Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s our official first look at the Superman costume! After a few months of waiting—and with roughly 14 months still left to go until the new Superman movie opens on July 25, 2025—DC Studios head and Superman helmer James Gunn revealed the first look at the costume for David Corenswet’s take on the Man of Steel, via an image of Corenswet's Superman pulling his boots on in preparation to defend the world from the unspecified cosmic threat visible through the window of his apartment— and the biggest takeaway is that the trunks are back.
Trunks are a bit of a contested costume design element among comic book fans. Underpants worn outside tights were originally signifiers of strength donned by stage-bound bodybuilders and athletes in the 1930s and harkened back to the original comic book adventures of Superman. Before he flew and fought aliens, Superman lifted bridges, wrestled elephants, and stopped trains — all activities more in line with strongmen of the times. So the trunks made sense, as a visual nod to carnival-style feats of strength and daring—and then they stuck around, for decades, even as the character evolved. Both Christopher Reeve and Brandon Routh rocked trunks during their tenures as Supes before Henry Cavill and Zack Snyder jettisoned them for 2013’s Man of Steel.
It may sound ridiculous, but the trunks are an ideological litmus test. Gunn's decision to go with the trunks is a literalization of his desire to return to the classical conception of Superman as a Big Blue Boy Scout, saving kittens from trees and helping the common folk, rather than the tortured Christ-like figure Superman became in the Snyderverse era. Along with the trunks come a few different design elements pulled from other sartorial sources. The (previously teased) S-symbol evokes costume designs from Mark Waid and Alex Ross' famed 1996 miniseries Kingdom Come, in which an older Superman and other heroes of his generation returned to action after decades away, while the mock neck and textural elements on the sleeves and pants feel very similar to 2011’s New 52 reboot suit, which also excluded trunks. The mock neck is a bolder choice for a superhero costume, so we asked GQ's style team for their take on it. “We are longtime mock-neck supporters here at GQ, so that’s a plus on my end,” said style editor Yang-Yi Goh, who also notes that exterior underpants have been having a moment lately.
It’s also worth noting that Corenswet’s pose is similar to how artist Frank Quietly often renders the character in All-Star Superman, his acclaimed 2005-2008 collaboration with writer Grant Morrison. All-Star is universally hailed as one the best recent takes on the character, a streamlined modern story that still managed to harken back to the foundational, traditional conception of Superman; back in March 2023, when Gunn confirmed that he'd be directing the next Superman film, he posted a Quitely image of the Man of Steel from the cover of All-Star Superman #1 on his Instagram.
Gunn stated on Instagram today that the new costume image was shot entirely in camera by his longtime set photographer Jessica Miglio, which means whatever that giant alien orb in the background is, it's part of the film in some capacity. Is the creature there as part of a scheme by Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult)? Or is it some other intergalactic threat? Either way, this won’t be the last time we’ll likely get a costume reveal, as we still have plenty of other heroes to see in Superman, including Kal-El’s cousin, Supergirl.