It’s claimed that James Gunn rewrote Superman: Legacy and changed the plot which follows that controversy involving Egyptian-America actor and comedian Bassem Youssef.
Youssef has claimed that he lost his role in the movie after voicing his opinions about the Israeli-Palestine conflict.
However, Gunn and WB PR were quick to stomp out the fire as through all the trades, “sources” said Youssef was never cast in the role.
Bassem Youssef has nothing but love and respect for Gunn
Bassem Youssef has since released a video on Twitter where he says he is a big fan of James Gunn and has “nothing but love and respect for this guy,” and explains what happened in that from his position, it seemed as if he was let go because of what he said while appearing on Piers Morgan.
In the Twitter video, Youssef goes on to admit that he doesn’t know for sure what happened and hopes he wasn’t really let go because of his political views against the Israeli government.
Middle East plot dropped
It turns out that Bassem Youssef may not really have been cast in the movie but as we see he nearly was, which according to rumors is because James Gunn has changed the Superman: Legacy script and story.
So if you have been following all the news and rumors surrounding Superman: Legacy, it has been said the plot involves either Middle Eastern terrorists and/or dictators, but if that is not the case, regardless, it has been said that the Middle East plays a role in the movie.
While James Gunn has shot down those rumors about the Middle East, the trades have revealed that Bassem Youssef was up to play a leader in the Middle East — so that means the Middle East was in Superman: Legacy (keyword being “was”).
So is James Gunn lying?
Twitter users are having a field day stating Gunn is lying.
Well, technically no Gunn is not, as according to the latest rumor, Superman: Legacy doesn’t feature a Middle Eastern plot.
According to YouTuber Grace Randolph whom I believe was the source of the original Middle Eastern rumors surrounding Superman: Legacy, Randolph now says James Gunn rewrote Superman: Legacy and replaced the Middle Eastern plot with an Eastern European plot.
So again, technically, James Gunn is correct as the final version of Superman: Legacy doesn’t feature a Middle Eastern plot. That also means Bassem Youssef wasn’t fired from the movie because of his political views, but that he didn’t get the part because the plot changed from the Middle East to an Eastern Europe plot where a Middle Eastern leader wasn’t needed.
Worth a mention is that Ukraine is in Eastern Europe and has been involved in a war with Russia, but obviously Gunn and/or WB seemingly think the Eastern Europe plot is a lot less controversial than having a Middle Eastern plot.
Superman: Legacy has a July 11, 2025 release and is supposed to start filming in March.
