Who Is The Night King-Looking Superhero In The Superman Trailer?

The first teaser trailer for James Gunn's new "Superman" film has finally arrived, providing a first look at the feature's ensemble of DC Comics characters. Of course, David Corenswet leads the pack in the title role, sporting the redesigned costume Gunn revealed earlier this year. Alongside him and newly showcased in the dazzling teaser are Edi Gathegi as Mister Terrific, Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl, and a perfectly cast Nathan Fillion as the awful Green Lantern Guy Gardner.

All three are relatively popular characters in their own right (Mister Terrific and Hawkgirl have already made their live-action debuts in The CW Arrowverse), and pretty easy to recognize due to the actors playing them. However, about 1:50 into the trailer, fans get a quick glimpse at another, significantly lesser-known superhero whose actor is mostly obscured by some pretty impressive makeup. This person (who "Game of Thrones" fans may compare visually to the series' menacing villain the Night King) is Rex Mason, aka the shapeshifting Metamorpho. This classic DC character is played in the film by Anthony Carrigan, a celebrated TV actor you might recognize from a number of high-profile projects.

In the comics, Metamorpho was once a normal archaeologist named Rex Mason, who makes his name working for the morally dubious businessman Simon Stagg. If the name looks familiar, that's because James Gunn revealed Stagg Enterprises as a location in the film within this very trailer.

Stagg ultimately betrays Mason while on an expedition in Egypt, but unwittingly winds up forcing Mason into contact with the radioactive material that grants him his awesome powers of transformation. While he can't completely reshape his body like Plastic Man or even the Marvel hero Mystique, he is able to turn parts of his body into various substances and elements, and can usually turn his fists into more lethal shapes like maces or hammers.

Over the years since his debut in 1965, Metamorpho has been a member of several superteams, including the Justice League (in various branches and incarnations), the Batman-led Outsiders, and more recently Mister Terrific's The Terrifics. It's unclear if Gunn's film will place Metamorpho on the same team with Terrific, Gardner, and Hawkgirl, or if he'll be a newer hero searching for his place in the world like Superman. As can be seen in the trailer, his inhuman physical characteristics will be portrayed at least in part through the use of makeup. Metamorpho's appearance often isolates him from others, a complicated aspect of his psyche that Anthony Carrigan connected with on a personal level.

In interviews since his casting, Anthony Carrigan has shared that — in addition to being thrilled to finally work with James Gunn after years of hoping for the chance — he felt specifically connected to the character of Metamorpho due to his struggles with his supernaturally altered physical appearance. The actor likened this to his own experience with alopecia, a condition that can cause partial or total hair loss.

"Alopecia is an interesting experience to go through because it more than anything rocks your world when it comes to your identity," he told Rolling Stone in 2024. "People stop looking at you and they start looking at your condition, and that is a really alienating, very dehumanizing thing. Villains don't really accept themselves all that much. Superheroes tend to. There's this concept of acknowledging one's journey and leading with love as opposed to bitterness and wishing that you could change." 

Carrigan is best known for his work on the HBO comedy thriller "Barry," in which he played NoHo Hank, a prominent member of the show's criminal underworld. DC Comics fans may also recognize him from his two previous ventures into this world — first on the Arrowverse series "The Flash" as the poisonous assassin Kyle Nimbus aka Mist, then on the Fox crime drama "Gotham" as sadistic Batman rogue Victor Zsasz. "Superman" lands in theaters July 11, 2025.