MCU legend officially cast in major DCU surprise

The kickstarter to the DCU, Superman, has a surprise MCU legend among its cast that has gone quietly under the radar.

If you went to the cinema this weekend to see Superman, you would have seen a very familiar face, not that the actor’s face actually appears in the MCU at all.

If you’re yet to see the film, we’ll be discussing a minor spoiler here.

Collaborator to James Gunn on the Guardians of the Galaxy films, Bradley Cooper, actually has a small role in Superman, and it’s a far-flung difference to his voice work as Rocket Raccoon.

Stepping into the shoes of another legend, Cooper plays the father of Superman, Jor-El, once played by Marlon Brando.

We see video footage of Superman’s parents back on Krypton, as Bradley Cooper gives the majority of the speech that accompanied Supes to Earth.

Cooper delivers the important moment alongside Angela Sarafyan, who plays Lara, Superman’s birth mother.

James Gunn has revealed why he chose Bradley Cooper in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, saying, “I needed somebody who could play Jor-El, who had the stature of what we imagine that character to be.”

He continued, noting he wanted, “Somebody that could walk in the footsteps of Marlon Brando.”

According to Gunn, Cooper was “doing him a favour” by taking the cameo part, as the two have stayed friends since working on the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy for Marvel.

It sounds like it didn’t take much convincing to get the Oscar nominee to fly to the UK for the short scene to help launch the DCU.

The film features several of Gunn’s past collaborators, though most of them are either voiceovers or smaller cameos, whereas Cooper delivers one of the biggest moments of the film.

Having a star like Cooper, who is arguably the biggest star of the film, aside from Nicholas Hoult, is a nice touch.