James Gunn Reveals the Most Hotly Debated Scenes from ‘Superman’ Test Screenings

The new Superman movie, directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet as the Man of Steel, hit theaters just last week. It’s already a major box office success, with fans and critics praising the film worldwide.

But getting the movie to theaters wasn’t simple. Before the release, there were many changes and edits made, with some scenes being completely removed after test audiences reacted in ways the filmmakers didn’t expect.

Even before the movie’s release, reports started to come out about changes. One well-known example was from one of the early trailers. In that trailer, Superman was shown flying over the North Pole, but director James Gunn wasn’t happy with the CGI used in that scene.

He had it changed before the final cut of the movie. Another scene that fans never got to see involved the character known as The Engineer. Originally, there was a moment where The Engineer kicks Krypto, Superman’s loyal dog. But according to insiders, that scene was cut as well, most likely because it didn’t sit well with test audiences.

Now, James Gunn himself has shared even more details about deleted scenes and changes. He recently sat down for an interview with Joshua Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, where he talked openly about the decisions behind some of these cuts.

“So we had three or four things that were heatedly debated throughout this movie. Saving the squirrel. Heatedly debated,” Gunn said during the podcast. He referenced one scene in the movie when Superman saves a small squirrel from being crushed by a giant kaiju tail.

Gunn thought it was a cute moment. But surprisingly, a lot of people in test screenings didn’t like it. “Too much. Some audience members didn’t…‘Why is he saving a squirrel?!’ Cuz it’s a cute little adorable squirrel that was about to be crushed by a tail. It wasn’t a small number of people. There are a lot of squirrel haters out there, and this is in Los Angeles. Like Michael Rooker, he eats squirrels. He hunts and eats squirrels. That’s for real, that’s not a joke.” Gunn said.

But the biggest debate over a scene, according to Gunn, wasn’t about a squirrel. It was actually about one specific word used in the movie. In the film, the character Guy Gardner insults Superman. In the final version, Gardner calls him a “wuss.” But according to Gunn, that wasn’t the original insult. In the first cut of the movie, Gardner used a much stronger word.

“Another debate was, and this was probably the biggest, there were two biggest ones. The other debate was…Guy Gardner didn’t call him [Superman] a wuss in the first cut. He called him something else.” Gunn said. Then Gunn revealed what the word actually was. Gardner called Superman a p*****. That’s the word they used during filming.

Gunn described the original version of the scene: “It got an enormous laugh, an enormous laugh because he said ‘don’t be such a p****’ and then Clark goes, and this was what was cut, Clark goes: ‘hey there are kids here’ and then Guy goes ‘I said don’t be.’ and then he walks away. And so that was the big debate, whether we were gonna keep that word.”

The scene got big laughs from early audiences, but the filmmakers eventually decided that using that particular word wasn’t the right choice, especially for a Superman film. So, they changed it.

Another strange debate was about a small character moment at the end of the movie. Gunn explained that there were actually three different versions of the ending involving Jimmy Olsen and Eve. In the final version, Eve hugs Jimmy, and Jimmy smiles. But Gunn said they filmed two other endings where Jimmy didn’t smile at all.

“So at the end, Eve hugs Jimmy, and in one version, he just smiles. In another version he just stares out into the dark void that goes on forever. And then in the third version he just kind of accepts his fate and gives into it and smiles because she did save the day. She is the unsung hero of the movie. Selfies save the day.”

Gunn even admitted that he personally preferred the version where Jimmy stares into the void. “I was pro void,” Gunn laughed. He also said that producer Peter Safran was the one who fought for Jimmy to smile instead. According to Gunn, that debate wasn’t as heated as the one about the insult, but it still mattered to the filmmakers.

Finally, Gunn spoke about one more dark scene that never made it into the movie. It involved Lex Luthor, played by Nicholas Hoult. In the movie, there’s a shocking moment when Lex shoots a man in the head. Gunn said that the scene was filmed in a way that avoided being too graphic, but originally, the aftermath of that moment was much darker.

Gunn described the scene: after Lex shoots the man, blood starts pouring onto the platform where Lex is standing. Lex notices the blood is about to touch his expensive shoes, and he’s more concerned about his shoes than the dead body. In the original version, Lex actually orders Vasil Ghurkos to solve the problem in a disturbing way by soaking up the blood with his body.

“So Ghurkos goes, ‘no!? What!?’ And Nick looks at me, and his delivery is great because he just looks at him, and his delivery is great, and he’s like ‘No?’ And then Ghurkos just sheepishly trudges forward and lies down on his back and then just starts soaking up the blood.”

That whole scene was shot, but Gunn said it was never even shown to test audiences. They decided early on that it went too far and cut it from the movie completely.

All these behind-the-scenes details show just how much thought and discussion went into shaping Superman before it finally hit theaters. According to James Gunn, the goal was always to balance the darker moments with humor and heart, even if it meant cutting scenes that the filmmakers themselves liked.

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