Wendell Pierce Puts 'Superman' On The Beat As Perry White

Great Caesar’s ghost! Superman is still releasing casting news!

Welp, turns out casting news for the DC Universe’s Superman isn’t ready to rest yet. The Wire actor Wendell Pierce will play Clark, Lois, and Jimmy’s boss at The Daily Planet, editor-in-chief Perry White.

Principal photography began Thursday, as did its simpler identity after a year of having been known as Superman: Legacy. The character of Perry White was originally introduced through the The Adventures of Superman radio serial in 1940, like subordinate Jimmy Olsen. Depending on the version, he can be the boss who’s harsh, stressed, or fatherly, with a notable example of the latter being Lane Smith’s portrayal in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, a personal favorite that idolized Elvis. Previous theatrical outings for the character have seen him played by Jackie Cooper in the Christopher Reeve films, turning into Frank Langella for Superman Returns, and Laurence Fishburne in the DCEU. This seems to have set a precedent, as the version seen on the animated series My Adventures with Superman is also black, voiced by Darrell Brown. Michael McKean played the character on Smallville, while George Dzundza voiced him in Superman: The Animated Series. Due to a lack of focus on Clark’s day-to-day life in what was originally Earth-38 Metropolis, White never appears in any of the main Arrowverse shows. Similarly, because the premise of Superman & Lois has Clark, Lois and their kids move back to Smallville, he only has one scene, giving Clark a tour in the pilot’s flashback to Clark’s first day at the Daily Planet. He’s played by Paul Jarrett there.

Best known as Detective Bunk Moreland from the beginning to the end of HBO’s The Wire, he would go on to star as Antoine Batiste, a trombonist on another of the network’s series, Treme. Having just come off playing James Greer in Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, his latest series regular role premiered on Thursday as well, on CBS’s latest The Good Wife spin-off Elsbeth. He was also a series regular on the most recent iteration of The Odd Couple led by Matthew Perry and Thomas Lennon. In film, he’s had roles in Malcolm X, Hackers, Waiting to Exhale, Horrible Bosses, Selma, and Bad Moms. With theater experience going back to 1985, his most recent role has been as Willy Loman in 2019 and 2022 revivals of Death of a Salesman on West End and Broadway respectively.

Pierce joins a Superman cast that stars David Corenswet as Clark Kent aka Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen, thus comprising the major Daily Planet figures, 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 and Sara Sampaio as Eve Teschmacher. James Gunn has written and directs the film, and as DC Studios co-CEO is a likely executive producer with other co-CEO Peter Safran. That we’re getting Perry now means it’s possible Martha and/or Jonathan Kent’s casting could come out at any point before the marketing kicks in, so be vigilant if you so wish. The film is set for release on July 11, 2025.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter