Adria Arjona has joined James Gunn’s Superman follow-up Man of Tomorrow, giving DC Studios a notable new addition after a week of public confusion over who she might play. Fresh reporting on Tuesday confirmed Arjona’s casting, though the part remains contested: one outlet identified her as Maxima, the alien warrior queen from DC Comics, while another reported only that she had landed a still-secret role. That uncertainty matters because Gunn himself spent the past week knocking down an earlier wave of casting claims tied to the same character.
The dispute started after a report said Arjona, Marisa Abela and Ella Purnell were testing for Maxima. Gunn fired back on Threads, calling that account “shoddy & incorrect,” adding that he had never met Abela or Purnell and stressing that he was “absolutely not confirming” the Maxima chatter. Other coverage of Gunn’s comments said he left open the possibility that one final part remained uncast, while refusing to say that Maxima was in the film at all. That left a narrow lane for Arjona to join the project later without validating the earlier version of events.
What is clear is that Man of Tomorrow is the next DC Studios feature to move toward production, with a July 9, 2027 theatrical release already on the calendar. DC announced the sequel last September after Superman became the formal launchpad for the rebooted shared universe. Studio materials and follow-up coverage have pointed to a story that again centers David Corenswet’s Superman and Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor, with Lars Eidinger cast as Brainiac and Aaron Pierre’s John Stewart also expected to appear.
Arjona’s arrival also fits a larger pattern inside the new DC setup. Gunn has leaned on actors who can move between franchise scale and character-driven material, and Arjona’s recent run in Andor and Hit Man has raised her profile at exactly the right moment. Fan speculation will keep circling Maxima until DC says otherwise, partly because the character would bring a volatile romantic and political force into Superman’s orbit. For now, the safest reading is simpler: Arjona is in, the studio is still guarding the part, and Gunn is trying to control the message on a film already drawing heavy attention.
