How Marlon Brando Inspired a Surprise Cameo In <em>Superman</em>

This story contains minor spoilers for Superman.

Look, up on the screen! It's not a bird, or a plane. It's Bradley Cooper in another cameo! James Gunn's Superman is flying into theaters, and based on its warm reception by critics and audiences, the new DC Universe is off to a strong start. But the movie itself has quite the opening, with an in medias res prologue that sees Superman (David Corenswet) get his butt kicked all the way back to the Arctic. You won't believe who is waiting for him there.

With the help of Krypto, Superman gets back to the Fortress of Solitude, where his robot assistants comfort him by playing a recorded message left to him by his birth parents, Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van. The message itself is pivotal to the plot, as it contains a dark truth regarding Kal-El's purpose on Earth. But what matters less is what the message says than who's in it: Westworld's Angela Sarafyan as Superman's mother, and Philadelphia's own Bradley Cooper as Jor-El, Superman's father. How do you say "Go Birds" in Kryptonian?

In an Entertainment Tonight interview, Gunn explained that Cooper, whom the Superman director has collaborated with for the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy for Marvel Studios, did the role "as a favor" to Gunn due to their familiarity and friendship. "I needed somebody who could play Jor-El, who had the stature of what we imagine that character to be," Gunn told ET. "Somebody that could walk in the footsteps of Marlon Brando."

Gunn also explained that he went with Cooper because he was comparatively more age-appropriate than past actors who've played Jor-El, often men well into their senior years. "A lot of times, Jor-El is played by a 70-year-0ld man. That means he was 70 when he had a baby. I wanted somebody that wasn't too old. So I think Bradley was perfect."

Cooper is an accomplished actor in his own right, and a classic Hollywood heartthrob with a heaping of prestigious Oscar and Golden Globe nominations, not to mention three Grammy Awards. But lately he's enjoyed doing cameos in somewhat unexpected places. He enjoyed a bit part in the 2023 romp Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, playing the halfling ex-husband to Michelle Rodriguez's barbarian Holga. In 2024, he paid a visit to Abbott Elementary, as the "Show and Tell" guest of a young student. His Superman cameo is a tad more serious than either of those appearances, but it's funny all the same. Where will Cooper show up next?