James Gunn’s 'Superman' Honors Legacy With Cameo By Will Reeve
ABC News correspondent Will Reeve is the youngest son of Christopher Reeve, who played the Man of Steel from 'Superman: The Movie' to 'Superman IV: The Quest for Peace'
When the sun rises on a new DC Universe, so must the son of the man who led the way. James Gunn’s Superman, a film that explores legacy so much that it bore the word as its subtitle for nearly 400 days, has cast Will Reeve, the youngest son of Christopher Reeve, who portrayed the Man of Steel for four films from 1978 to 1987.
The younger Reeve, now a journalist and ABC News correspondent, won’t be stepping too far out of what’s familiar, as he has a cameo playing a TV reporter. His role was discovered by local reporters from the DC Studios film’s Cleveland set, during what’s called a major scene with the newest Superman, David Corenswet.
Technically, he is one of DC Studios’s first stars since the rebrand. He and his older siblings Matthew and Alexandra are heavily featured in Ian Bonhote and Peter Ettedgui’s documentary Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, which chronicles their late father’s life and career from his rise as a Hollywood icon to the 1995 near-fatal horse-riding accident that left him paralyzed from the neck down. Picked up by Warner Bros. Pictures after a Sundance debut, it was announced at CinemaCon it would be DC Studios’s first theatrically-released film this September. In May, that was clarified to be with Fathom Events on September 21 with an encore on September 25, Christopher Reeve’s birthday. “The majority of my memories of my dad involve him after the accident because I was not yet three years old when he was injured,” Will had said at the festival. “So to see his entire life leading up until that time laid out so poetically and cinematically and authentically by our wonderful directors has been a real gift for me.”
Infamously, while the penultimate DCEU film The Flash featured Michael Keaton returning to the role of Bruce Wayne aka Batman due to time travel and George Clooney replacing him in the film’s final scene after the proper timeline was supposedly or mostly restored, in between the film’s climax instituted AI deepfakes of several other actors’ portrayals of characters, to much rightful controversy. That included Reeve, and of course his kids did not approve nor have any involvement. However, this appearance makes clear, especially under the new leadership of Gunn and Peter Safran as DC Studios co-CEOs that if it did cause any damage, it was certainly mended. He received a hug from Gunn and a round of applause from cast and crew members on set after the scene wrapped, like main cast do.
The remake cameo, or more accurately readaptation cameo is probably one of the biggest casting tropes in superhero film and television, celebrating the legacy of these decades-old characters. The Arrowverse absolutely loved this trope, with probably too many to list, and so did the DCEU. Sometimes they even shared. Lynda Carter, who played Wonder Woman in her own live action television series in the 1970s, would play United States President Olivia Marsdin in five episodes of Supergirl before playing Asteria in the mid-credits scene of Wonder Woman 1984. Michael Gray, who played Billy Batson in the Shazam! television series of the same era, cameoed as an onlooker who told Zachary Levi’s version of the hero “You’re the best, Captain Marvel!” in last year’s Fury of the Gods. The practice has been in place so long that it goes back to the that 1978’s Superman film, where Kirk Alyn and Noel Neill, the first onscreen actors to play Superman and Lois Lane, played Lois’s parents in a once-deleted scene. Christopher did take part in this practice before his 2004 death, playing Dr. Virgil Swann in two episodes of Smallville (and was deleted from a third), with his presence looming over the series as it continued to unfold. Continuing it with the family makes all the sense in the world, even if it’s 20 years on.
The new Superman will be the first film in the new DC Universe and is set for release on July 11, 2025.
Source. Variety, Cleveland.com