where he’s portrayed as brilliant but morally flexible, willing to cooperate with whoever holds power, not just Lex but namely Amanda Waller. His comic appearances in this century have been decidedly minor, continually fading to the background.
In related “James Gunn brings his friends to the DCU” news, the DC Studios co-CEO confirmed that Bradley Cooper, who voiced Rocket Raccoon, has a role, and that Rooker is indeed one of the Kryptonian robots at the Fortress of Solitude alongside Alan Tudyk, but Pom Klementieff, who played Mantis, is too. Of course, the main stars of Superman besides Hoult are David Corenswet as Clark/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, Wendell Pierce as Perry White, Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen, Beck Bennett as Steve Lombard, and Christopher MacDonald as Ron Troupe. Happersen likely works alongside María Gabriela De Faría as Angela Spica, The Engineer, Terence Rosemore as Otis, and Sara Sampaio as the aforementioned Eve Teschmacher. Edi Gathegi as Mister Terrific, Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl, and Anthony Carrigan as Metamorpho aka Rex Mason bringing extra herodom to it all. There’s also Neva Howell and Pruitt Taylor Vince in Smallville as Ma and Pa Martha and Jonathan Kent. I will be going to the July 8 early screening for Prime members, two days before general preview screenings on July 10 for the July 11 general release date, and I am excited. Those screenings became Fandango’s best first-day advance ticket seller of 2025, outselling all other movies’ general first-day ticket sales year to date.
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Sources: Buzzfeed Australia, Deadline