The slight ridiculousness was the point
In the long conversation between myth and modernity, even the smallest sartorial detail can carry the weight of a character's entire history. Director James Gunn's deliberate choice to dress his Superman in the classic red briefs for the 2025 film was not mere nostalgia, but a philosophical act — an embrace of the productive tension between the heroic and the absurd. The decision, reached after consultation with Zack Snyder and extensive collaboration with actor David Corenswet, affirms that honoring an icon sometimes means accepting, even celebrating, its contradictions.
- A leaked behind-the-scenes photo of David Corenswet in a brief-less Superman suit forced the question into public view: was the classic design a bold choice or a creative compromise?
- Both Gunn and Snyder had independently struggled to make the red underwear work visually, with Snyder reportedly testing a thousand variations without success.
- Corenswet reframed the entire debate by proposing that the slight ridiculousness of the design was not a flaw to be solved, but a feature to be embraced — a visual humility built into the world's most powerful hero.
- That conceptual pivot unlocked the decision, and the classic costume moved forward, grounding the new Superman in decades of comics, animation, and cultural memory.
- DC Studios will release an hour-long making-of documentary alongside the physical media launch on September 23, bringing full transparency to these and other production choices.
When James Gunn set out to design Superman's costume for his 2025 film, he inherited a question that had shadowed superhero cinema for years: should the Man of Steel wear his classic red briefs, or not? A recently surfaced behind-the-scenes photo of actor David Corenswet in the brief-less alternate suit makes the road not taken suddenly visible — and clarifies just how deliberate the final choice was.
The path to that choice was anything but straightforward. Gunn consulted Zack Snyder, who had wrestled with the same dilemma on his own Superman films and concluded, after exhaustive testing, that he simply couldn't make the underwear work. Gunn and Corenswet ran their own experiments, trying the suit both ways. Intellectually, Gunn wanted the red briefs — they were the Superman of his childhood, the one etched into memory by decades of comics and animation. But something in practice kept resisting.
It was Corenswet who found the key. The red underwear looked, he acknowledged plainly, a little ridiculous. Rather than treating that as a problem to be engineered away, he proposed reframing it entirely: what if the slight absurdity was intentional? What if Superman wore the briefs precisely because they introduced a touch of visual foolishness into his overwhelming power — a quiet, humanizing contradiction built into the costume itself?
That idea changed everything. With that logic as their foundation, Gunn and Corenswet committed to the classic design. The alternate photo now circulating shows what they walked away from: a sleeker, more modern suit that reads as contemporary but loses the visual thread connecting this Superman to every version that came before him.
For those who want the full story behind these choices, DC Studios has prepared an hour-long making-of documentary to accompany the film's physical media release on September 23, offering an in-depth look at the countless decisions that shaped this new chapter for the character.
When James Gunn sat down to design Superman's costume for his 2025 film, he faced a question that had haunted superhero cinema for decades: should the Man of Steel wear red underwear over his suit, or not? A behind-the-scenes photograph of actor David Corenswet in an alternate costume—one without the classic red briefs—provides a stark visual answer to that debate. The choice to include them, Gunn ultimately decided, was the right one.
The decision didn't come easily. During production, Gunn consulted with Zack Snyder, who had grappled with the same dilemma on his Superman films. Snyder told him bluntly: he'd tested a thousand different versions with the underwear and couldn't make it work. Gunn found himself in agreement. He and Corenswet ran their own experiments, trying the costume both ways. Theoretically, Gunn preferred the idea of keeping the red briefs—it was the Superman he'd grown up with, the one burned into his memory from decades of comics and animation. But in practice, something felt off.
Corenswet, who spent hours in both versions of the suit, articulated the problem with precision. The red underwear looked, frankly, a bit ridiculous. The actor and director searched for a way to make it work visually, to find some functional or narrative justification that would make the design feel intentional rather than absurd. Then Corenswet landed on an idea that reframed the entire question: what if the slight ridiculousness was the point? What if Superman wore the red briefs precisely because they looked a little silly, a deliberate visual undercut to his overwhelming power? It was a way of saying that even the most powerful being on Earth could afford to look a touch foolish.
That conceptual shift changed everything. With that logic in place, Gunn and Corenswet moved forward with the classic design. The photograph that has now surfaced—showing Corenswet in the alternate, brief-less version—serves as visual proof of their decision. Stripped of the red underwear, the suit looks sleeker, more modern, more "realistic." But it also looks like something else: like Superman without his history, without the visual shorthand that connects him to every version of the character that came before.
The debate over Superman's underwear might seem trivial to those outside the fan community, but it touches on something deeper: how do you honor a character's legacy while making him feel contemporary? How do you keep what made him iconic without making him look dated? Gunn's answer was to lean into the contradiction, to accept that Superman's costume has always been slightly absurd—a man in bright colors flying through the sky—and to trust that the audience would understand the red briefs as part of that larger visual language.
The full scope of these production decisions will be available to audiences soon. DC Studios has prepared an hour-long documentary to accompany the physical media release of Superman, scheduled for September 23. The making-of film includes extensive behind-the-scenes material and production insights, offering fans a deeper look at how Gunn and his team navigated the countless choices that went into bringing this version of the character to life. For those who've wondered why Superman looks the way he does in this film, the answers are coming.
Citações Notáveis
I grew up with Superman wearing the red underwear, but in practice it looked a bit ridiculous, and we had to find a way to make it work visually.— James Gunn (paraphrased)
Maybe the reason Superman wears them is to look a little ridiculous—to undermine his true power visually.— David Corenswet (paraphrased)
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why did this particular costume choice matter so much that Gunn felt he needed to consult Snyder about it?
Because Superman's visual identity is almost sacred to fans. Change the wrong thing and you've broken the connection to every version they've ever loved. The red underwear isn't just fabric—it's a symbol of continuity.
But Gunn initially didn't want to use it either, right? What changed his mind?
Corenswet's insight did. Once they reframed it as intentional—that the slight absurdity was a feature, not a bug—it stopped feeling like a design problem and started feeling like a statement about the character.
A statement about what, exactly?
That Superman can be powerful and a little ridiculous at the same time. That you don't have to choose between honoring the past and feeling modern. The underwear becomes almost a wink—we know how this looks, and we're doing it anyway.
The photo of Corenswet without them—does it prove they made the right choice?
It shows the difference clearly. Without them, he looks like a contemporary superhero. With them, he looks like Superman. Whether that's the "right" choice depends on what you think Superman should be.
What does the documentary add to this conversation?
Context. It lets you see the actual process—the testing, the conversations, the moment when the decision crystallized. It transforms the costume from a detail into a story about how films get made.