Superman ended with Lex Luthor being imprisoned for his role in nearly destroying Metropolis. Peacemaker Season 2 later granted the villain a reprieve when new A.R.G.U.S. boss Rick Flag Sr. turned to the villain for help in creating his Metahuman prison, Salvation.
Teaser art for next summer's Man of Tomorrow has confirmed that Superman and Lex will both fight each other and side-by-side, with the latter set to finally don his iconic green and purple War Suit on screen. The sequel's true big bad will be Brainiac, as James Gunn intends to explore Lex in a more heroic light with his Superman follow-up.
As of now, Lex's deal with Flag has seen him moved from the Metahuman-filled Belle Reve to Van Kull Maximum Security Prison, and it seems we'll spend some time with him in the latter before Lex somehow earns his freedom.
According to a rumour shared on X by Superman Saga News, Gunn is planning to shoot a jail scene later this month, requiring over 100 extras for scenes partly filmed in a real prison and, later, on a soundstage.
This may be a simple prison break or, with any luck, an adaptation of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's All-Star Superman #5. In that issue, a bumbling Clark Kent visited Lex in prison for a Daily Planet profile, secretly using his powers to repeatedly save the villain when a riot broke out.
We'll have to wait and see whether this pans out, but it sounds like a sequence that has the potential to be a standout set piece in Man of Tomorrow.
Last year, the DC Studios co-CEO teased his DCU plans by saying, "I like my movies to be different. Guardians 1 is not the same as Guardians 3. They're different. And Man of Tomorrow will not be the same as Superman. And it is Lex's story too, so it's the two of them. That colours it in a totally different way."
"I don’t know what people have guessed, but Man of Tomorrow is really—it’s very, very connected to Peacemaker—but it’s also its own thing," Gunn continued. "I mean, it has its own story that’s separate from this."
Man of Tomorrow is expected to be a crucial chapter in his wider plans for the DCU, and Gunn confirmed that he has one eye on the future when he said, "Yes, [my plans] definitely go significantly further than Man of Tomorrow. So whether or not that'll be me that's able to fulfil that promise depends on a lot of things in life."
In Man of Tomorrow, Superman will be forced to team up with Lex Luthor to battle Brainiac, a threat not just to Metropolis but the entire world.
Written and directed by James Gunn, the movie stars David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, Isabela Merced as Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl, Frank Grillo as Rick Flag, Sr., Lars Eidinger as Brainiac, and Aaron Pierre as John Stewart.
Man of Tomorrow arrives in theaters on July 9, 2027.