The heroic stylings of the ‘Superman’ press tour
Like James Bond, the Man of Steel has the potential to transform its actor in the eyes of the world, style-wise.
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THEY SAY AN IDEAL RELATIONSHIP comes into a man’s life at the right time. For an actor, it’s being cast as Superman.
In the case of David Corenswet and Nicholas Hoult, their new roles as the new Superman and Lex Luthor, respectively, for the forseeable future has given them quite the glow-up. Even Warner Bros., the studio producing the film, is cashing in on the transformative aspect of the role on their TikTok, Princess Diaries-style. And with director James Gunn (of Guardians of the Galaxy fame) backing them too, the two have had a lot going for them since the very start of the press tour.
By now, the internet has grown full on the trimmings of red-carpet ‘method styling’. Borrowed from the Lee Strasberg school of thought, an actor lives and breathes their character into their promo runs, most famously Margot Robbie with her 2023 Barbie. (Her red carpet wardrobe was so prolific that she would eventually publish a coffee tome about it, titled Barbie: The World Tour.) Like the doll’s iconic pink, milking the superhero’s red, white, and blue colours seemed like an obvious choice as Gunn’s Superman drew nearer – albeit a bit distasteful for our times. Here, the franchise finds itself at a similar juncture in pop culture, with the Man of Steel’s popularity being at an all-time low.
“Superheroes are either goofy or they’re fascists,” Ian Gordon, author of Superman: The Persistence of an American Icon, told Esquire UK. “And people are more interested right now in them being goofy. We’ve had too much of the kind of darkness of Watchmen and The Dark Knight. It’s been played out. It’s narratively exhausted. Everybody I know who studies comics has homed in on Krypto. His appearance has given a lot of people hope.”
In endearing interviews on his press tour so far, Corenswet revealed that he drew on the mannerisms and muscled-but-hunched physicality of the 2005 to 2008 All-Star Superman comics, as well as Christopher Reeve before him. In other words, Corenswet’s Superman is a nostalgic, sepia-toned departure from Henry Cavill’s adonis take on the Man of Steel. Their press tour wardrobe reflects this also: Cavill wore tight shirts and trousers during his run (the height of early-2010s fashion), versus Corenswet turning up to BBC Radio Studios in breezy wide-leg pinstripe pants, and a thick, chunky cardigan. Superman, in this sense, also feels like James Bond in being the bellwether of masculinity; the barometer of skinny versus louche tailoring going hand-in-hand.
A relative unknown before his role in 2018’s Affairs of State (that’s as far back as Corenswet’s Getty Images search goes), it’s impressive to see what certain roles can do for an actor, style-wise. (Credit goes to Corenswet’s stylist, Evan Simonitsch, though.) While Corenswet is on his new-super-masculinity crusade, Hoult has instead been flexing different muscles – literally – for the film. Besides debuting his bleached blonde hair, the 35-year-old has been dabbling in dressing like a himbo, Chaotic Good Lex Luthor.
It all started in dressing for the New York City heatwave. He arrived at the ABC’s studio with a brown camp collar shirt over a singlet, then left with just the singlet and a new grey jumper tied across his torso. (Which might explain why he was carrying around a massive ’70s Pan-Am-esque tote bag from Prada’s autumn/winter 2025 collection to the studio.) In London and Los Angeles, Hoult has dedicated himself to the shoulder pad movement. Like Corenswet, he erred to the billowy, Wall Street broker-type silhouette with a hint of kink in the leather trousers from Anthony Vacarello’s viral autumn/winter 2025 collection for Saint Laurent. It was a far cry from Hoult’s last noticeable evolution in Tom Ford’s A Single Man, where at its Venice premiere, he transformed from the lithe, Skins actor into leading man material.
If Superman could advance Corenswet this far in his fit game, playing the villain is the next best thing. Below, enjoy some of our favourite looks from the film’s press run, as well as a ‘before’ for your reference.
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