When I was a kid, the only superheroes with any box office success to speak of were the biggest heroes from Detective Comics: Superman and Batman. The Superman films starring Christopher Reeve were probably the first superhero movies I ever saw. If not them then the honor would belong to Batman (1967). It wouldn’t be long until Tim Burton’s take on the Dark Knight rocked the box office and became a merchandizing juggernaut. It followed a tetralogy of Superman films that had really run out of steam. Batman was the new “It” hero for the film world and no one else mattered or could find success. Not until Fox and Sony started winning audiences over with their takes on X-Men and Spider-Man. The Marvel Cinematic Universe followed, and even though during that era there was a trilogy of very successful Batman movies from director Christopher Nolan, it feels like Warner Bros. and DC have been trying to emulate the Marvel method with its films with little to show for it.
Enter James Gunn. After entrusting the DC film universe to Zack Snyder to middling results, Warner Bros. searched for someone to spearhead a second attempt at a shared DC film universe. Gunn was known to them through work he had already done for the studio including including films The Suicide Squad and the HBO series Peacemaker. Gunn of course was the director for three very successful Guardians of the Galaxy films for Disney and Marvel and the prevailing thought at Warner must have been if Gunn can take a relatively unknown comic franchise like Guardians and turn it into a mega-successful film franchise then surely he can do the same for the already famous characters of DC? His first task: create a new franchise with Superman serving as the anchor character to kick things off.
Superman may be one of the most famous superheroes in the world, but it feels like his time as the most popular has long since past him by. Film attempts at reviving the character have not been received all that well and Batman has taken over as the face of Detective Comics. It almost feels like at some point in the 80s a rift developed between the two fictional characters that carried over into the fandom. If you were a Batman fan then you thought Superman was lame. If you were a Superman fan then Batman was a joyless, grim-dark, sadist. The talk of a Batman vs Superman movie became a thing that eventually happened and even when comic book royalty like Jim Lee took over the Batman books he made sure to work in a Batman vs. Superman scene into his Hush story. This can probably be traced back to Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns which contains probably the most famous and iconic physical stand-off between the two the atmosphere of which helped to influence Burton’s Batman which helped define the character for the next decade-plus.
All of this is to say that Superman arrives with a great deal of expectation. There’s expectation from the studio that this will be the catalyst for a mega-successful film franchise to follow, and not just for Superman himself. There’s the hope from fans of the character that this is the movie that will get him right and do justice for the character that many feel the previous films failed at. And then there’s the naysayers, the anti-Superman crowd and Snyder loyalists which has been stoked by recent cries that Superman is getting too political because Gunn dared to point out that he’s an immigrant and his story is an immigrant story. The film drops at a prescient time for such notions as currently immigration is the focal point of the current administration in the United States with ICE raids and protests against said raids often dominating the news. Can this film possibly serve both crowds and win over a large majority of move-goers this summer?
No, probably not. Those who have decided that this new movie is too political and against their conservative leanings going into it are not going to be swayed. And those who thing Superman sucks of only Snyder’s portrayal mattes have made up their minds already so why bother convincing them otherwise? For that other crowd though, I do think many are going to leave the theater with some measure of satisfaction. This is the portrayal of Superman that they were likely looking for, and while the film is far from perfect, it’s also pretty far from terrible.
Superman (played by David Corenswet) opens at an interesting time for the character: his first defeat. Some text overlay is present to inform the audience that Superman has been on this world for 30 years and revealed himself to the public 3 years prior to the events of the movie. This is not an origin story, though if you know nothing about Superman going into it you’ll have the gaps filled in enough without a lot of direct exposition. Superman also gets to open the film in a Yamcha pose. If you are a Dragon Ball Z fan then you know what I am referring to as the character is laying in a fetal position in a crater in the arctic. If you saw the first trailer then you saw this scene. It’s an interesting way to introduce the audience to the character as it informs us that this is a Superman who can feel and experience pain. Some takes on the character make him basically invulnerable to all things not Kryptonite. This Superman is indeed a super-powered individual and no mortal man could ever hope to best him at any physical test, but other super-powered beings can perhaps stand a chance.
The Superman of this universe is an eternal optimist. He is here on this world to do good, as his biological parents instructed via a pre-recorded message, and that’s his goal. When a fictitious foreign power tries to invade a neighboring country, Superman puts a stop to it with his own brand of justice. That lays the foundation for one of the film’s central conflicts – can a man of his power who owes no allegiance to any nation be allowed to act in such a way? To Superman, he is doing right. The invasion would have cost lives and Superman prevented that. To an adult in the political world, there’s more nuance. The invading country (Boravia) claimed it was liberating the people of the country it invaded (Jarhanpur) from an oppressive regime. Lives would have been lost, but they would have better off in the end, or so they claim. Superman disagreed and since he holds the power it’s his opinion that supersedes all others. He consulted no political authority before acting as he did and the fear is what if he’s wrong?
To a man like Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) this is a very scary proposition. He has some sympathizers in the US government, but none are eager to go toe-to-toe with Superman who is not only extremely powerful in his own right, but also extremely popular. Luthor is motivated by more than just fear though. He’s not a man out to make the world a better place, but a better place for him. He’s greedy and jealous and his jealousy towards Superman has been all-consuming. He wants to out Superman as someone the public should fear, and then he wants to kill him. He has been studying Superman these past three years and has used his considerable wealth to hire some very smart people to help him do that. Among his ranks are two creations: Ultraman and The Engineer. Ultraman is an incredibly strong creation of mysterious origins while The Engineer (María Gabriela de Faría Chacón) is some sort of techno-engineered human capable of breaking her body down into tiny nanobots.
Other heroes, or metahumans, exist in the world including the Justice Gang (working title). This group consists of Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), and Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi). If you know nothing of those heroes from the comic books good luck understanding what their powers are beyond a superficial level. The film isn’t interested in sifting through lore and all one needs to know for the film and their presentation is they’re some pretty powerful people. There’s also the Daily Planet crew where Clark Kent is employed and we meet the usual suspects for a Superman film. Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) is the lead reporter and the one we’ll spend the most time with. Along with her is Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo) who is traditionally a photographer, but in this film I don’t know what his role is. He’s not a reporter, even though he has the best sources, and he defers to others and operates like an assistant. Perry White (Wendell Pierce) serves in his customary role as the editor-in-chief.
The film is primarily concerned with presenting Superman as a force for good and what is morally right and just. Cronenswet is perfectly suited for such a role. He has an innocent charm about him as well as the physique. He doesn’t wrestle with his decisions of what is right and what is wrong because he feels he knows inherently the difference between the two. An interesting dichotomy is displayed when he and the Justice Gang take on a kaiju-like beast in Metropolis. Superman struggles with the beast because he wants to subdue it and take it to an intergalactic zoo of some kind while the other heroes see killing the creature as the quickest way to neutralize the threat. Superman, for all his power, doesn’t appear to subscribe to the theory that might makes right, he’ll use his considerable might as he deems necessary, but he’s not a killer. This juxtaposes with the cynical world around him. Lois, in particular, clashes with him because of her more jaded, but also typical, outlook for an adult woman in a modern day setting. She can raise these issues with Superman, but all they do is frustrate him because seemingly no one else sees the world as clearly as he does. The only thing I don’t like about this Superman is his costume. Yes, it’s pretty close to his classic look, but he has that texture and piping that has become commonplace in super hero movies and TV shows. It’s uninspired and overdone and looks like Superman through the lens of The Boys.
Hoult’s Luthor is a proper villain for Superman, one who can’t ever hope to match him physically, but can do so in other ways. He’s portrayed as a very smart, savvy, and even patient man since he’s been working to put his plans into motion for years at this point. He’s also prone to emotional outbursts and Hoult is able to straddle a fine line between lethal mastermind and over-the-top theatrics. The background conflict between the two warring nations feels like a clear proxy for conflict in the middle east. Gunn has been working on this film since 2022 so it’s hard to say if that conflict is meant to be a stand-in for something as politically charged as Israel and Palestine, but present day audiences are likely to go there.
And that’s where Superman is likely going to come up short for some people. Those who want the movie to have a very clear stance on present day topics like the current one in Gaza are going to be left wanting more. The criticism, if there is any, is largely toothless. The moral questions of whether or not Superman is right or wrong is basically introduced, but mostly dropped. It serves as a catalyst for the plot which then quickly becomes just another sci-fi, comic booky, conflict where the fate of the world is at stake. The film provides a resolution to the plot, but not really any of the other stuff. And amidst the climax the human characters basically get swallowed up. If you’re someone who feels the Daily Planet staff is an integral part of the Superman experience then you too will be left underserved. The film literally puts the only important characters from that group (and even the non-important ones who get little face-time) in a bubble to ride the whole thing out. I won’t go so far as to say the Daily Planet stuff could have been stricken from the film without any loss, but it’s close. On the plus side, the film is at least confident with its sci-fi. It doesn’t get bogged down in the how or why these things can happen, they just can. For some viewers that may be frustrating while others are more apt to just accept the reality of the film for what it is.
The other character I have to mention is the one likely to help offset some of the losses in the adult audience and that’s Krypto. The super canine was introduced in the initial trailer and you won’t have to wait long to see him on the big screen. I have never been a Krypto fan. Even as a kid it felt like pandering to a young audience that I saw through despite my enjoyment of dogs. He’s probably here to help pander to that younger audience once again and maybe win over some dog people who ordinarily wouldn’t care about Superman. His portrayal is better than expected as Krypto is not some well-trained companion, but a force of chaos. He’s a bit unruly and pup-like and it’s probably because he’s a bit neglected being forced to live in Superman’s Fortress of Solitude (it’s never actually called that in the film, but you get the idea). He has not been socialized with other dogs, probably because he’d accidentally destroy them, and Superman isn’t available to train him. He’s still a good boy though so the audience is probably going to enjoy him more than I did. I know my kids left the theater saying he was their favorite part.
John Murphy and David Fleming handled the score with liberal use of the Superman theme composed by John Williams. I was very happy to hear that theme returned as there’s no reason to ever craft a new Superman theme. The films makes use of it in different ways adjusting the tempo and intonations, but it’s unmistakable. I do wish at some point there was a performance a bit closer to the one from the 70s, even if just over the end credits, but the film denied us that. It’s also worth noting that even though this is a launching point for a new DC film universe, it doesn’t feel like one. Yes, there’s a mid-credits and a post credits scene, but they’re not teasers. There isn’t any obvious setup for a future film or story and the plot is self-contained. It may seem a bit ridiculous to praise a film for telling a story and committing to it, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become exhausting to follow and it’s nice to just sit and watch a film without wondering “What’s next?”
Superman is a good film. It’s probably not the genre or character-defining moment some want it to be, but if you’re in the market for a good Superman story presented in a capable manner then there’s enough here to enjoy. Where the film comes up short is in its approach to plot points many would consider topical. If you wanted a strong denouncement of the immigration policies in the US or criticism of what’s going on in Gaza well you’re not really going to get it. Should the film have gone farther? Perhaps. I don’t think it would have hurt commercially as the people refusing to see the film because it’s “woke” have already made up their mind and aren’t going to give it a fair shake anyway. There’s always a danger in playing it safe because it can turn off the audience you were likely to have anyway and alienates the one you never were going to appeal to. And it’s never a bad thing to take a stand on what’s right, provided it’s truly the position of those making the art. Those who wanted to see more of Superman’s supporting cast might also be left disappointed. This isn’t a solo Superman story, but it’s also not one heavily reliant on others, but maybe we needed that after films and stories all too willing to place the character on the back burner. It’s also 129 minutes long and feels just about right so while there are things I might have liked to have seen included, I can’t say I wanted another bloated 150 minute comic book movie. Hopefully, Gunn and DC can stick with telling more Superman stories and be less concerned with telling the story of the Justice League or whatever else you know they want to build to. My fear is this is an outlier just to establish Superman and DC is going to just go back to trying to emulate what Marvel has done. Not every film needs to be building towards something bigger and better. There are plenty of Superman stories worth telling. We have the cast and hopefully we have vision at the top to usher in a new era for the character.
If you’re interested in more thoughts on Superman in film then perhaps you’ll find these worth your time:
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