Superman’s James Gunn Confirms Another Villain Returning With Lex Luthor In Man Of Tomorrow, And Now I Have A Question About The Wider DCU

Now that Superman can be streamed with an HBO Max subscription and purchased on digital and physical media, we can dedicate even more attention to the recently-announced Man of Tomorrow, the follow-up to this 2025 movie. In addition to Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor begrudgingly teaming up with David Corenswet’s Supes to combat a bigger threat, Superman writer and director James Gunn has confirmed another villain who’s returning for the upcoming DC movie. This update has me asking a question about the wider DC Universe franchise.

The Engineer Is Returning In Man of Tomorrow

On the Superman director’s commentary (via ComicBookMovie), Gunn shared that María Gabriela de Faría’s Angela Spica, a.k.a. The Engineer, will factor into the events of Man of Tomorrow. As you may recall, her fate at the end of Superman wasn’t exactly clear, but the filmmaker plans to clear that up for what’s currently set as the fourth DCU movie. In his words:

The nanotechnology-powered Engineer was one of Lex Luthor’s two main henchpeople out in the field during Superman, the other being Ultraman, who turned out to be a clone of Man of Steel. While Ultraman was sucked into a black hole and has seemingly been taken off the board for good (although with DC Comics stories, you never know), Engineer was simply shown unconscious underneath the grounds of Metropolis’ baseball stadium. What happened to her?

We only have a little under two years to go until that question is answered. That said, Engineer’s mere inclusion in Man of Tomorrow has me wondering about what this means for one of the first DC Universe movies we learned about. I think you hardcore DC fans know where I’m going with this.

Where Do Things Stand With The Authority?

Until Superman came along, The Engineer was best known as a member of The Authority, the superhero team that originated from DC Comics’ Wildstorm imprint, then was incorporated into the main DC continuity during the Infinite Frontier era. When the initial DC Universe slate was unveiled in early 2023, The Authority was one of the movies announced. Nearly three years later, there’s still no indication when we’ll see it, and I wonder if Engineer being put into Man of Tomorrow spells good or bad news for the project.

Back in March, James Gunn, who also runs DC Studios with Peter Safran, said that The Authority was on the “back burner” because of the “overall shifting story” and making it stand out from The Boys and the other things that were influenced by the original comics. Then last month, Gunn said that integrating these characters into the DCU has been “a difficult thing to do,” as is the case with Static. Clearly he didn’t have a problem doing that with Engineer, but what about her teammates?

On the one hand, maybe James Gunn has written Man of Tomorrow in a way that sets up María Gabriela de Faría’s character to still star in The Authority later down the line. On the other hand, perhaps The Authority will eventually be shelved, and Gunn merely wants to keep The Engineer around and continue utilizing her in new ways. For instance, if Brainiac is indeed Man of Tomorrow’s chief antagonist, perhaps the extraterrestrial evildoer has gotten ahold of Angela and has forced her to become his minion.

Whatever the case, we’ll see Engineer back in action when Man of Tomorrow comes out on July 9, 2027. Supergirl, the next DCU movie, flies into theaters on June 26, 2026.