'Superman' Brings Cat Grant Back To Daily Planet’s Orbit In New DC Universe
'Superman' Brings Cat Grant Back To Daily Planet’s Orbit In New DC Universe
Played by recent Gunn regular Mikaela Hoover, she’ll be joined by Ron Troupe, played by Christopher MacDonald
We are live from within the new DC Universe as the Daily Planet has announced it has added even more staff following the reveal of Beck Bennett being cast as sports reporter Steve Lombard for James Gunn’s Superman movie. It has been revealed that Cat Grant and Ron Troupe will be characters in the film, making any potential visible bylines more than just Easter eggs. They will be played by Mikaela Hoover and Christopher MacDonald.
Hoover has appeared in several of Gunn’s films, including the first Guardians of the Galaxy (as Nova Prime’s assistant), The Belko Experiment which he produced, and The Suicide Squad. Her biggest role yet would probably be voicing Floor the Rabbit, one of the experimented animals in Rocket’s squad in Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3. Probably now best known for being above Clark, Lois, and Jimmy’s age group thanks to the Arrowverse portrayal by Calista Flockhart that founded (and sold, and bought back) CatCo Worldwide Media and became White House Press Secretary for a bit, that’s still an iteration who had worked as Perry White’s assistant and would become a gossip columnist before her highest achievements. When she was introduced in the comics by creators writer Marv Wolfman and artist Jerry Ordway, in The Adventures of Superman #424 (January 1987), she brought her syndicated gossip column to the Planet from Los Angeles as a single, recently-divorced mother. Yeah, she’s only existed post-Crisis, and in the New 52, she’d lost a lot of that backstory. Sometimes they’ve used her to get in the way of Clark and Lois romantically and create a love triangle. She does become a reporter for TV station WGBS, which is where she is on the Young Justice animated series. She also gets her own eponymous talk show there in the comics, but splits her time until she works her way up the hierarchy. The character was played by Tracy Scoggins in a series regular capacity for the first season of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman before its slight retool that dropped the character entirely. She’s adapted twice in Smallville with different characters in singular ninth and tenth season episodes. It looks like Gunn is aiming for a more classic depiction of the character than the reboots brought.
Christopher MacDonald is not the Happy Gilmore, Thelma & Louise, Secret Invasion, and Hacks-starring actor, that’s Christopher McDonald, something Gunn himself had to correct Deadline about. MacDonald is in fact a complete newcomer with no credits shared in the trades if he even has any. Troupe, along with Grant, are considered some of the most enduring characters created Post-Crisis. They share a creator in Ordway, but his original artist was Tom Grummett. He is considered levelheaded and not as prone to getting himself in danger like the main Clark/Lois/Jimmy trio does, but still would if necessary. He’s among the highest-educated reporters on staff at the Daily Planet, and the most-awarded, known for his political editorials and activism. It often leads him to butt heads with Steve Lombard, and with both present in the film, that dynamic could surface. Notably, he married Lois’s sister Lucy Lane, and they have a son named Samuel, after her father.
In previous adaptations it seems Troupe hasn’t gotten much attention. He only has six appearances considered non-cameo in all of Superman: The Animated Series, where he’s voiced by Dorian Harewood. All cameos after are non-speaking. Harewood has been Rhodey in the Iron Man animated series, J’onn J’onnz in The Batman, and The Shredder subbing for James Avery in 45 episodes of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. He has a single episode of Smallville and one on Superman & Lois (for now), and is genderbent on My Adventures with Superman where Ronnie, voiced by Kenna Ramsey, like Lombard is on the “Scoop Troop” but doesn’t stoop to demeaning the interns like Clark, Lois and Jimmy.
In addition to Bennett as Lombard, Hoover and MacDonald join a Daily Planet led by Wendell Pierce as Perry White, with David Corenswet starring as Clark aka Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois, and Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen. Superman’s non-Planet personnel include Neva Howell and Pruitt Taylor Vince as Ma and Pa Martha and Jonathan Kent, Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl, Edi Gathegi as Mister Terrific, Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner Green Lantern, Anthony Carrigan as Metamorpho aka Rex Mason, María Gabriela De Faría as Angela Spica, The Engineer, and a clique of villains with Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, Terence Rosemore as Otis, Sara Sampaio as Eve Teschmacher. It’s also looking to be settled that Milly Alcock will debut as Supergirl here. Superman is the first film in the “Gods & Monsters” chapter of the new DC Universe, set for release on July 11, 2025.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter