Superman’s first trailer shows a hidden DC villain who first had to be teased by James Gunn before anyone found him

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Director and DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn revealed there’s a hidden DC villain in the new Superman trailer – and fans figured out the tongue-in-cheek moment in just a few hours.

As seen on actress María Gabriela de Faría’s Instagram Story, Gunn challenged the audience to figure out where de Faría’s “The Engineer” appears in the Superman teaser.

Remarkably, it only took a few hours for someone to figure it out. The world’s greatest detective, eat your heart out.

As Revistacine pointed out in Threads, the engineer can be seen sneaking around on the roof of the Luthercorp building. You can see it below or at 1:30 in the trailer for yourself. Gunn even replied, “Haha, you’re right!”

While the Superman trailer made a lot of noise about many of its heroes and villains – Lex Luthor, Guy Gardner, Mister Terrific and Hawkgirl, to name a few – we’ve heard very little about The Engineer, aka Angela Spica.

In DC’s comics, she is part of The Authority, a group of tougher superheroes assembled by Superman after he began losing his powers.

While DC Studios hasn’t officially confirmed which side of the hero-villain divide the character will be on, we definitely know that The Authority (of which The Engineer is a part) will be getting its own feature film – and it’s heard feels like she’s up to no good.

The agency will “take matters into its own hands to do what it sees fit,” the film’s official synopsis says in 2023.

“Whether that means killing people, destroying heads of state, changing governments, you know, whatever they want to do to make the world better,” Gunn previously explained.

To underscore their reputation as shades of gray, DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran compared the team to Jack Nicholson’s character in A Few Good Men. Therefore, they will be villains in some people’s eyes, but ultimately feel that they are doing the right thing for the greater good. All in all, it’s the kind of complex morality that could spark further interest in the DCU.

De Faría joins a cast that includes David Corenswet as Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor. The cast also includes Isabela Merced, Nathan Fillion, Edi Gathegi and Anthony Carrigan.

Directed by James Gunn, Superman begins the live-action portion of DCU Chapter One on July 11, 2025.

For more information about Superman, check out our overview of the Superman trailer. Plus, read James Gunn’s thoughts on finding a balance between the aesthetic of Silver Age comics and modern storytelling.