James Gunn almost cut Superman's most controversial scene after a bad test screening: "Why the f*** is he saving a squirrel?"
James Gunn says we almost didn't see Superman save a squirrel during one of the film's biggest fight scenes because of poor audience reaction.
Warning: Spoilers for Superman below!
"Yeah, although it was probably the second- or third-most hotly debated moment in the movie. Because we showed it to test audiences and some people did not like the squirrel. They're like, 'Why the fuck is he saving a squirrel?' Why is he taking time out, saving a squirrel?'" Gunn told Rolling Stone
"There was a cut where I cut it out and I'm like, 'I really miss the squirrel. He's gotta save the squirrel.' In addition, there were also some geographic problems with where he ended up if I didn't have him fly over with the squirrel. So I put the squirrel back in despite the protestations of some of my people on my crew."
In Superman, Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) sends a kaiju to destroy Metropolis in order to distract Superman (David Corenswet) while he and his goons break into the Fortress of Solitude. At some point during the battle, we see Superman lift up the kaiju's foot to stop it from crushing a dog, and later grabs a squirrel out of the way to save it from being smushed.
It might seem like a small, silly detail, but it really highlights just what type of superhero he truly is: every life is worth saving, no matter how big or how small. Personally, I would've thought that whole crying alien baby scene would've been the thing that didn't test well with audiences... but hey, what do I know?
Superman is in theaters now. For more, check out our guides to all the upcoming DC movies and TV shows and how to watch the DC movies in order.
Solve the daily Crossword
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Newsweek
4 minutes ago
- Newsweek
What 'Superman' Says About Gaza—And Us
When audiences left early screenings of James Gunn's new Superman, many carried more than popcorn and superhero nostalgia—they carried the unmistakable feeling that they had just watched a parable of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And that, in itself, says something profound. Despite fierce controversy and calls for boycott by some pro-Israel commentators, Superman is topping the box office charts, making over $220 million globally during its opening weekend. Gunn has repeatedly insisted that Superman is not about the Middle East. "When I wrote this the Middle Eastern conflict wasn't happening," he told The Times of London. He emphasized that the fictional war between Boravia and Jarhanpur was crafted before the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, and Israel's ensuing war on Gaza. He even said he tried to steer the narrative away from Middle Eastern analogies once real-world violence erupted. And yet, despite these denials, the allegory has taken hold. Why? Because the movie's central dynamic—a powerful, U.S.-backed aggressor invading a poor, largely defenseless neighbor—is all too familiar. Boravia, with its military might, international impunity, and stated mission to "liberate" Jarhanpur from supposed tyranny, mirrors in disturbing ways Israel's ongoing bombardment and occupation of Gaza. The imagery is searing: tanks and drones lining up at a border fence, a young boy clutching a national flag as civilians scatter in fear, and a so-called "just war" increasingly exposed as a campaign of domination. That such scenes resonated so strongly with viewers is not the fault of the audience's "left-wing brain," as Ben Shapiro dismissively put it—it is a reflection of the moral clarity that emerges when oppression is laid bare, even in fictional form. Online, the reaction was swift and divided. Some called it the most "openly pro-Palestine" content to ever appear in a blockbuster. TikTok creators, influencers, and activists lauded the film's unflinching portrayal of invasion and resistance, with one user declaring, "Superman is antizionist and leaves no room for doubt." Others—particularly in right-wing circles—branded it "Superwoke," accusing Gunn of injecting ideology into entertainment. Whether or not the film was meant to be about Israel and Palestine, it functioned as a kind of cinematic Rorschach test. When seeing injustice portrayed on the screen, viewers brought with them the images that have been burned into global consciousness after nearly two years of siege on Gaza—images of children killed, hospitals bombed, and international law flouted with impunity. When you witness a conflict where one side wields F-35s and the other buries its dead in mass graves, any story of asymmetrical warfare will inevitably call Palestine to mind. LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 02: James Gunn, David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult and Peter Safran attend the "Superman" Fan Event in London's Leicester Square on July 02, 2025 in London, England. LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 02: James Gunn, David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult and Peter Safran attend the "Superman" Fan Event in London's Leicester Square on July 02, 2025 in London, be clear, Superman is not a perfect political text. The film's Jarhanpurians—coded as Middle Eastern or South Asian—are largely passive. One of the few named Jarhanpurian characters is a falafel vendor, Malik, who serves as emotional fuel for Superman's arc before being killed off. As The Forward noted, the Jarhanpurians' purpose is less to assert their own dignity than to highlight the hero's morality. And so, while some audiences saw pro-Palestinian messaging, others rightly questioned whether the film reinscribes a savior narrative—centered on a white alien-immigrant superhero—rather than empowering the oppressed to resist on their own terms. Indeed, as Middle East Eye pointedly observed, Palestinians are not waiting for a white superhero to rescue them. The real heroes are the medics treating the wounded under rubble, the journalists livestreaming amidst bomb blasts, and the people who keep marching for their right to exist. Superman may deliver lines about morality, kindness, and justice, but in the real world, those words are being lived by people with far less privilege and far greater courage. Still, the film revealed how deeply the public has absorbed the reality of Gaza, how far sympathy for Palestinians has spread beyond Arab or Muslim audiences, and how badly establishment media and politicians have underestimated this shift. When a Warner Brothers tentpole provokes hashtags like "#SupermanIsHamas," it is not because the film is agitprop—it's because the world now sees Gaza everywhere. Even Gunn's framing of Superman as "an immigrant" touched off fierce debate, with conservative pundits recoiling at the suggestion that a refugee from Krypton could embody the American immigrant story. But that, too, is part of the tension: if Superman is a refugee who stands up to bullies, who uses his power to shield the powerless, then what happens when audiences draw connections between that ethos and the very people being demonized by Western governments? The film doesn't just expose geopolitical parallels—it exposes cultural contradictions. America wants to believe in Superman's values, but recoils when those values are applied consistently, especially when they implicate allies like Israel. It wants to celebrate rebellion in fiction but criminalize resistance in reality. And it wants to embrace immigrants in theory while deporting, detaining, and defunding them in practice. That's why Superman matters—not because it offers a perfect analogy for Gaza, but because it unintentionally lays bare the moral hypocrisy at the heart of so much political discourse. The discomfort it generates is revealing. When people see children under fire and think immediately of Gaza, the problem isn't that the film is too political—it's that reality is too brutal to ignore. This isn't the first time a Hollywood film has echoed global struggles, and it won't be the last. But what's different now is the speed and intensity with which audiences connect the dots—and the growing unwillingness to let sanitized narratives obscure the truth. Even in the heart of a superhero spectacle, people are demanding moral clarity. In the end, Gunn may not have set out to make a film about Palestine. But the world saw Gaza in it anyway. And that, in itself, is a kind of justice. Faisal Kutty is a Toronto-based lawyer, law professor, and frequent contributor to The Toronto Star. The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
Wall Street Journal
5 minutes ago
- Wall Street Journal
How to Catch a Wily Poacher in a Sting: A Thermal Robotic Deer
Brian Wolslegel's remote-controlled animals can wiggle their ears, move their legs and, in some cases, poop. These deer, bears and coyotes aren't country-fair booth decoys. His lifelike robotics are the centerpiece of sting operations to nab illegal hunters around the U.S.
Yahoo
7 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Harrison Ford gives emotional speech on last day of 'Shrinking' season 3 filming: 'Just f---ing amazing'
"I wasn't talking to you," Ford joked to costar Jason Segel after wrapping up his poignant wrap speech. Harrison Ford isn't quick to display the ooey-gooey side of his emotional range. So when he does, he really means it. Ford was captured delivering a stirring speech in a state of visible emotion on the day his Apple TV+ series, Shrinking, wrapped its third season. "You guys are the best. The very, very best - at what you do, and how you do it, and how you make people feel is just f---ing amazing," he said in a video shared on Tuesday to the streamer's official Instagram page. The American Graffiti actor, 83, looked around at the assembled cast and crew of the comedy drama during an exterior shot, and continued, "I love this place. I love working with you guys, I hope we can all get back here and do it again." Ford's co-star and one of the series' co-creators, Jason Segel, rapidly snapped Ford back to his usual, comically cantankerous self by remarking, "Yeah buddy." Ford quickly snapped back, "I wasn't talking to you," causing the whole crew to burst into laughter as he walked off his mark. Shrinking has been a major hit for everyone involved: Segel, who co-created the show alongside Bill Lawrence and Brett Goldstein three years after his previous attempt at helming a series, Dispatching From Elsewhere, stalled after just one season; Ford, who earned the first Emmy nomination of his career for his work on the second season; Lawrence, who's riding high after having created two hit series for Apple TV+, with Ted Lasso; and that streamer, which has been producing a high volume of quality television since its 2017 inception, but has failed to break most series through to the level of audience fervor Shrinking has series follows Segel's Jimmy Laird, a therapist who begins shocking his patients by telling them exactly what he thinks, who in turn shock him by actually implementing (or at least, attempting to implement) meaningful changes into their lives. Ford was at the center of one of the second season's most gripping storylines, as his Dr. Paul Rhoades waged a tragic battle against Parkinson's while falling for his own doctor, Julie (Wendie Malick). Ford will vie against the formidable competition of Colman Domingo (The Four Seasons), Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear), his own Shrinking costar, Michael Urie, and more for the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series trophy when the Emmys air September. As for season 3 of Shrinking, while no premiere date has been announced, stars Segel and Jessica Williams did tease what fans can expect to see. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly in June, Segel revealed, "Each season we have a word that is our true north for the theme of the season. Season 1 was 'grief,' season 2 was 'forgiveness,' and season 3 — I acknowledge that this is two words — is 'moving forward.'" Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly Solve the daily Crossword
