James Gunn almost cut Superman’s most controversial scene after a bad test screening “Why the f*** is he saving a squirrel?”
James Gunn says we almost didn’t see Superman save a squirrel during one of the film’s biggest fight scenes because of poor audience reaction.
Warning: Spoilers for Superman below!
“Yeah, although it was probably the second- or third-most hotly debated moment in the movie. Because we showed it to test audiences and some people did not like the squirrel. They’re like, ‘Why the fuck is he saving a squirrel?’ Why is he taking time out, saving a squirrel?'” Gunn told Rolling Stone
“There was a cut where I cut it out and I’m like, ‘I really miss the squirrel. He’s gotta save the squirrel.’ In addition, there were also some geographic problems with where he ended up if I didn’t have him fly over with the squirrel. So I put the squirrel back in despite the protestations of some of my people on my crew.”
In Superman, Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) sends a kaiju to destroy Metropolis in order to distract Superman (David Corenswet) while he and his goons break into the Fortress of Solitude. At some point during the battle, we see Superman lift up the kaiju’s foot to stop it from crushing a dog, and later grabs a squirrel out of the way to save it from being smushed.
It might seem like a small, silly detail, but it really highlights just what type of superhero he truly is: every life is worth saving, no matter how big or how small. Personally, I would’ve thought that whole crying alien baby scene would’ve been the thing that didn’t test well with audiences… but hey, what do I know?
Superman is in theaters now. For more, check out our guides to all the upcoming DC movies and TV shows and how to watch the DC movies in order.
