Superman: The enigmatic villain The Hammer of Boravia explained

Since the latest action-packed trailer for James Gunn's Superman reboot movie landed, fans have been wondering about the identity of one of the film's villains, the heavily armored bruiser known as the Hammer of Boravia.

The thing is, the villain known as the Hammer of Boravia is actually a newly created character for Superman - a character who doesn't come from comics at all. There is a fictional nation known as Boravia in comics, but it doesn't have its own hero.

Speculation around the character has skyrocketed since his name was revealed, with many people guessing that the so-called "Hammer of Boravia" is a misdirect to avoid showing Lex Luthor's classic purple and green battle armor, his armor recolored for the trailer to keep the secret.

That's not impossible, but the fact is, the armor doesn't look much like any version of Luthor's armor, regardless of color scheme. And we've also seen armored Luthor troops in purple and green armor of their own, which also doesn't resemble this.

Maybe Gunn pulled the same trick Marvel Studios once played on viewers by subbing in Hulk in the trailer for Avengers: Infinity Wars in scenes that actually featured the Hulkbuster armor in the final movie. But would DC fork over the money and manpower it takes to fake a whole CG character? Probably not, especially considering Marvel's bait-and-switch was the subject of a lawsuit.

It may be more likely that there is in fact a comic inspiration behind the Hammer of Boravia - just not one that's readily visible without a bit of digging.

That character is Rocket Red, or in fact the Rocket Red Brigade, a team of armored supersoldiers who served as the heroes of the USSR in the '80s DC Universe, one of whom even went on to join the Justice League International - a team that also included Superman's Green Lantern, Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), and which was organized by Maxwell Lord, who is played by Sean Gunn in Superman and in Peacemaker season 2.

If you look closely at the Hammer of Boravia's armor, it features a sash-like stripe across the torso flanked by a star - the same emblem of the Rocket Red Brigade, but with gold swapped in for red, since the USSR hasn't been a thing since the early '90s.

Is the Hammer of Boravia definitely a Rocket Red palette-swap? We'll never know unless James Gunn someday spills the beans on the character's official inspiration. But the connection isn't so far-fetched, given the aesthetic similarities and the fact that Gunn is already drawing heavily on the cast of Justice League International.

Superman flies into cinemas on July 11, 2025. For more, check out the new DC movies coming down the line, plus our guide on how to watch the DC movies in order.