David Corenswet Thought the Call Was for Top Gun 3 — He Became Superman Instead

David Corenswet knew the Superman auditions were happening, but he was so sure it wasn’t his shot that when his agent called, he guessed it was about Top Gun 3. Not a bit. He found out later he’d just landed the cape.

How he found out (and why he thought it was Top Gun)

Corenswet told Jonathan Bailey (yes, the Wicked: For Good guy) during Variety’s Actors on Actors that when the call came in, he was literally on a ladder changing a light fixture. His agent hinted he knew what the call was about. Corenswet, convinced Superman was out of reach, joked it had to be Top Gun 3. He said he never expected to be the pick, even if people around him thought he should. In his words, it felt statistically impossible.

The casting curveball

At the time, Corenswet was best known for smaller projects: Ti West’s Pearl and Ryan Murphy’s The Politician. Meanwhile, DC fans were loudly campaigning for names like Nicholas Hoult and Jacob Elordi. And a chunk of the audience still hoped Henry Cavill might swoop back in. So yeah, Corenswet getting the job surprised a lot of people.

How it played out

Fast-forward: Superman cleared over $616 million worldwide, which quieted most of the skepticism. James Gunn’s sequel, Man of Tomorrow, is already moving, and early teases point to Corenswet’s Superman and Hoult’s Lex Luthor joining forces to take on Brainiac. Unexpected team-up energy, but I’m into it.

Interview bits you might have missed

• Corenswet and Bailey bonded over being theater kids, the whole flying thing, and the eternal question of what makes someone cool.

'If you wanted somebody cool, you should have hired somebody else,' Corenswet says he told Gunn. 'And he was like, Oh, believe me. I know.'

Man of Tomorrow lands in theaters on July 9, 2027.