'Superman' Sneak Peek Escapes CinemaCon Phantom Zone

Barking up the theater owners’ tree at the Fortress of Solitude

On Tuesday evening, April 1, Warner Bros. had their panel at CinemaCon. Exhibitors were fed sneak peeks of several upcoming movies, whether new trailers or new scenes. The Cat in the Hat had an unfinished trailer showcased, as well as Warner Bros. Pictures Animation’s assurance of Warner-owned IP getting films, including known in-development Meet the Flintstones and Tom and Jerry, but also yes indeed, another Looney Tunes film (yes this was the day after Coyote vs. Acme was sold to Ketchup Entertainment). Final Destination: Bloodlines had its trailer released the week before so all it showed was a new clip. But surely there are a lot of bets being hedged on the new DC Universe, how much was shown from that? Despite DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn sharing a new photo of Milly Alcock holding the source material and namesake of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow it was near entirely Superman, with the director himself and stars David Corenswet (Clark/Superman), Rachel Brosnahan (Lois Lane), and Nicholas Hoult (Lex Luthor) in attendance. A new look at Dynamic Duo was at least shown, but whatever’s flagged for DC in May 2026 is still unknown, and that photo share was to commemorate Supergirl’s 66th anniversary. A sneak peek of Superman was showcased as well, but it wasn’t released. Nothing was, at least at first. Overall, it seemed like the consensus was that it was disappointing. However, as it turned out, the Superman clip would be released to the public on Thursday, seemingly led by Gunn.

The nearly four-minute scene shows Krypto’s full rescue upon his summoning, which is interspersed through much of the teaser trailer released in December, dragging the bloodied Superman to the Fortress of Solitude for medical treatment. But it’s not as straightforward as one might expect. With his super speed and flight he lands painfully on Superman’s back, jumping back onto it several times in excitement…or misguided attempts to fix him up himself. Then he gets chewy and tippy before he’d provided the cape to drag him with. That treatment would come from the Kryptonian robots, the numbered fourth ultimately being confirmed by Gunn to be the secret Alan Tudyk role, and is the primary talker. Whoever #12 is we don’t know yet. His injuries include 14 fractures, with damage to the kidneys, bladder, large intestines, and lungs that just need the yellow sun to heal. It’s not the most painless process however. As he screams, the John Williams theme swells, as it leads to trailer footage all in the teaser.

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Gunn talked about his inspiration during the presentation, seemingly revealing he was approached to do a Superman movie during his Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 limbo period, which would probably have been the imperiled Man of Steel sequel but not explicitly stated, but he chose The Suicide Squad to not be burdened by audience pressure “Back in 2018 I was first offered Superman and I was like ‘Oh my god, that seems so cool … it seems hard. And they said we also wanted you to do the Suicide Squad, and I took the easy way. It was an R-rated movie about a bunch of ragtag heroes.” He continued “But it stuck with me and it was a constant thought experiment in my mind. How can you take a character like that, perceived as old fashioned by many, so many permutations throughout the years… how can you do it for a modern audience? And one day it suddenly hit me in a burst, and I wanted to do a story that was utterly human, utterly fantastic. This is a movie that celebrates kindness and human love. I want people to have that magical feeling when they come out of the movie and they love the person they came with a little more than when they went in.” He finished by saying “The flying dog, the giant kaiju, pocket universes, old things that were in the Max Fleischer cartoons. It took a long time to get there.”

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“These stories are at their core about the power of hope…and the fight for good to conquer evil,” Brosnahan told theater owners. “That’s always worth fighting for,” she added. Hoult had something of a pinch-me moment, watching as Corenswet flew onto the set on wires, all part of that Hollywood magic. “I’ve got this grin on my face. I turn around and everyone behind me has the same expression on their face,” he said. It’s truly nice that it got out, maybe the behind the scenes featurette also shown will be out in a couple of weeks for Superman Day. But there’s no way to know for sure. Superman will be released in theaters on July 11, and also stars Wendell Pierce as Perry White, Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen, Beck Bennett as Steve Lombard, Mikaela Hoover as Cat Grant and Christopher MacDonald as Ron Troupe. Edi Gathegi as Mister Terrific, Nathan Fillion as Green Lantern Guy Gardner, 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 home in Smallville as Ma and Pa Martha and Jonathan Kent, while the villain side features Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, María Gabriela De Faría as Angela Spica, The Engineer, Terence Rosemore as Otis, and Sara Sampaio as Eve Teschmacher. Alcock is all but confirmed to debut as Supergirl here, while Frank Grillo reprises his role as Rick Flag Sr.. it is widely believed that because that State of the Studio meeting with the press happened so recently, updating on theatrical projects they hadn’t even formally announced yet, that CinemaCon didn’t need to be the place to do more in that vein. Watch the sneak peek below as it barrels toward 7 million viewers as of writing.

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Sources: Deadline, Variety