Superman Is Bringing Mr. Terrific To Film For The First Time, And I Like The Way James Gunn’s Commemorated The DC Character’s Anniversary

When David Corenswet’s Superman arrives to the 2025 movies schedule in a few months, he’ll have some fellow DC Comics superheroes in tow. James Gunn’s Superman, which is kicking off the theatrical side of the DC Universe franchise, will also feature Mr. Terrific, Hawkgirl, Guy Gardner and Metamorpho fighting the forces of evil alongside the Man of Steel. In the case of Terrific, a.k.a. Michael Holt, he’ll be played by Edi Gathegi, and I like how Gunn commemorated the character’s anniversary as we get closer to his big screen debut.

While Mr. Terrific was previously depicted in live-action by Echo Kellum in Arrow for five seasons (albeit with the first name Curtis), needless to say that a lot of people around the world will be introduced to him for the first time through Superman. Calling Michael Holt “one of my favorite characters,” James Gunn shared a new look at Gathegi’s version of the extremely intelligent superhero in the upcoming DC movie on Instagram and his other social media platforms:

2025 marks 28 years since the Michael Holt version of Mr. Terrific (not to be confused with Terry Sloane, his predecessor from World War II) debuted in the pages of Spectre #54. This is the second time that James Gunn has highlighted Mr. Terrific’s anniversary, as last year, it also happened to fall on the day that John Ostrander, who created the character with Tom Mandrake, visited the Superman set. Now we have this behind-the-scenes picture of Edi Gathegi Terrific-ally suited up and standing next to the filmmaker during the principal photography period.

This will be Gathegi’s second time playing a comic book character, having previously appeared as Darwin in X-Men: First Class. The For All Mankind actor showed off the jacked physique he got for the Superman role on multiple occasions before and during filming. Like his comic book counterpart, Gathegi’s Mr. Terrific uses his intellect to craft high-tech crimefighting gadgets, and he’ll be leading Hawkgirl, Guy Gardner and Metamorpho on this unnamed team that’ll be active in Metropolis with Superman.

The other three heroes are being played by Nathan Fillion, Isabela Merced and Anthony Carrigan, with Fillion set to reprise Guy Gardner next year in Lanterns. Superman’s other major players include Rachel Brosnahan’s Lois Lane, Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor, Wendell Pierce’s Perry White and Frank Grillo’s Rick Flag Sr., whom we’ve already seen in the animated series Creature Commandos. Oh, and let’s not forget about good boy Krypto, the scene-stealing star of the recently-released Superman footage originally from CinemaCon.

We’ll see how Edi Gathegi’s Mr. Terrific does in action once Superman flies into theaters on July 11. Until them you’re welcome to stream all sorts of past Superman-related movies and TV shows with your Max subscription.