Superman Cast Member Fired After Helping A Kid

Here is a very Hollywood sentence: a kid says someone got fired from Superman for helping him pick up a giant flag. It is exactly as weird and inside-baseball as it sounds.

The setup

We are talking about James Gunn's Superman, the first movie in the new DCU. It hit theaters in July 2025, turned into the year's top-grossing superhero release, and has pulled in over $600 million worldwide so far.

• Cast highlights: David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicolas Hoult, Nathan Fillion, Isabela Merced, and Edi Gathegi

The moment in question

Child actor AJ Bernard, who gets a spotlight moment in the film's finale, went on the Comic Misfits Podcast and talked about the big battle sequence between Boravia and Jarhanpur. He is the kid hoisting a long pole with the Superman flag — a shot the marketing absolutely leaned on. According to AJ, that pole was no prop featherweight. He says it was built like a telescoping spear — a big section, a medium section, then a smaller section — and yes, he was supposed to carry it solo while the crowd bolts.

What AJ says happened on set

AJ claims there was a specific rule for the shot: nobody was allowed to help him lift the flag. During one take, someone tried to assist anyway. That, apparently, did not go over well.

"When we did the movie, I was struggling to pick it up; nobody was supposed to help me, but somebody actually helped me. And they weren't supposed to. So James Gunn got mad, and they got kicked out."

AJ's sister Alaya — who also appears in the movie — backs him up on the podcast, saying James Gunn fired the person for helping AJ with the flag. It is one of those super-specific on-set instructions that sounds silly until you remember how directors obsess over continuity and action geography. Still: getting bounced for being helpful is quite a headline.

Superman is still playing in theaters and is available on digital if you want to spot the flag shot in the finale and see what all the fuss is about.