The new Superman movie is hitting theaters around the world—and hidden behind the superhero’s iconic look is a distinctly Italian signature. The man behind the suit is Christian Cordella, a concept artist from Lecce, in the Salento region of southern Italy.

Cordella comes from a long line of tailors—he's the eighth generation of a family that helped shape Italian fashion—and he’s no stranger to Hollywood, having worked on Oscar-winning blockbusters like Avatar: The Way of Water and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Cordella left Puglia in the late '90s to pursue a dream of becoming a painter in the United States. That dream evolved into a successful career in film costume design, with roles at Disney, Universal, and other major studios. Now 51, he’s once again playing a key part in shaping one of cinema’s most legendary characters—this time with the bold ambition of one day bringing big-budget filmmaking back home to Salento.

Designing Superman’s costume, even for someone as seasoned as Cordella, was no small feat. “His look is so iconic that it’s actually quite challenging,” he said. “What could we do to make him feel new, while staying true to the original? I’m proud that many of my ideas made it into the final design.” Cordella notes details like the boot shape and the cut of the shorts—elements he designed—that helped define the character’s updated appearance.

One of the trickiest parts? The infamous red trunks. “Everyone in the industry knows those ‘underwear over tights’ are a challenge,” Cordella laughed. “We must have drawn hundreds of versions—different lengths, different placements, integrated styles… In the end, we kept the traditional shape, but made it a distinct design element.”

Cordella is now focused on a personal passion project: bringing a film production to Salento. “I’m developing a story with American and British writers that I hope to shoot in Puglia,” he said. “It’s not based on a comic book—it’s an original story, partially set in Italy.”

Reflecting on the Superman process, Cordella emphasized how difficult it was to balance modern updates with comic book tradition: “There are so many variations—high collar, no collar, cape attachments—but we found a middle ground. It feels fresh, but still unmistakably Superman.”