Adria Arjona to star in Man of Tomorrow

Adria Arjona will play Maxima in the upcoming Superman sequel Man of Tomorrow.

The Thomas Crown Affair actress joined the likes of Grace Van Patten, Sydney Chandler, and Eva De Dominici in testing for the role of the warrior queen last week and now Deadline reports she has landed the part opposite David Corenswet as the Man of Steel.

Maxima, who hails from the planet Almerac, was first introduced in Action Comics in 1990 and arrives on Earth in search of a mate, setting her sights on Superman. She has been shown at various times in the comic boos as an ally, potential love interest, and an antagonist to Superman.

The character was played by Charlotte Sullivan in Smallville and Eve Torres Gracie in Supergirl, but has never featured in a live-action DC film.

Adria's casting comes shortly after Aaron Pierre joined the cast of the sequel as John Stewart / Green Lantern, a role he will also play in the upcoming TV series Lanterns.

Guardians of the Galaxy filmmaker James Gunn has penned the script and is back behind the camera on Man of Tomorrow, which is scheduled to begin production this summer in Atlanta.

The flick is set to bring back several cast members from last year's DC Universe film - with David Corenswet and Nicholas Hoult reprising their roles as Superman and Lex Luthor respectively.

Rachel Brosnahan (Lois Lane), Skyler Gisondo (Jimmy Olsen) and Sara Sampaio (Eve Teschmacher) are also returning for the sequel.

However, the movie will see the introduction of classic Superman villain Brainiac - who will be portrayed by the German actor Lars Eidinger.

Pierre playing Stewart in the film fits in with Gunn's vision of having the DC screen universe - both movies and TV shows - integrate seamlessly.

Stewart is a Green Lantern - one of the space cops patrolling Earth - and the character's appearance in the picture makes logical sense as both Superman and Brainiac are characters with alien origins.

Superman marked the launch of the DC Universe and Gunn previously described it as the hardest movie he had ever worked on - and claimed that he may not have even directed it had he not found Corenswet to play the Man of Steel.

The 59-year-old filmmaker told the Variety Awards Circuit Podcast: "This was the hardest movie I’ve ever made. The next hardest was probably the first Guardians. With Guardians, you were building a corner of the universe that felt completely different from everything else Marvel was doing at the time. Here, I was reorienting something everyone already thinks they understand. Strangely, it’s the most comic-book-driven thing I’ve ever done. More than any of my other superhero films.

"Everyone in the world thinks something different about Superman. Everybody knows who he is.

"There were all the eyes on us — on DC, on the DCU, on everything. That pressure was real.

"If I couldn’t find Superman, I wasn’t going to make the movie. I remember thinking [after Corenswet’s audition], ‘If that’s the worst we do, we’re in great shape.'"