It's been a strange few days on the Man of Tomorrow front. Earlier this week, it was reported that Marisa Abela (Back to Black), Adria Arjona (Andor), and Ella Purnell (Fallout) were testing for the role of secondary villain, Maxima.
James Gunn dismissed it as "bullsh*t," but has said nothing about a subsequent report, which claimed Arjona, Eva De Dominici (The Cleaning Lady), Sydney Chandler (Alien: Earth), and Grace Van Patten (The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox) had all tested.
There's already been speculation about this being a cover for Wonder Woman, though Maxima does have links to the Superman sequel's villain, Brainiac, in the comics.
Elaborating on his recent newsletter comments on The Hot Mic podcast, Jeff Sneider said, "I'm assured by people that the four women who were ultimately reported to have tested did test. And that they tested for the role of Maxima."
He reiterated that the role is "a cameo," but shared his belief that "this is cover for something...I had said that Wonder Woman was going to cameo in this movie and be introduced at the end, just like Supergirl was at the end of Superman."
"I'm told that that's sort of the context in which Maxima appears," Sneider continued, "that it's a cameo and then she'd have a bigger role in the third film."
Ultimately, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to go to such lengths to tease Maxima's future when she's a character who, in all honesty, most fans don't care about.
That begs the question: why bother having her show up for a cameo to tee up a third Superman movie, unless Gunn plans to go all-in on the idea of the Man of Steel forming a harem on Earth? In the comics, she comes to the planet believing him to be a suitable mate.
Sneider added, "I still think that Wonder Woman is a part of this, and we know that James has brought in actors before, like Nicholas Hoult to read for Superman and then cast him in a different role, which is sort of what I think is going on with Adria Arjona. [Abela, Arjona, and Purnell] really make sense for Maxima. They make sense for Wonder Woman. That feels like a Wonder Woman list."
"The second list, and this is what my sources were saying, it doesn't make sense that Adria would be testing against those girls because she's just a much bigger star," the insider noted. "I had a source be like, 'Oh, she should like fire her agents for even letting it be known to the town that she would test against these TV actresses.'"
There are a lot of very compelling points here, and with Warner Bros. Discovery reportedly pushing for a Wonder Woman movie, it makes sense for Diana Prince to show up in Man of Tomorrow.
As for Arjona being the frontrunner, she's a fan-favourite choice for the role, and DC Studios could do with the positive buzz that casting would create, given the muted response to recent Lanterns and Supergirl trailers.
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, previously announced stars include David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, Lars Eidinger as Brainiac, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen, Sara Sampaio as Eve Teschmacher, Frank Grillo as Rick Flag, Sr., Aaron Pierre as John Stewart, Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner, and Edi Gathegi as Mister Terrific.
Man of Tomorrow arrives in theaters on July 9, 2027.