Writer/Director James Gunn has been a force in the wider world of DC film and television for a while now, but his biggest challenge is finally here. How does he do with Superman? For those keeping track, the last theatrically released movie with the word “Superman” in the title was 2016’s Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Superman’s last appearance was a brief post-credit scene in Black Adam in 2022. Henry Cavill’s Superman grew less and less relevant, that it was time to reboot the character with David Corenswet. I’ll avoid making too many comparisons to past versions of Superman (as there are loads of them) or trying to untangle the continuity of Gunn’s DC projects (which is a subject for another time) and just stick with this movie. “New Superman”. Or, given the nondescript title, “The 2025 Superman movie”, as it’ll probably come to be known as.

It’s almost impossible for me to imagine what going into this movie without knowing a single thing about Superman would be like. Still, the movie quickly exposits some history about the world and hits the ground running. We quickly get that this is a Superman who has been around for 3 years, has a Fortress of Solitude arctic base, watches a fractured message his birth parents left him, lives a double life as reporter Clark Kent, and has a relationship with Lois Lane. It’s all very easy to digest, and it feels inviting.

A superhero movie that plays it safe typically just deals with the rise of the hero and/or the villain without stepping too far beyond that. I appreciate this movie embracing the idea that Superman lives in a world of metahumans, aliens, and monsters. This is a Superman who has his hands full and is barely keeping things together, even though his desire to do good should be easy.

It’s not exactly the first time Superman has ever visited this subject, but it’s worth exploring. This Superman may or may not be overstepping his boundaries by getting involved in an international incident, and things become worse when the scheming Lex Luthor finds out how to discredit him even further. Superman is stated as being the most powerful metahuman on the planet, but he has a number of vulnerabilities.

I enjoyed Superman a lot in this. Both Superman and Lois Lane were well cast. We don’t see too much of David Corenswet’s Clark Kent (even less of him being Clark around people who don’t know about his dual identity), but his Superman is very convincing. He has just the right amount of optimism and even naivete that is at Superman’s core, but even he has his desperate and angry moments. His chemistry with Rachel Brosnahan’s Lois Lane was fantastic, particularly in the early scene where he allows her to interview him. Lois Lane is supposed to be intelligent, tough as nails, and more than willing to get in over her head in the pursuit of something she believes in. You never think Brosnahan is going to shrink back from anything. It’s just a shame there’s a good chunk of the movie where Superman and Lois aren’t together.

Villains can make or break a movie, and Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor elevated the entire film. Luthor is a hard villain to get right, not just because his MO and origins have changed so much over the years in the comics, but because he is supposed to be a trailblazer of the modern era. The rich, businessman Lex Luthor needs to reflect what the world defines as “successful”, which is constantly changing, while also embodying the worst man has to offer in terms of amorality and pettiness. This Luthor is perpetually connected to his team through an earpiece, commands every room he’s in, and thinks several steps ahead. Luthor has plans within plans, and it’s not important we see how much thought and effort he’s put into them. Luthor enacts them step by step, and it’s on the audience to keep up with him. I love how they get around the fact that Luthor isn’t a physical match for Superman. He can still fight the Man of Steel by coordinating his team, who feeds his commands into a metahuman on Superman’s power level. This is a Lex Luthor who will lie, manipulate, imprison, and even kill without doubting himself. Hoult nails the self-assured arrogance, but the strength of his performance is in capturing Luthor’s brief moments of self-reflection and honesty. A man as smart as Lex Luthor is going to be aware of how afraid and envious he is because of the existence of someone like Superman. What makes this Luthor compelling is that he admits this, and there is a bit of fear in him, but he quickly gets past those feelings to try to overcome the obstacle ahead of him.

This movie has loads of supporting characters, and not all of them got the proper time to shine. The Daily Planet mainstays are all there. Not just Jimmy Olsen and Perry White, but Steve Lombard, Cat Grant, and Ron Troupe as well. It’s great to see so many familiar faces, but outside of Jimmy, the others don’t get a lot to do. Perry White in particular is a disappointment, as the usual commanding authority figure is reduced to someone Lois and Jimmy can explain things to. I was underwhelmed by Martha and Jonathan Kent too. It’s a relief that they weren’t used as hostages or killed off to motivate Superman for once, but they came across as too simple. They’re supposed to be down to Earth (to contrast the alien and unknowable nature of Clark’s biological parents), and their love for Clark shines through, but they didn’t strike me as the type to have weighty conversations about the world that are supposed to have shaped Clark’s morality.

Rather than have a full roster of A-list Justice League heroes, this movie opted for heroes that wouldn’t have the potential to steal the spotlight from Superman. It’s been nearly 15 years since we all wanted to see Nathan Fillion play the role of Hal Jordan that eventually went to Ryan Reynolds. And while he did voice Hal in a few cartoons, we finally get to see him on the big screen…as Guy Gardner. That just feels like we’re being trolled. It was important to show Guy’s brash and short-sighted heroism wasn’t quite up to Superman’s level, but like Isabel Merced’s Hawkgirl, he was cool, just not awe-inspiring. Anthony Carrigan’s Metamorpho, too, had a specific part to play, but wasn’t all that impressive. The standout of the heroes, to me, was Edi Gathegi’s Mr. Terrific. After years of seeing TV budget-friendly T-spheres on Arrow, I loved Mr. Terrific living up to his full potential here. He got to show off both his fight skills and his intelligence.

It seems like every new generation gets a new Superman (or even more often than that), which raises the question of whether or not James Gunn managed to use his unique POV to make this all work. I’d say he did. Given his DC work includes 2021’s The Suicide Squad and the Peacemaker and Creature Commandos TV shows, I was skeptical of him introducing a sincere, honest, and forthright Superman. The crude Gunn humor isn’t overpowering, but instead, he leans into fun and whimsy. It takes someone like James Gunn to give us Krypto the Superdog, a Fortress of Solitude maintained by Superman robots, a pocket dimension with monkeys who spew bile on the internet, and even a Superman robot who wears a light blue suit with red trunks. Having said that, I am still apprehensive about Gunn’s wider DC Universe. He clearly has his favorite characters, and Frank Grillo reprises his role as Rick Flagg Sr. in this movie. Despite this not being the DCEU, it suggests there are elements from older continuity that Gunn wants to keep around. The “Justice Gang” (the only name the heroes are ever called in this movie) begin to set up shop in the Hall of Justice, and there are some Easter Eggs there that could suggest a Justice Society that predated them. So who knows? We may finally get to see a movie with both Green Lantern and The Flash in it one day.

I love how this movie was action packed and varied in its sequences. It’s not just Superman saving people or lifting heavy objects over and over. This is a Superman who fights giant monsters, trades blows with an opponent just as strong as he is, and flies against the pull of a black hole. A common complaint about Superman is that there’s no believable way to really challenge him. This movie proves there are lots of obstacles for him to struggle against (and only one involves the use of kryptonite), and his fight against The Engineer’s powers in particular was suspenseful. The action isn’t limited to Superman, either. I can’t stress enough how awesome the solo Mr. Terrific’s fight is, and Green Lantern’s constructs are pretty cool too. You walk away from this wanting to see more fight scenes from every hero in the movie.

It’s great that Superman can stand on its own. If anything, it’s the callbacks to previous Superman movies that hurt it. I may be in the minority of this, but I don’t like the use of John Williams’ Superman theme. It’s not that I don’t like it, there’s a reason its iconic, but every time it’s used for a Superman who isn’t Christopher Reeve, it becomes less and less effective. We just had the DCEU movie use it, plus numerous cartoons, and it doesn’t have the impact that it used to.

Another aspect from the Donner movies that didn’t work was everything about Eve Teschmacher. Much like Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor, Nicholas Hoult’s Luthor inexplicably has an airheaded woman attached to his hip who witnesses all his schemes even though he doesn’t seem to care much about her. Much like in the 1978 movie, Eve is just a plot device that gives the heroes an unexpected edge when they seem at their lowest. She wasn’t all that interesting, and some of what she does makes Lex look sloppy. We’ve moved past this, and we have a much more interesting right-hand woman for Lex Luthor in Mercy Graves.

Again, it’s hard for me, as a huge fan of Superman and DC Comics in general, to view this movie with fresh eyes. But I will say that Superman is for both longtime fans and newcomers alike. It’s not a dour or cynical movie. It raises some serious issues and has significant stakes, but it’s fun, imaginative, and optimistic. And to treat an enduring character like Superman with that kind of respect, that’s something I appreciate.

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