James Gunn & The Superman Cast Answer The 50 Most Googled Superman Questions

Hi, I'm Rachel. I'm Nick.

I'm David. And I'm James.

And together, we are...

[all laughing]

We are... Superman's people.

Superman, we're his people.

We're gonna answer

the most Googled questions about Superman.

[upbeat electronic music]

[mouse clicking]

All right, you do the first one.

Are Superman and Supergirl cousins?

Yes. Yes.

[bell chiming] Good, next one.

Can Superman breathe in space?

Of course he can't breathe in space.

No? [bell chiming]

No, there's no air in space.

There's no air in space.

That's easy. But he could...

Don't bring up the more specifics.

[all laughing]

Does Luthor know Superman's identity?

As in Clark Kent?

No.

Obviously, yes.

Hm, no? Well, he knows

who Superman is, but he doesn't know his-

No, he doesn't know

that it's Clark Kent, no. He doesn't know

he's Clark Kent. No, he doesn't know that.

Yeah. Sometimes?

Well, there's all...

You know, DC Comics has a rich history

of alternate stories and, you know, else world tales

and so, there've been times

[bell chiming] when he's known who he is,

but usually not, or find out, or he finds out

and gets a mind ray that makes him forget.

How does Superman fly?

Thinks about it

really, really hard. Next question.

[all laughing]

It definitely takes effort, that's for sure.

It's like treading water, but he's just really good at it.

But how does it happen, he just thinks about it?

Don't...

What is considered the best Superman comic?

Luthor: Man of Steel.

[all laughing]

I think it would-

Lois Lane: Superman's Girlfriend.

Generally, there are two series

that would be considered the greatest Superman comics.

Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's,

Superman for All Seasons, [bell chiming]

and it is Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's

All-Star Superman,

but Alan Moore's Superman story is one of the best,

Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow,

and a lot of other different versions too

that are really great, so...

How did Superman get his powers?

He was born with them, right?

He just has them

because he's on Earth? Well, he's born with

the potential for them, but they come out

because he grows up on a planet with a yellow sun.

[bell chiming] Yep.

That's where he got them.

Who is the new Superman?

Me.

[bell chiming]

[Rachel laughs]

What is Superman's real name?

Well, there's two, I mean...

Superman.

[all laughing] That is his real name.

Superman. Super...

Obviously. Superman's real name

is Superman. [Rachel laughs]

His legal name is Clark Kent,

given to him by his adopted parents.

His original name is Kal-El. [bell chiming]

Wait, can I add a question?

Yeah. Does Clark Kent

have a social security number?

Yes. No, I just

thought about that.

When do his parents

apply for it? Why is it so obvious?

They went through a whole rigmarole

of faking his adoption and all that stuff.

Did you just make that up?

No, that's true.

Will Superman 2025 be good?

No, it will be great.

[all laughing] Ah!

[bell chiming]

[James] [laughs] Oh, that's a good one.

What is so special about Lois Lane?

[all laughing] I ask that all the time.

Why are people Googling this?

She's a brilliant journalist.

She's courageous.

Yes. And she will do

just about anything in pursuit of truth and justice.

And she's one of only a handful of humans,

maybe only two, who can really match Superman.

That's true. And call him on his...

Shit, yeah, both here.

Tough table. This is...

Why is Lex Luthor bald?

Well...

Because he has no hair.

[all laughing]

No, there's different reasons, actually,

in different media. What's your reason?

Some where it's Superman's fault.

There's some where he was caught in a fire because of it.

There's some where

he's just balding. Yeah, yeah.

What other reasons were there?

There's a...

That he shaves his head. Yeah.

That he does it on purpose.

So, yeah, it just depends on...

Why were you bald? Yeah, what's yours?

Because it looks cool.

Oh, yes. Yeah, he does

look cool, yeah. It's true, yeah.

Yeah.

Where did Superman grow up?

In his house.

That's Smallville. [bell chiming]

I wish I knew the zip code, but I don't.

What does the S on Superman's suit mean?

The idea is that it's not actually an S,

it just sort of looks like an S to human beings,

but it's the symbol of hope. [bell chiming]

It means hope sort of

in the House of... It means S, it's Superman.

Oh, sorry, geez. [James laughs]

Isn't that not true, though?

I thought you were onto it. Again, it's all different

things in different media. Sometimes, it's the symbol

of the House of El, sometimes

it's a symbol of hope. Yeah.

It often is a symbol of the House of El.

That's one of the things I like about our S,

is that it sort of doesn't...

It isn't an S. It doesn't, yeah.

It looks less like an S. It's cool, yeah.

What does Superman do with his clothes when he changes?

In the comics, he puts them in a slot on his cape.

[bell chimes]

And in our movie, he eats them.

[all laughing] He eats them,

poops 'em out when he's done.

Why can Superman fly but other Kryptonians can't?

Other Kryptonians can fly if they're on Earth,

[bell chiming] so like when General Zod,

or you know, Kara, who's his cousin, Supergirl,

comes to earth, they can also fly.

Can Superman breathe underwater?

Yeah.

[laughs] Can you?

I mean, I think, yeah. You can hold your breath

a really long time, I bet.

You can't breathe underwater.

[bell chiming] You don't think

I can breathe in the water... But there's...

You haven't got gills. And then extract the oxygen

from the water? I was gonna say,

there's oxygen under there. I don't think so.

Okay. No?

No, I think your...

His body basically works like a human body,

except for the flying stuff.

You could hold your breath a really long time, though.

And some other things as well.

[James laughs]

That Lois enjoys.

Why can no one tell who Superman is?

Glasses. 'Cause he wears a

very tricky pair of glasses, [bell chiming]

but we actually get into it in the movie.

Mm-hmm. So, you'll see,

if you go see Superman in theaters July 11th, you'll see.

When was Superman created?

1930...

1928?

26.

24.

22, 25. What did you say?

36.

38. Yeah.

[bell chiming] I was

thinking 30-something. 38 was his first appearance.

It was his first appearance.

He was created several years earlier

in the basement of the house in Cleveland, Ohio

by Jerry Siegel. Yes, yes.

It just took him a while to get published.

There was also a different kind of weirder version.

Yes. If you see those

early drawings where Superman was a much different

sort of character. I don't think

I've seen those. It wasn't what we

would think of as a superhero.

Where was Superman born?

He was born on Krypton. Krypton.

What is Lois Lane's weakness?

Superman.

The sexiness of Superman.

And his heart.

And a good strong cup of coffee.

That always gets her. She does love

a cup of coffee.

Sugar. But it has to have

30 sugars in it. Yeah.

Who is playing Lex Luthor in the new Superman movie?

Me.

Well, Nick, who? I Googled that.

[all laughing]

That's why it's on the list.

And it's me. [bell chiming]

Who's playing Green Lantern in Superman?

I mean, you know him best, you tell them.

Nathan Fillion. [bell chiming]

Where does Superman live?

Metropolis. [bell chiming]

Yes.

What kind of a dog is Superdog?

I guess they're saying Krypto the Superdog,

but nobody really calls him Superdog.

Yeah.

So, what kind of dog is Krypto?

Krypto in our movie

is based on my dog, Ozu,

who is a total mutt

[bell chiming] and the world's worst dog.

And that was the inspiration for the whole movie,

was this terrible, terrible, terrible dog.

You love him.

[James sighs]

You made a character of him in Superman.

You love him. As an adversary.

That's it. No, I love my dog,

he's the best...

That's the headline. He's a sweetheart,

he loves to be loved. James Gunn hates his dog.

But he didn't like me at first.

He really did not like me. I have one of those too.

My dog didn't like anyone. Yeah, yeah,

he loves me now. He's not gonna be happy

when he sees this. [all laughing]

Does Superman change in a telephone booth?

Not since people don't make calls in telephone booths.

[bell chiming] Does he change inside

his cell phone now?

[laughs] Yes, he does. In an iPhone.

What is Superman's famous line?

Am I missing something obvious?

The thing that comes to mind is...

Well, I guess it's,

[bell chiming] I stand for truth, justice,

and the American way.

The line that always comes to mind for me

is when he says, A friend, to Lois.

Oh, I like that, yeah.

He doesn't really have a...

I mean, like,

I'd guess, you know... Up, up and away.

Like Batman, you'd...

Up, up and away is...

Yeah, I guess.

But you never really

see him say it. Saying that about himself.

[all laughing]

That's how he flies. That's how he flies.

[all laughing]

Yeah, yeah, he says the magic words.

Up, up and away. I think he has

a lot of famous phrases that are around him,

but he doesn't have a...

You know, like Batman says,

I'm Batman, right. I'm Batman.

And so, people always say that.

It was just from the

Michael Keaton version of the character, but...

I guess we say, It's a bird, it's a plane.

Oh, it's Superman. Oh, this one you're...

This one you're gonna like. Oh.

Does that mean I'm gonna hate it?

You're gonna like it, no, you're gonna

like it for real. Oh.

Does Lois Lane ever get powers?

Yes, she does. [bell chiming]

Boy, does she.

She becomes Superwoman for a day on her birthday.

In All-Star Superman. In All-Star Superman.

And there's other where she gets powers.

Yeah, like now. Like right now

in the comics, you can go see her.

She has superpowers in the comics as we speak.

James, are you feeling inspired?

Yeah, maybe.

I think about it every time I see her with powers, I'm like,

I know... I've been saying this

from the beginning. I know it's Rachel's.

She was so happy to be cast as Lois Lane,

and another part of her was like,

I want to be able to fly and...

Tell James you want a sequel where Lois Lane flies.

Oh, my God, that's all I'm gonna hear

on Threads, you know. [David laughs]

[Rachel laughs]

What happens to Superman when he touches kryptonite?

He gets weak.

[bell chiming] Yeah.

Yeah, well, it's poison. He doesn't even need to

touch it, it would burn him very badly.

Yeah, it would screw him up,

just being around... He gets radiation poisoning.

Yeah, being around kryptonite

kills him eventually. Spoiler alert.

Why does Lex hate Superman?

Because he's everything he wants to be.

[bell chiming]

Oh. Oh.

That's so nice. That's pretty sad.

[Rachel laughs]

How rich is Lex Luthor? Billions, billionaire.

[bell chiming] [Rachel laughs]

So much money. Many times over,

yeah. Yeah, oh, yeah,

super, super rich.

Maxwell Lord, Simon Stagg and Lex Luthor,

they're kind of this billionaires' club

and they're all different levels of malicious

or mischievous,

and Max was probably the best of them

because he, you know, has funded the group in the movie.

Mm, secret stuff.

[all laughing]

Can't talk about.

What is Superman's middle name?

Danger.

Justin. [David laughs]

Justin. [all laughing]

W.

Is it?

You know, I gave that one to you

'cause I didn't wanna have to answer it.

Does Clark Kent have a middle name?

I'm embarrassed that I don't know.

He does? He does?

He does. What is it?

What's his middle name? Joseph.

I was so close. [laughs]

Clark Joseph.

His middle, Clark Kent, oh, what, you just asked that.

Clark Joseph Kent is his middle name.

[bell chiming] He's trying to take

the win for the edit. Yeah.

[both laughing]

Who is the bad guy in Superman 2025?

You're looking at him.

[bell chiming] [Nick clicks tongue]

[Rachel laughs]

I thought you were gonna say Superman.

It probably is Superman. [all laughing]

You decide.

You decide.

Jury's out.

Why doesn't Superman kill?

Hmm.

I think the main reason is that

he sees the good in just about everybody,

maybe to a fault,

and so he even sees the good

in those trying to do him harm.

[bell chiming] Yeah, I believe

he believes in a basic right to life.

I mean, I think that's just not in him.

But I also don't...

I'm not a purist in that respect.

I think that if, for instance, he had to kill

to protect somebody's life,

he would probably do that,

even though that would be hard for him.

Who is Clark Kent's biological mother?

Lara.

[bell chiming] Lara, yeah.

Lara? Yeah.

Why does Bizarro Superman look the way he does?

Well, because he's bizarre and he's from Bizarro planet

and he looks like a crazy man.

I think he looks better.

Than Superman, I bet you do.

[all laughing]

Why is Superman weak to kryptonite?

Oh. Because it's not

from your planet? What's the mechanism?

Yeah, explain the science.

I don't really understand the science behind it.

Well, we understand it.

The three of us understand it very well,

so why don't you explain it to us?

This is like a quiz. Well, when you're

on Krypton with kryptonite,

very rare rock,

you have to... [all laughing]

I don't know.

What's the reason?

Because it's really bad for you.

[all laughing] Who is Superman's

best friend?

Lois Lane.

No. Superman's best...

Superman's best pal, Jimmy Olsen.

Jimmy. [bell chiming]

Oh.

[Rachel laughs] They love each other too.

You see in the movie,

they love each other. Yeah, it's really sweet.

Ah, Skyler.

What a great guy. Yeah.

Are all Kryptonians as strong as Superman?

Well, relatively, but you know, he's...

They would be the same as if...

So, like, if he was to fight Kara,

who's his cousin and smaller than him, it would be...

He's bigger, so yeah,

but basically, they all have superpowers

if they come to the planet. I also like to think that

his upbringing on Earth has given him

certain grit and oomph...

I think that's true. That would help him,

you know, just outlast an equal Kryptonian opponent.

Yeah, maybe, maybe.

He's pretty good at fighting. Yeah.

Little extra oomph. Yeah.

Boy, some of these have gone far.

Yeah.

You're gonna have to pick all these up when we're done.

What is Superman's suit made of?

I'm done helping you.

Lex's tears.

What do you make it out of? Well, there's

different things in different stories.

Oftentimes, it is the blankets that he was swaddled in

[bell chiming] that his mother

turned into his suit when he came to Earth.

In our movie, we don't answer that yet.

What version of Green Lantern

is in the new Superman movie?

That's a good question.

GG. [bell chiming]

Guy Gardner. Guy Gardner.

Can Superman fly without his suit?

Yes, [bell chiming]

but you don't get that in this movie.

Can Superman go back in time like the Flash?

Only in the Richard Donner 1979 version

of Superman: The Movie. He turns back

time to save Lois. But yeah.

But I think that if that happened in our movie,

the world would go backwards

and that means everyone would just be crushed and die

[all laughing]

and Superman would land on the crushed earth

and be like, Oh, no, what did I do?

A little sheepish.

I didn't make time go backwards.

I just killed everyone on the planet

'cause I wanted to save my girlfriend.

Ah.

Thank you. Thanks, guys.

That's a lot of Googling of Superman. [laughs]

Yeah. [ethereal music]