Superman's First Movie Logo Didn't Mean 'Hope' And James Gunn Could Change It Back
Within the DC Extended Universe, it's a well-known fact that the "S" logo on Clark Kent's (Henry Cavill) Superman costume isn't actually an English "S," but a Kryptonian symbol for hope. This was established in Zack Snyder's "Man of Steel" back in 2013, where Superman is gifted the uniform by artificial intelligence on a crashed Kryptonian spacecraft. The 2017 film "Justice League" would expand on the symbol's origins, with Superman claiming that the "hope" symbol on his chest was actually based on a river from Krypton.
Although the symbol's alternate meaning has been a staple of the DCEU Superman since his first appearance, longtime DC fans will know that Superman's first movie logo actually had a completely different meaning. Within the 1978 blockbuster "Superman," it's revealed that the "S" symbol on Superman's suit is actually the family crest for the Kryptonian House of El. This is the reason that Superman's father Jor-El (Marlon Brando) can be seen wearing the same symbol on his chest during the film's opening on Krypton, and makes it so that Superman's suit is a constant reminder of his lineage.
This retcon of the Superman symbol's origin actually made its way into the DC Comics canon, with issues like "Action Comics" #869 and "Superman: Secret Origin #1"cementing the symbol's origin as the family crest of El. With James Gunn set to helm his own rebooted DC movie universe, we could see the director return to this original meaning of the "S" symbol –- or use one of the many other backstories the symbol has received throughout comic book history.
There have been multiple origin stories for Superman's S
Although both "Man of Steel" and 1978's "Superman" establish the "S" crest as purely Kryptonian in nature, the suit and its symbol have been given multiple different origin stories throughout DC Comics' history. The earliest backstory for the "S" symbol comes from 1945's "More Fun Comics" #101, in which it's revealed that a young "Superboy" (Kal-El's original superhero identity when he was young), chose the "S" as his emblem. "Not only to stand for Superboy, and later Superman," he explains."It will also mean Saving lives, Stopping Crime, and giving Super-Aid wherever it's needed!"
This origin was later retconned in "Action Comics" #500, released in 1979, where it was instead shown that Jonathan Kent had designed the symbol and sewed it onto the suit for his son, Clark. As such, the ever-changing history of this iconic emblem is split between Kryptonian and Earthly origins, and it will be up to James Gunn to decide what the symbol truly represents in his revamped DC Universe. Gunn may even decide to invent a new backstory for this iconic symbol, something that would certainly help to separate his version of the character from Henry Cavill's DCEU portrayal.
Regardless of what the "S" crest will stand for in James Gunn's upcoming film series, it's clear that the symbol's Kryptonian origin is one of many different origin stories given to the iconic logo – and that Gunn will have plenty of wiggle room to change Superman's "S" from a symbol of hope to something else entirely.