Tag Archives: lex luthor

July 13, 2025

Superman (2025)

By Joe

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.

The film begins with Superman looking less like his usual self and more like Yamcha.

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?

Despite how this looks, this is thankfully no “Trial of Superman” type of film.

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.

This film very much wants to remind you that Superman’s priority is safeguarding the people (and animals) of the planet he now calls home.

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?

Hoult’s cocky and obsessive Luthor is hopefully a villain with real staying power.

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.

The Justice Gang has a role to play, but not a sizeable one.

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.

Holt definitely gets the most opportunity to steal some of the spotlight.

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.

If you were hoping to see a lot more of the reporters at The Daily Planet then you may be disappointed.

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.

DC and Warner are probably counting on this dog to move some merch and he probably will.

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?”

Okay, I’ll admit it, he’s a good boy.

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:

Superman (1978)

It might be hard to convince younger people today that superhero movies were once huge financial risks for production companies. It might further surprise them to learn that only one comic book company seemed to figure the whole thing out, and it wasn’t Marvel. While Marvel struggled to get Hollywood interested in its characters, Detective…

Keep reading
by Joe

The Batman/Superman Movie – “World’s Finest”

Original Air Date: October 4, 1997 Directed by: Toshihiko Matsuda Written by: Paul Dini, Stan Berkowitz, Alan Burnett, Rich Fogel, Steve Gerber Animation: TMS – Kyuokoichi Corporation Running Time: 61 minutes Also Known As: Superman: The Animated Series episodes 39, 40, 41 “World’s Finest: Parts 1, 2, and 3” When Warner Bros. launched its own…

Keep reading
by Joe

Superman II (The Richard Donner Cut)

When the original Superman was conceived for a theatrical release, the producers on the project were ambitious. Convincing audiences that a man could fly sure seemed like enough ambition for one film, but not Superman. Alexander and Ilya Salkind decided it would be more prudent to shoot the film and its sequel at the same…

Keep reading
by Joe

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Comics, Film

April 5, 2021

The Batman/Superman Movie – “World’s Finest”

By Joe

Original Air Date: October 4, 1997

Directed by: Toshihiko Matsuda

Written by: Paul Dini, Stan Berkowitz, Alan Burnett, Rich Fogel, Steve Gerber

Animation: TMS – Kyuokoichi Corporation

Running Time: 61 minutes

Also Known As: Superman: The Animated Series episodes 39, 40, 41 “World’s Finest: Parts 1, 2, and 3”

When Warner Bros. launched its own network, The WB, in 1995 it had a bit of a conundrum on its hands. Warner had been in the business of producing hours upon hours of content, but it was all aired somewhere else and would be tied down by licensing agreements for yet a while longer. And in the 90s, most of those properties were airing as part of the Fox Kids Network and included the likes of Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, and Batman: The Animated Series. Warner needed to focus on parts of its portfolio that hadn’t already been licensed to Fox and it sure is nice to have a character like Superman to utilize as a fallback. While Fox held the broadcast rights to Batman, Warner essentially ceased taking episode orders for that show and instead tasked the team of Bruce Timm and Paul Dini that had done so well with Batman to do the same for Superman. Superman: The Animated Series was born, and unlike Batman, it was a brightly lit, modern styled, depiction of the classic hero. It was not quite as successful as Batman, but for a generation of comic book fans, this depiction of the man of steel is about as definitive as it gets replacing for many the character we saw on the big screen played by Christopher Reeve.

Following the successful first season of Superman, Warner once again had the broadcast rights to Batman and commissioned a new season. Re-titled, The New Batman Adventures, the caped crusader and his comrades would receive a makeover to bring it in-line with Superman while also accomplishing the goal of simplifying the models for overseas animation. The WB, which had launched its own children’s programming block called Kids’ WB, would air these new episodes of Batman alongside Superman creating The New Batman/Superman Adventures, an hour and a half block typically consisting of one Superman, one classic BTAS, and one New Adventures of Batman. To commemorate the union of these two titans of comics, a three-part episode was created for Superman called “World’s Finest” that would take-up the whole Batman/Superman block on October 4, 1997. These episodes would then be collected and released on VHS and DVD as The Batman/Superman Movie.

Fans had to wait a long time to see these two pair-up, it would seem Batman was not looking forward to it though.

Given how long these two heroes have been around and in Warner’s portfolio, it’s actually rather incredible the two weren’t paired-up for a movie until 1997. This one is a bit of a cheat since it’s three episodes of an animated series, and Batman and Superman have shared space on the small screen for decades. They have since shared time on the big screen as well in one of the most love it or hate it film universes imaginable. In 1997, and even today, there is still a neat “geek” factor to the two teaming up, though I personally wish it could have happened sooner as come 97 I wasn’t watching much network television. I can recall catching bits and pieces of this story, but I don’t think I ever sat down and actually digested it. Since concluding the years long look-back at Batman: The Animated Series, the cross-overs with Superman were basically the few remaining missing links I had yet to look at, so I figured I would rectify that with a look at this pseudo movie.

“World’s Finest” is anchored by a pretty simple premise: How would Batman and Superman work together when their arch enemies team-up? It’s the type of thing any young, comic book, fan probably would have dreamed up as a starting point for a team-up as we have Joker (Mark Hamill) offering his services to Lex Luthor (Clancy Brown) to kill Superman (Tim Daly) for the not unreasonable sum of one billion dollars and it’s Batman (Kevin Conroy) who first sniffs out the scheme. It’s an interesting premise to see Joker turn himself into a hitman-for-hire, and especially interesting that he would be so arrogant that he would think he can take out Superman when he’s failed to do the same with Batman for years. Perhaps it owes to him not viewing Superman as his great rival as many have wondered if Joker really ever aimed to kill Batman, instead preferring to play with him like a cat and a ball of yarn, only in this case the ball of yarn always comes out definitively on top. There’s also a bit of shock factor to see Joker so nakedly offering to kill someone for money, but it is a nice callback, intentional or not, to Joker’s roots in this universe as a mob hitman as seen in Mask of the Phantasm.

Joker has a very big reason for his overconfidence.

Why is Joker offering to kill Superman for Luthor? For the simple fact that he needs money on account of Batman always foiling his plans and because he’s come across a rather large sum of kryptonite. Early in the film, Joker pulls off a heist in which he and Harley (Arleen Sorkin) snatch a dragon idol thought to be made of jade, but Batman knows otherwise and makes the move to Metropolis. It’s there he masquarades as Bruce Wayne, who has a business venture underway with Luthor, and makes acquaintances with both Lois Lane (Dana Delany) and Clark Kent. Lane is quite smitten with Wayne right out of the gate and the two start seeing quite a lot of each other, much to Clark’s disappointment.

The film wastes little time in establishing that Batman and Superman are going to be uneasy allies. Batman is setup to be Superman’s opposite. When we first see Batman inspecting the crime scene following Joker’s theft, Detective Bullock (Robert Costanzo) puts up a minor protest when Batman takes a piece of kryptonite left behind as tampering with a crime scene, but Commissioner Gordon (Bob Hastings) somewhat jokingly laughs it off suggesting to Bullock he be the one to stop Batman from doing what he wants. It’s played for laughs, but it’s kind of scary that Gordon essentially revealed he feels helpless when it comes to telling Batman what to do. Of course, we know he welcomes Batman’s aid in an unofficial capacity, but this scene seems to exist to remind the viewer that Batman operates outside the law. When he eventually crosses paths with Superman for the first time, Superman refers to him as a vigilante and that there’s no place for such in his town. Superman is our goody-two-shoes, the one who operates within the confines of the law, while Batman happily exists outside it. He’s also played as a jerk, as Batman introduces himself to Superman by arm-tossing him over his shoulder. It’s definitely beyond what we’re used to seeing out of the character previously in BTAS, that very patient detective working alongside Ra’s al Ghul and tolerating his subordinates slights is long gone. It’s somewhat in-line with the character we’ll see more of in The New Batman Adventures, but it’s definitely a change.

Batman is such a dick to Superman that I half-expected him to torture the guy for fun here.

The Batman/Superman dynamic is the main anchor of the feature, but also entering the fray is the Lois Lane situation in which it’s clearly spelled out she’s attracted to Superman and Bruce Wayne, but turned off by Clark Kent and Batman. There’s also multiple scenes in which Joker and Luthor are pitted against each other, mostly via tense negotiations or dealing with the fallout of a Batman or Superman encounter. They’re actually quite entertaining and this is the best Joker we’ve seen in awhile. It would seem the time off between the end of the second season of BTAS and this feature did Dini and his crew well as this Joker feels fresh and exciting. As does his main squeeze Harley and the two actually work quite well together in this one with less signs of abuse on the part of Mr. J. It does mean the story basically ignores how we left off with the pair and we’re just left to assume that Harley eventually came crawling back. It’s a pretty entertaining story, albeit one that only runs a mere 61 minutes. It does follow a predictable arc, and I dislike that the ending basically has zero consequences long-term, but I definitely had a good time following along. There were some segments that were a bit too liberal with the notion that every bad guy in these shows is a terrible shot. Batman should have probably died ten times in this thing, but it’s just accepted that our hero is never going to get shot no matter how improbable the situation.

Being that this movie exists within the Superman show, it follows the same visual style as that show and The New Batman Adventures. There are no additional effects applied like we saw with a true feature in Mask of the Phantasm, but that doesn’t mean this one doesn’t look nice. Warner at least opened up its wallet for TMS to handle the animation. TMS was once upon a time a semi-regular in Warner animation, but come the mid-90s the studio’s reputation was beyond reproach and their services were essentially beyond Warner’s television budget. The studio wasn’t even called upon to handle the second BTAS feature, SubZero, so it was a bit surprising to see them utilized here. It certainly pays off as “World’s Finest” looks terrific. The animation is so smooth and so consistent frame by frame and it pays off as there’s plenty of action. There’s even a classic “Superman saves an airplane” segment probably just so they could have TMS animate such a sequence, because it’s otherwise a scene that’s completely unneeded for the plot. It’s certainly fun though, so I’m not complaining! The only drawback the film possesses from a visual perspective rests with the character designs. I really don’t like the redesign on Joker, and it’s so apparent in the scenes he shares with Luthor. Luthor looks like a person, while Joker looks like he belongs in a different series, something far more toony. That’s a problem I have with The New Batman Adventures as a whole though, not one unique or born from this arc.

I think the writers want us to think Bruce has legitimate feelings for Lois, but it’s not convincing and you may exit this movie with a new opinion on the guy.

The Batman/Superman Movie is probably not the spectacle the pairing deserves, but if I’m being honest, I’d rather watch this than the live-action one that would follow years later. Despite the short duration, it doesn’t cry out for additional material. If it had been a true feature we probably would have just been treated to more of Wayne and Lane’s romance which does move quite fast in this one (she appears poised to move to Gotham at one point) so that’s probably not realistic, but billionaires certainly have a knack for getting their own way despite logic and reason. I suspect some might not like the portrayal of Batman in this one as he really is just an asshole towards Superman. One has to wonder if he’s only interested in Lois to stick it to Superman. And given that their relationship progressed far enough for Lois to talk about moving, I’m going to make the assumption that she and Bruce slept together and if Bruce slept with her just to make Superman jealous or angry then that’s some pretty lowlife behavior on his part. Even without that piece of head-canon on my part, I felt pretty bad for Lane at times in this one as she’s just being used left and right. Bruce uses her to get info on Superman, Joker uses her as Superman bait, and all the while she thinks she’s met someone she’s ready to run away with. It’s quite a ride for Lois, and I wonder if Dini contemplated tossing Barbara Gordon into this whole mess, but thought better of it.

“World’s Finest” was just the first cross-over event between Superman and The New Batman Adventures, and not the last. There were two more in Superman, “Knight Time” and “The Demon Reborn.” There was only one in Batman, “Girl’s Night Out,” which I covered some time ago. Since I’ve covered so much of Batman: The Animated Series here, I would like to some day talk about those additional crossovers, but I also have no plans to at this time since I don’t own Superman: The Animated Series. Perhaps that will change one day, but the availability of this movie is what made this possible. If you want to check it out for yourself, you can do so either via Superman which is available on DVD and streaming on HBO Max, or you could buy the stand-alone movie which is quite affordable. I picked up a copy at a secondhand media store for a mere $2.97. For less than 3 bucks, this is a rather nice piece of entertainment.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in batman the animated series, Comics, Film, Television