He proves, once again, that Black characters can be fully realized, emotionally complex, and narratively central. So it is that Gunn’s Superman doesn’t just introduce Mr. Terrific; it positions him exactly where he’s always belonged… at the center with his contemporaries.
Michael Holt: Reclaiming the Character from the Margins
Michael Holt made his debut in The Spectre #54 (1997), created by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake. From the beginning, he stood apart. Not driven by revenge or destined for greatness, Holt was shaped by loss. After his wife and unborn child died in a car accident, he contemplated if his own life was worth living until science, discipline, and a deep care for humanity called him back. He earned over a dozen PhDs, became an Olympic gold medalist in the decathlon, and designed the T-spheres—sophisticated AI-driven technology capable of analysis, defense, surveillance, and other endless possibilities. He then joined the Justice Society of America not to fight for glory, but to serve with precision and empathy.
In the comics, Holt was always portrayed as a moral tactician trusted by gods, leaders, and even the Multiverse itself. Yet his onscreen appearances never truly reflected that. Justice League Unlimited reduced him to a background administrator. Arrow renamed him Curtis Holt and softened his edges into relief work. He became palatable, not powerful.
Gunn reverses all of that. His Mr. Terrific isn’t a footnote. He’s a force. Holt is introduced not with spectacle, but with extreme competence. He moves beside Superman, not behind him or subservient to him. He is shown as a fully formed physical, intellectual, principled, and emotionally grounded hero. It is the clearest articulation yet of the character’s original DNA.
And for actor Edi Gathegi, it’s more than a role. Mirroring Mr. Terrific’s newfound stardom, he gets his own reclamation. After his abrupt and underwritten exit as Darwin in X-Men: First Class, Gathegi finally gets a role built for longevity and layered with purpose. It lets both the actor and the character command the screen with quiet authority. An elite performer and elite hero converge in a space designed perfectly for them.
Presence as Power: Edi Gathegi’s Terrific Performance
Gathegi doesn’t overplay a single scene in Superman. His performance is quiet but exact. When Holt and Lois Lane infiltrate Lex Luthor’s off-grid blacksite, the brilliance of the character comes through, not depending on exposition, but in action. Holt calculates firing patterns, reprograms his T-spheres mid-combat, and shields Lois with clinical precision. Every movement is purposeful. There is no ego present. He embodies focus, calculation, and courage.