Philly actor David Corenswet is the new Superman
The 29-year-old actor who has appeared in several local and regional theatrical productions will be playing Clark Kent in the new DC Studios film, 'Superman: Legacy.’
It’s a bird … It’s a plane … It’s David Corenswet!
The actor, who was born in Philadelphia and attended Bryn Mawr’s Shipley School, will be donning the famous red cape as Superman in the new DC Studios film, Superman: Legacy. The film launches the first chapter — called “Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters” — of a new multiplatform DC universe, heralded by DC Studio co-CEOs and cochairmen, Peter Safran and James Gunn, who is the writer and the director of the film. Safran will serve as producer.
Corenswet, 29, cut his teeth as a child actor in Arden Theatre Company’s 2002 production of All My Sons and appeared in several productions by Walnut Street Theatre Company and People’s Light and Theatre Company. He was also a part of Macbeth staged during the 2003 Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival.
“David Corenswet is fine as the oddly named Great,” wrote Inquirer theater critic Douglas J. Keating in his 2004 review of People’s Light’s production of The Forgiving Harvest.
According to Deadline reports, the Superman casting decision comes after months of auditions and in-person tests, some where Corenswet had to appear in full costume. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel star Rachel Brosnahan will be playing colead Lois Lane. The production is yet to finalize an actor for Superman villain, Lex Luthor.
“It’s not an origin story,” Safran said of Superman: Legacy, to the Hollywood Reporter in January. “It focuses on Superman balancing his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing,” he added, nodding to Superman’s human alter ego Clark Kent, a journalist at the Daily Planet, where he works with Lane.
The role of Clark Kent/Superman (most recently played by British actor Henry Cavill) will be the first major one for Corenswet, who has previously appeared as Jack Castello on the Netflix series Hollywood, the 2022 A24 slasher film Pearl, and the TV series House of Cards. He will be starring in the/ upcoming romantic musical, The Greatest Hits, and the Apple TV+ series Lady in the Lake, which also stars Natalie Portman.
Superman: Legacy is scheduled for a summer 2025 release.