Lost Justice League Movie Superman Photo Surfaces

I’ve written pretty extensively about Justice League: Mortal, the lost George Miller Justice League movie that almost got made. It was an impressive, ambitious DC superhero movie, one that would have been remarkably faithful to the spirit of the comics of its era. It had assembled quite a cast, too, which included Adam Brody (The Flash), Armie Hammer (Batman), Common (Green Lantern), Megan Gale (Wonder Woman), Hugh Keays-Byrne (Martian Manhunter), Santiago Cabrera (Aquaman), with Zoe Kasan (Iris West-Allen, Jay Baruchel (Maxwell Lord), and Teresa Palmer (Talia al Ghul). 

But G.I. Joe: Retaliation and From Dusk Til Dawn: The Series star DJ Cotrona was all set to play Superman. Like Armie Hammer’s Batman and Megan Gale’s Wonder Woman, production was far enough along on Justice League: Mortal that costumes were designed and fittings took place. There hasn’t been much out there in terms of what these costumes actually looked like (although concept art has surfaced and Armie Hammer has spoken enthusiastically about how cool his Batman suit and gadgets looked). But we haven’t known much about how DJ Cotrona would have looked as Superman…until now.

DC Films Hub scored a photo of Cotrona in the Superman costume, and it’s a pretty cool design.

Just like we’ve seen with assorted Superman costume designs from many of the unmade Superman movies from the late ’90s to early 2000s, Warner Bros. and DC were always eager to get rid of the red trunks, something that they were unable to successfully implement in the comics until the New 52 relaunch in 2011, in the movies with 2013’s Man of Steel, and on TV with Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman guest appearance on Supergirl in 2016. In general, though, this design seems to lean towards the idea of the costume being alien in nature or some kind of Kryptonian ceremonial gear rather than something Ma Kent whipped up.

Of course, after years of fighting it, the trunks are now back in the comics, and it looks like they’re going to stay. But DC Films Hub also revealed another piece of concept art for Cotrona’s Superman, which actually did include the red trunks!

But what’s really interesting is how many of these design elements eventually made it into the comics. The red highlights that you can see most clearly on the boots were part of the New 52’s ill-advised “armor” design, while the blue boots made their way into DC’s Rebirth redesign. I’ve always been a fan of making the ‘S’ shield part of the cape, too, and we saw that in the New 52 Earth-2 Superman design, and it was kind of alluded to on Tyler Hoechlin’s TV costume on Supergirl, as well.

 

Overall, it’s a pretty smart looking Superman suit, one that doesn’t suffer from the overabundance of unnecessary padding we’ve seen on Henry Cavill’s movie costumes (Cavill’s in Superman shape, he doesn’t need the costume to help him out in that regard). My only issue is with the blue boots, which I didn’t care for in the comics, either. If you’re not going to have the red trunks, you need more red to break up the costume, and the blue boots make it look like he’s wearing footie pajamas.

Head to DC Films Hub for more info.