What's Inside?
- James Gunn retained the squirrel-rescue scene despite backlash, believing it deeply reflected Superman’s compassion and grounded character development.
- Test audiences and crew questioned the squirrel moment, but Gunn saw it as essential for narrative flow and emotional authenticity.
- Gunn emphasizes Superman’s morality stems from personal choice, not Kryptonian destiny, reinforcing the film’s core emotional and philosophical themes.
You may not be able to guess it, but James Gunn almost ditched the idea of keeping one major scene that later became one of the catalysts for driving David Corenswet’s Superman’s character arc. Of course, it was not Gunn’s fault; in fact, he loved the scene so much that he decided to bring it back despite the initial reaction of the audience from the screen test. If you are still trying hard to guess, it was the Superman saving a squirrel scene.
James Gunn Explains Why He Used Squirrel-rescuing Moment To Amplify Superman’s Character
James Gunn faced mixed reactions from test audiences over a surprising moment in his film where David Corenswet’s Superman saves a squirrel. While some viewers questioned the relevance of the scene, Gunn ultimately chose to keep it in the final cut.
Despite initial resistance from his own crew and a version of the film that excluded the sequence, he decided the squirrel rescue was essential. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Gunn explained how the squirrel-rescuing moment made it to the movie’s final cut. “Yeah, although it was probably the second- or third-most hotly debated moment in the movie,” Gunn told the outlet.
“Because we showed it to test audiences, and some people did not like the squirrel. They’re like, ‘Why the fuck is he saving a squirrel? Why is he taking time out, saving a squirrel?’ There was a cut where I cut it out and I’m like, ‘I really miss the squirrel. He’s gotta save the squirrel.’ In addition, there were also some geographic problems with where he ended up if I didn’t have him fly over with the squirrel. So I put the squirrel back in despite the protestations of some of my people on my crew.”
Certainly, the scene served to be the amplifier of Superman’s character, as it justified the goodness in his heart for all creatures. It was also evident when he did not want to kill the monstrous Kaiju.
How James Gunn Saved Superman’s Emotional Arc?
James Gunn firmly stands by the emotional foundation of his Superman film, dismissing any hopes that the portrayal of Jor-El and Lara as less-than-benevolent could be retconned. “That’s the whole point of the movie, that Superman thinks he is doing something because it is his destiny and his Kryptonian parents have set him out to do this thing,” Gunn told Rolling Stone.
🚨🚨 First Look at #Superman Kryptonian Parents Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van in #SupermanMovie pic.twitter.com/T8fHuXcfMw
— VitaminCon (@IamVitaminCon) July 11, 2025
Gunn asserted that altering their depiction would unravel the core message of the story. For Gunn, the heart of the film lies in Superman’s journey of self-discovery, realizing that his heroism isn’t driven by destiny or the will of his Kryptonian lineage, but by his own moral convictions and the love he receives from the parents who raised him.
“And along the way he discovers through the love of the people who are actually his parents that he’s doing these things not because of someone else, but because of himself. It’s like taking accountability in the deepest way possible that his morality is not based on some figure outside of himself, but on his own choices.”
Gunn added, “I think it’s really beautiful in that way, and I’m not gonna change that.” Of course, fans would agree with that, and this very moment of lost connection propelled the whole narrative to build on the heartfelt emotional arc that makes Superman, Superman.
