Did a White Walker make his way from Westeros to Metropolis? Not exactly, but a similar-looking DC character – and the actor playing him – have quite the backstory.
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00:00Did a White Walker make his way from Westeros to Metropolis?
00:04Not exactly, but a similar-looking DC character and the actor playing him have quite the backstory.
00:09The first teaser trailer for James Gunn's new Superman film gives us our first look
00:13at David Corrin Sweat in action.
00:15We also get our first looks at such heroes as Mr. Terrific, Hawk Girl, and the brash
00:19Green Lantern guy Gardner.
00:21Those characters are relatively easy to recognize, but about one minute and 50 seconds into the
00:26trailer, there's a quick glimpse at another, significantly lesser-known superhero sporting
00:30some pretty impressive makeup that makes him look like the Night King from Game of Thrones.
00:34But it's not the Night King.
00:36Instead, it's a shapeshifting Metamorpho.
00:38He's played by Anthony Kerrigan, whom you might just recognize from some high-profile
00:42TV shows.
00:43In the DC Comics, Metamorpho was once a normal archaeologist named Rex Mason who made his
00:48name working for the morally dubious businessman Simon Stagg.
00:52Stagg betrays Mason during an expedition in Egypt while also unwittingly forcing him
00:57into contact with the radioactive material that grants him his powers of transformation.
01:02While he can't completely reshape his body like Plastic Man or Marvel's Mystique, Rex
01:06is able to turn parts of his body into various substances and elements, and he can usually
01:10turn his fists into more lethal shapes like maces or hammers.
01:14In the years since his 1965 debut, Metamorpho has been a member of several superteams, including
01:20the Justice League, the Batman-led Outsiders, and more recently, the Terrifics.
01:24It's currently unclear if this cinematic version of Metamorpho will be working alongside Terrific,
01:29Hawkgirl, and Gardner, or if he'll be searching for his own place in the world like Superman.
01:33As the trailer makes clear, Metamorpho's inhuman physical characteristics will be achieved
01:38practically at least in part with makeup.
01:40His unusual appearance often isolates him from others, an aspect of his psyche that
01:44the actor playing him connected with on a personal level.
01:47Anthony Kerrigan is probably best known for the dark HBO sitcom Barry as NoHo Hank, a
01:52consistently upbeat member of the Chechen Mafia.
01:55And this actually isn't Kerrigan's first time venturing into a DC comic adaptation.
02:01He was on two episodes of the Arrowverse series The Flash as the poisonous assassin Kyle Nimbus,
02:06aka Myst, and he also appeared on 20 episodes of the Batman-adjacent series Gotham as the
02:12sadistic Victor Zsasz.
02:13Since being cast in Superman, Kerrigan has admitted that he's thrilled to finally work
02:17with James Gunn after years of hoping for the opportunity.
02:20He has also talked about his own unique connection to Metamorpho, thanks to his alopecia, a condition
02:25that can cause partial or total hair loss.
02:28As Kerrigan told Rolling Stone in January 2024,
02:31"[Alopecia is an interesting experience to go through because it more than anything rocks
02:36your world when it comes to your identity.
02:38You go from someone who moves throughout the world in a way that everyone looks at you
02:42and you are who you are, and then all of a sudden things start to change on your head
02:46and on your face."
02:47Kerrigan also noted,
02:48"...people stop looking at you and they start looking at your condition, and that is a really
02:52alienating, very dehumanizing thing.
02:55Villains don't really accept themselves all that much.
02:58Superheroes tend to.
02:59There's this concept of acknowledging one's journey and leading with love as opposed to
03:02bitterness and wishing that you could change."