New 'Superman' David Corenswet brings 'dad energy' and abs of steel to iconic role

USA Today

12 hours ago

Before he was tapped to be the next Superman, and even before he became a new father, David Corenswet exuded big 'dad energy.'
When the Philadelphia native would hang out with fellow actors, or at summer camp when he was a teenager, Corenswet was the guy making sure friends were being safe, not taking too many risks and always, always buckling their seat belts.
'I took a lot of pride in not being the cool one in the group but being the one who really cared about everybody and wanted to make sure that we had a good time and everybody came out alive,' says Corenswet, 31. 'So as I got older and a little taller and came into myself a little bit, I had a couple people reflect back to me that I had kind of Superman energy. I liked that.'
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The actor has taken that good-hearted personality of his and added a spit curl, a bunch of muscle and a nifty supersuit with a familiar 'S' as the latest Man of Steel in 'Superman' (in theaters July 11). As James Gunn's big-screen adventure launches a new version of the DC superhero universe, Corenswet finds himself the center of a massive franchise – and a guy who felt uncool and overly earnest growing up has turned that caring nature into a positive.
'There's dueling lightness and gravitas that David brings to this role,' says co-star Rachel Brosnahan, who plays Supes' girlfriend, Lois Lane. 'He really understands him in a way that none of us can articulate. He is Superman.'
Which is why he has prepped for the world to know his name and face soon enough. "I told everybody that they shouldn't expect to hear from me until July 12," Corenswet jokes over Zoom, looking more GQ than Justice League with closely cropped hair and a scruffy beard. "I may need to just hide under a rug for a week, just to let everything blow over."
David Corenswet's vulnerable new Superman isn't invincible
Corenswet, who has starred in movies like 'Twisters' and 'Pearl' as well as TV's 'The Politician' and 'Hollywood,' follows a line of Supermen before him that includes George Reeves, the iconic Christopher Reeve and Henry Cavill. But this new iteration of the hero reveals a different and vulnerable side than shown before on screen.
Superman – and his bespectacled reporter alter ego, Clark Kent – faces serious flak after getting involved in global military matters. He comes under fire for being an alien from Krypton. He's forced to rethink everything about his life and identity. And when Metropolis and the world are in dire straits, he sets everything aside to go find his dog, Krypto.
Though the actor knows Superman has been labeled 'boring' because of his invincibility, the intriguing twist in this version is that, not only does he get his butt handed to him fairly regularly, he also knows he can't fix everything. This Superman is an Everyman.
'He can save the city from this giant kaiju one day and the next day be in an argument with Lois Lane that makes him feel like the world's going to end,' Corenswet says. 'What if she leaves him? What if he said something that screwed something up? As anybody knows who's been in love when they were young, it's not a life-or-death situation, but it sure as hell feels like it in the moment. And those things matter to Superman just as much as they matter to anybody.
'He wants desperately to fit in and to love and be loved.'
Corenswet's father, John, was a stage actor turned lawyer, and Corenswet started in theater productions when he was 9 with a role in Arthur Miller's "All My Sons." His star has been on a steady rise since graduating drama school in 2016. (Like Reeve, Corenswet went to Juilliard.)
Three years later, he mentioned in an interview that he'd love to play Superman, though Cavill was still the Man of Steel at that point and there was no reboot on the horizon. "It was just a fantasy in the same way I'd love to play a Jedi or I'd love to play James Bond," he says. "For me, they're the worlds that I lived in as a kid when I was playing around in my basement."
When it came time for his Superman tryout, though, he nailed it. "People have a lot of expectations about what Superman is and what he looks like," writer and director Gunn says. "So there's a physical thing that accompanies being able to do the acting. But in all honesty, I found David on the first round of auditions."
Adds the new Supes: "It's just crazy that I'm actually here getting ready to share the movie with everybody."
With Corenswet, 'the world is his oyster right now,' says Wendell Pierce, who plays Clark's Daily Planet boss Perry White. The actor 'understands the power that he has' playing Superman, plus Corenswet also has 'kindness and innocence' working for him.
But as Corenswet acknowledges, 'it's because I'm really not innocent.' His father died in 2019 and was sick with cancer for much of Corenswet's life. 'Death and the possibility of loss was an ever-present subject in our household growing up,' he says. It was all talked about in 'a sober but compassionate way,' and over the years Corenswet was able 'to build a relationship with the darker and sadder parts of life' so they don't feel overwhelming.
'Superman has a wonderful innocence about him, especially in this film. He's a little earlier in his career. He's not a grown man yet. He doesn't have kids yet. He has some stuff to learn about that,' Corenswet says. 'Both Superman and me, we share the thing of wanting to be someone that people come to in their darker moments, not just in their moments of celebration. We can be a force for calm and reassurance and centeredness even in the most tumultuous times in life.'
David Corenswet refused to swear off cereal while getting in 'Superman' shape
Corenswet learned from his father not to sweat the small things and chalk bad stuff up to 'the adventure of life,' and he has carried that – plus his preexisting 'dad energy' – over to being a new parent himself. The start of filming 'Superman' last year and the birth of his daughter came 'ridiculously close' to each other, and his wife, actress Julia Warner, and their newborn spent much of the shoot with him.
'My wife was a champion and was like, 'Do whatever you need to do to get the sleep that you need to go to work.' But I didn't want to miss out on that part of her infanthood. It was really special for me being up in the middle of the night with her.
'I had a voice in my head saying: 'This is the biggest role you're ever going to play in your life. It's the most important thing to so many fans out there. Make the sacrifice, get the sleep you need and put in the work.' And then luckily the Superman voice in my head said, 'Maybe if you're playing Batman, sure, but Superman's not going to sleep in a different room so that he can get to sleep when his kid wakes up at 2 o'clock in the morning.' He's going to say, I need to be there for that.'
There was some room for Super-selfishness, though. Take, for example, the time when Corenswet was working out and gaining weight to look like the DC icon, and his trainer was appalled when the actor told him he had indulged in a bowl of cereal.
'I just said to him: 'Eating a bowl of cereal makes me a better person. I'm nicer, I'm easier-going.' I could not eat cereal for a year, but I would just be a little less joyful and a little edgier. And that's not a sacrifice that Superman would make," Corenswet recalls, laughing.
'Superman's the kind of guy who's like, 'Oh, you want washboard abs? Come on. Have a couple bowls of cereal.' Maybe I was just letting myself off the hook, but I think it was something real.'