3 Japanese Tokusatsu Classics That Inspired James Gunn’s ‘Superman’

Director James Gunn isn’t just rebooting Superman for the DCU, he’s Frankensteining it with love, using parts of his childhood, bits of rubber suit mayhem, kaiju-sized destruction, and a very specific brand of Japanese chaos. If the trailers for Superman, which tease the film’s theatrical release on July 11, 2025, have you wondering why a flying dog (Krypto) is part of the big action sequences and why David Corenswet’s Man of Steel is battling a goofy Godzilla-sized creature that’s trampling Metropolis, the answer is simple: tokusatsu.

For those who don’t know, tokusatsu – Japanese for “special filming” or “special effects” – is the genre behind everything from Ultraman to Super Sentai (Power Rangers) to Kamen Rider. It’s basically a loud, practical, and gloriously weird sci-fi, fantasy and horror hybrid that often features miniatures, explosions, and over-the-top action. And Gunn has been obsessed with the genre since he was a kid.

So, for those who are screaming, “Why is Superman fighting a kaiju?”, here are three tokusatsu that have strongly influenced Gunn’s upcoming DCU reboot film.

1. Ultraman (1966)

Director James Gunn’s love for Ultraman is probably not a Clark Kent-level secret. In fact, at the 2017 Tokyo International Film Festival, he gleefully showed off a childhood photo of himself with Ultraman and Alien Baltan. That’s not a casual fan; that’s someone who probably had Ultraman toys and wore pyjamas to bed at night.

The parallels between Superman and Ultraman are, of course, pretty obvious too: an alien hero with superpowers protecting Earth, wrestling with identity, bonding with humanity, and doing all of it in spandex. That’s Superman in a nutshell. Gunn’s version of the character channels that same spirit, from the cosmic weirdness to the emotional heart. 

And judging by the giant creature lunging at Supes in the trailer and the recent toy reveals, we’re likely getting more than a few kaiju-style battles in the new movie.

2. Kamen Rider (1971)

Gunn isn’t very subtle with his Kamen Rider influences either. In a 2021 interview with The Illuminerdi, he gushed over the series. “I like the original series of Kamen Rider,” he said. “The original series is just like the greatest… That aesthetic has influenced me a lot… I love the kaiju movies. I love old Hong Kong action films… There’s a lot of bits of Asian cinema that have influenced me more than most American cinema. And that’s in The Suicide Squad.”

Masked Rider, as it was called in the US, was about transformation, both literally and morally. The lone motorbike-riding hero with an insect motif, fighting against evil supervillains and organizations, often at great personal cost is very James Gunn. You could probably draw a straight line from the crazy action scenes in Kamen Rider to the stylized superhero moments in The Suicide Squad and Guardians of the Galaxy.

And don’t forget, Gunn once tweeted: “Do I like Kamen Rider? I don’t just like it – I love it!”

3. Godzilla Minus One (2023)

Godzilla Minus One – which arrived on Netflix internationally on June 1, 2024 – is one of the more modern tokusatsu films. Even still, it had a huge influence on Gunn’s work on the Superman reboot. “My goal was to make a film like Godzilla Minus One, which depicted Godzilla but also had great human drama,” he told CinemaToday.

See, Gunn isn’t just chasing spectacle with the new Superman movie. He wants strong emotion too. We can see this in the fire in Metropolis, which is matched by the fire between Clark and Lois, and probably the fire in Lex’s unhinged monologues, too.

So, when you sit down to watch Superman in July, don’t expect Man of Steel 2. Expect Ultraman meets Kamen Rider meets Godzilla Minus One meets All-Star Superman.