Superman has a twist from an obscure 1970s comic book to explain why no one realizes Clark Kent's identity, because "the glasses always bothered" James Gunn

Superman
(Image credit: DC)

It turns out Superman puts a twist on Clark Kent's classic disguise of a pair of glasses – and it's borrowed from a comic book published decades ago.

Instead of just wearing regular glasses in the DCU Chapter One: Gods and Monsters movie, Clark instead dons hypno glasses, which conceal his identity better than a regular pair of spectacles would by – you guessed it – hypnotizing onlookers.

"That's canon in the comics," Gunn told ComicBook.com. "It's kind of been forgotten but that's from the comics. I was sitting with Tom King, the comic book writer, and I was like, 'You know the thing that I just don’t really know how to reconcile in myself is the glasses because the glasses always bothered me as a kid.' They bothered me because I just don't have that much suspension of disbelief to believe that."

David Corenswet's Superman changes up his hairstyle when he's in Clark Kent mode, too, but still, the hypno glasses just add that extra layer of protection.

"You know, they're two different people even though I think out of all the actors that have played Superman, Corenswet looks the most different as Clark Kent to Superman, even more so than Chris Reeve," Gunn added. "But he said, 'You know, there's an answer for that in the comics, it's canon that they hypnotize people.'"

Hypno glasses is indeed a concept taken straight from the comics, with issue 330, published in 1978, introducing the idea.

While we're still a few weeks away from the movie flying into theaters, early reactions have leaked online, and they're overwhelmingly positive.

Superman arrives in theaters this July 11. In the meantime, check out our guide to all the upcoming DC movies and shows for everything else the DCU has in store.

Molly Edwards
Deputy Entertainment Editor

I'm the Deputy Entertainment Editor here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English.

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