The comic book genre is expanding a lot lately, especially since DC co-CEO James Gunn has brought the DCU to life on the silver screen and streaming with a HBO Max subscription. The first movie from Gods and Monsters was Superman, and it turns out that one of the movie's funniest lines was actually improvised. Let's break it all down.
The cast of Superman is stacked, with Gunn doing a ton of world building with a full ensemble including other heroes. While the filmmaker wrote the movie's script, it turns out there was some room for improv on set. SNL alum Beck Bennett recently appeared on the Fly on the Wall podcast, where he revealed one hilarious line he made up on set. In the actor's words:
Toward the end, there’s this scene where we’re in Mr. Terrific’s T-Craft… (James Gunn) let me like basically scream in the back of that T-Craft for awhile, and one of the lines in the movie was improvised. I just screamed ‘Why don’t I have a seat?’... It’s just great because in a movie like this, it’s like yeah, why doesn’t he have a seat?
Yeah, this was definitely one of the biggest laughs during Superman's runtime. While James Gunn methodically crafted a script that would kick start the DCU, he also allowed for some fun on set. And since Bennett is an accomplished comedian his improvs have made it into the movie's final cut.
This sequence occurred deep into Superman, where the staff of The Daily Planet are trying to escape certain death in Mister Terrific's ship. While they're piled in, Bennett's character Steve Lombard ends up without a seat. And just like that, a genius ad-lib was born.
It was fun seeing how the Daily Planet employees reacted to the superhero chaos around them. Metahumans are common in the DCU, which is a big change from its predecessor. And it also opened the door for some hilarious comedic beats, like the one that came together on the T-Craft. And I can't wait to see what comes next for that particular group of characters in upcoming DC movies.
Despite being so early in its run, the DCU already feels like a fully-formed concept. And following Superman's release in theaters, the shared universe has already been expanded thanks to the arrival of Peacemaker Season 2 on HBO Max. We'll just have to see which characters from Gunn's blockbuster end up making an appearance in the series.
Superman is still in theaters now as part of the 2025 movie release list. Hopefully Beck Bennett gets to reappear sooner rather than later, maybe even in the Supergirl movie? Fingers crossed.
