James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DC Universe kicks off with Superman. The franchise is already clearing up age-old questions, starting with why nobody ever recognises that Clark Kent is Superman. He might not hide his face behind a mask, but he does wear Hypno Glasses.
Ever since Superman hit the mainstream with Christopher Reeve’s seminal movie in 1978, viewers have had the same burning question, and it has remained throughout every film… up to now. Of course, we’re talking about how Clark Kent hides (or better yet, doesn’t hide) his identity as Superman. He doesn’t wear a mask as the hero. When he reverts back to Clark Kent, he simply puts on some glasses and calls it a day; the people of Metropolis are none-the-wiser
In the comics, writers have used Clark Kent’s glasses as a way to do away with the plot hole. He wears Hypno Glasses, designed to conceal his real identity from humanity. However, until James Gunn and Peter Safran took over, live-action movies had never addressed the plot hole. In the upcoming Superman movie, Clark Kent gives the glasses their big screen debut.
“That’s canon in the comics,” James Gunn told ComicBook. “It’s kind of been forgotten but that’s from the comics. I was sitting with Tom King, the comic book writer, and I was like, ‘you know the thing that I just don’t really know how to reconcile in myself is the glasses because the glasses always bothered me as a kid.’ They bothered me because I just don’t have that much suspension of disbelief to believe that.”
“You know, they’re two different people even though I think out of all the actors that have played Superman, Corenswet looks the most different as Clark Kent to Superman, even more so than Chris Reeve. But he said, ‘you know, there’s an answer for that in the comics; it’s canon that they hypnotize people.'”
King’s reminder to Gunn ultimately translated into the movie. It’s a good job that Gunn asked the question! There’s been numerous ways that Superman comics have introduced Hypno Glasses as a means to distort Kent’s appearance to others. One such way, for instance, is Superman using the glass from the Kryptonian ship that took him to Earth.
Superman opens in theatres July 11.
