James Gunn blasted a report on April 8 that said Eva De Dominici had tested for the role of Maxima in the Superman sequel Man of Tomorrow, calling it “shoddy and incorrect” and “bulls**t.” He said the same was true of Deadline’s claim that Adria Arjona, Sydney Chandler and Grace Van Patten were also in the mix.
“This is not against Nexus — they’re sharing what Deadline reported — but Deadline’s reporting is shoddy & incorrect,” Gunn wrote on Threads, adding that he was “frankly disappointed.” He also said, “If someone would have run these names by us we would have said it’s bulls**t,” and later added, “I am absolutely not confirming that (and didn’t).”
The flare-up mattered because the report centered on the casting of Maxima, the fiery queen of Almerac and a possible new love interest for the Man of Steel, in a sequel that is already drawing close attention. Deadline said DC Studios declined to comment before Gunn responded, then later updated its story after reviewing new information about the actors involved. After that, The Hollywood Reporter said its own sources also indicated that Arjona, Chandler, Van Patten and De Dominici were in the frame for the role.
Gunn also said he had been friends with Arjona since casting her in The Belko Experiment and said he was a fan of both Marisa and Ella, though he had never met either of them. That leaves the core dispute unresolved in a practical sense: Gunn rejected the original report outright, but later updates and additional reporting pointed back to the same four actors, keeping the casting picture opaque even after his public denial.
