James Gunn reveals origin of new Superman character Mr. Handsome

Superman director James Gunn has been discussing new character Mr. Handsome, describing his origin, as well as the creature’s bizarre appearance.

James Gunn’s Superman is a movie that’s filled with heroes and villains. There’s the core characters of Clark Kent, Lois Lane, and Lex Luthor.

We’ve got the ‘Justice Gang’ in the shape of Guy Gardner/Green Lantern, Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl, and Michael Holt/Mister Terrific. At the same time, there’s also the likes of Perry White, Jimmy Olsen, Eve Teschmacher, Rick Flagg Sr., a dog called Krypto, and many, many more, on both sides of the film’s central conflict.

One character has only briefly been glimpsed in trailers, however, and was rumored to be Parasite or White Martian. But that speculation was wrong, with Gunn going on the record to reveal who the character is and where he’s from.

New Superman character is “ugliest grossest creature on the planet”

During the above chat with Fandango, Nicholas Hoult – who plays Lex Luthor – says that his son was in awe of David Corenswet’s Superman when he visited the set, stating: “It was magic to see his face seeing you – it was beautiful.”

James Gunn then points out that his favorite character was actually Mr. Handsome, and Hoult concurs that his boy “kept on talking about Mr. Handsome the whole time.”

Gunn’s description of the character explains why: “Mr. Handsome is Lex’s creature he created in a petri dish that drives around on this flying platform. The ugliest grossest creature in the world.”

Gunn adds that the kid of one of the film’s producers was also obsessed with Mr. Handsome, and Hoult says their interest is because the character “sticks with you.”

That’s all they said about this mysterious character, and while there was a Mister Handsome in DC Comics in 1992, he was one of Catwoman’s enemies, who ended up being a woman masquerading as a man throughout the story.

That has no connection to what Gunn described, so it’s safe to say this new Mr. Handsome is an entirely new character, with a wholly ironic name.