The Superman sequel, Man of Tomorrow started filming two weeks ago, and as that happens, new cast members have joined the cast. The latest cast member to have joined the Superman follow up is Matthew Lillard, who just we just saw in the MCU as Mr. Charles in Daredevil: Born Again Season 2. His casting has many speculate that Lillard is the DCU Plastic Man.
While some may feel that this fan casting is a bit of a stretch it should be noted that James Gunn did reveal three years ago that he had an idea of Lillard playing Patrick “Eel” O’Brian/Plastic Man back in 2000. This is why many believe that this casting may have finally happened twenty six years later in DCU’s Man of Tomorrow.
Man of Tomorrow: Matthew Lillard’s role in the DCU explored:
Man of Tomorrow started filming two weeks ago on April 20, 2026. Now, two weeks later, Lillard’s casting was announced this week. Fan theories circulated Reddit speculated that Matthew Lillard might be the DCU’s Plastic Man. Fans pointed out James Gunn’s post on X (formerly Twitter) from March 2023 in which he revealed about plans for a Plastic Man in 2000. The post read:
“Matt [Lillard] and I sat in a trailer with the head of Warner Bros, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, on the set of Scooby-Doo in 2000 (!!!) and told him we wanted do Plastic Man.”
For those who don’t know James Gunn was the writer of two live-action Scooby-Doo movies, which starred Matthew Lillard as Shaggy Rogers. Given that Gunn loves niche comic book characters that not many know about, it wouldn’t be surprising if the said meeting indeed occured. However, back then several DC projects failed to make it to the big screen until 2004’s Catwoman.
Therefore, it wouldn’t be surprising if Plastic Man was one of those big screen live action projects which fell apart. However, interestingly, Plastic Man is not the only role people fan-cast Lillard as. Two other characters also popped up: Lionel Luthor and General Sam Lane. For the uninitiated, Lionel Luthor is Lex Luthor’s father, and Sam Lane is Lois’s father.
However, it should be noted that we don’t know Matthew Lillard’s role in Man of Tomorrow as of now, and it seems that the role will remain mysterious for a while.
What do we know about the sequel?
Gunn posted an image from the set of the sequel in which we see a chessboard along with a prison visitor badge belonging to Lex Luthor. We already know that Nicholas Hoult is returning as Lex Luthor and that it will feature Superman and his archnemesis teaming up to face the Earth’s biggest threat, Brainiac (Lars Eidinger). Early this January, Gunn described the plot of the movie like this:
“At its core, it’s about Clark and Lex. I relate to both of them. I relate to Lex’s ambition and obsession — minus the murder. And I relate to Superman’s belief in people, his Midwestern values. They’re two sides of me.”
Who do you think is Matthew Lillard playing in the Superman sequel? It has a release date of July 9, 2027.
Edited by Ravikumar N