James Gunn reveals that Superman’s glasses are canon

James Gunn recently spoke about Clark Kent's use of glasses in his Superman movie and its relevance to his identity switch. The upcoming DCU installment will show Gunn's interpretation of the classic DC comic stories, and, unlike Zack Snyder's grim and gritty DCEU projects, it looks fresh and cheerful. It aims to be more faithful to the comics, and for the same reason, Gunn is bringing back the trope often associated with the son of Krypton.

The comics and subsequent movies have shown Clark working at a newspaper outlet as a shy and reserved man. However, he gets all confident and charismatic as he turns into Superman. Clark wears glasses, and the caped hero doesn't. In real life, most people will recognize a person once they take off their glasses, but that doesn't happen with Clark in James Gunn's movie.

Gunn revealed why his version of Clark Kent suddenly becomes unrecognizable as he takes off his glasses. Gunn called them 'hypno glasses,' which makes people think that Clark is different than his alter-ego. He also revealed that these glasses are part of the canon and thus, comic-appropriate. Here's what the writer-director said during his conversation with ComicBook.com,

“That’s canon in the comics. It’s kind of been forgotten but that’s from the comics. I was sitting with Tom King, the comic book writer, and I was like, ‘You know the thing that I just don’t really know how to reconcile in myself is the glasses because the glasses always bothered me as a kid.’ They bothered me because I just don’t have that much suspension of disbelief to believe that.”

It's not like Clark and the caped hero look different, but these glasses make people think that they are different people. As Gunn spoke further about this topic, he also revealed that David Corenswet looks the most different between his dual identities after Christopher Reeve, who played the hero in four movies between 1978 and 1987.

“You know, they’re two different people even though I think out of all the actors that have played Superman, Corenswet looks the most different from Clark Kent to Superman, even more so than Chris Reeve. But he said, ‘You know, there’s an answer for that in the comics, it’s canon that they hypnotize people,’” Gunn said.

James Gunn also sheds light on why it's LutherCorp and not LexCorp in his Superman movie.

Superman - Rio De Janeiro Red Carpet - Source: Getty

During the same conversation, James Gunn was asked why Lex Luthor's corporation in Superman is referred to by Lex's last name and not his first, as seen in many adaptations. Was it to highlight Lex's lineage as a member of the Luthor family? Or did he want to highlight something else from this creative decision? Here's what Gunn said,

"When I was making this movie, I was taking stuff from all sorts of different comic books and TV shows and movies and I'm a Smallville fan. It's Luthercorp in Smallville and so, it is that."

He further spoke about why he deemed it logically sound.

"Most people don't name corporations after their first names. So, I believed [the name being LutherCorp] more. It also leaves the door open [to analyze] whether his father or his mother was, in any way, a part of this [operation]."