Published Apr 26, 2026, 10:30 AM EDT Seriously, why does Superman love chess so much? Image: DC Studios Sign in to your Polygon.com account Production of Superman: Man of Tomorrow is officially underway. On April 20, director James Gunn shared an image of a black and red chessboard spread out next to Lex Luthor's Van Kull Department of Corrections ID badge. At the top of the image, you can see a version of the Superman logo disturbingly reminiscent of Brainiac's character design. When we last saw Luthor, he was imprisoned in Belle Reve on the Peacemaker show . With the introduction of the mysterious organization Checkmate on Peacemaker, the striking red and black chessboard may be related to images from writer Greg Rucka's Checkmate run . Or it may be as unrelated as that crumpled bag of Ruffles on the table next to it. If you think of superheroes and chess, chances are you'll quickly conjure up the image of Professor Xavier and Magneto squaring off in the X-Men film franchise .…