Movie Review: Superman (2025) *No Spoilers*

The one thing I like about James Gunn as a comic book movie director is that he leans into the comic book nature of the world and the characters. 

He's not trying to do a realistic take on any of the characters. He's simply bringing the comics to life. It's still his take on the characters, but he doesn't shy away from their comic book origins.

James Gunn's Superman is very much a comic book movie in every sense. Nothing is off the table because it's too 'comic-booky' and might look silly in a live action film. 

To me that's incredibly liberating. It lets James actually tell a proper Superman story that isn't hamstrung by reality, or tip toeing into the fantastical just enough to allow Superman to exist in the real world.

Superman begins in the middle of a battle. Metropolis is under attack by a super powered being known as 'Hammer of Boravia', however everything is not as it seems, and Superman (David Corenswet) must work with other superheroes to uncover the real threat to the city and even himself.

I think a lot of people were concerned that James was loading this movie with too many characters, to the point where could you even call it a solo Superman movie anymore?

Thankfully it still is very much a Superman story, with the extended cast coming in and out of the story as needed. Surprisingly, almost all of them are given something to do that moves the story forward and isn't just there to feature the character. Even Krypto the Super Dog has plenty more to do than just be comic relief.

That said, it is a movie with a lot going on. It does occasionally suffer from clunky exposition, such as Superman Robot number four (Alan Tudyk) explaining things to the new Superman Robot, Twelve (Grace Chan), that Superman finds recordings of his parents soothing. Twelve is new, so sure, maybe it's a learning moment but it's clearly more for the audience than Twelve.

There's also a lot of things happening in 'movie time', that time where everything is condensed to keep the story going. Particularly noticeable with how fast news stories break in Metropolis, even as more compelling stories are still playing out. One could make the argument that media does happen this fast in the modern world but stories definitely seemed to be breaking unusually fast in this film.

Overall I think it's a solid Superman movie that makes no apologies for being a comic book film. It's well cast. David is a very hopeful version of both Clarke and Superman that is really trying to do the right thing as much as possible.

Rachel Brosnahan is probably my favorite version of Louis Lane. She very much feels like the prize winning, investigative reporter she's supposed to be, who can ask the tough questions.

Nicolas Hoult was my only question mark as Lex Luthor, going into the film, because I always picture Lex as being older and more commanding, but Nicolas definitely won me over. He's just in the sweet spot age where he can be menacing and commanding, but you totally believe he has no trouble at all, sitting in front of a computer terminal himself and knowing exactly what he's doing.

You may look at the trailers for this movie and think it looks too light and comic-booky but James introduces so much lore in such a short time, and balances so many characters, it acts as a spring board to a wider range of potential Superman stories sooner. 

No gradual build up, meandering through origin stories, and introducing other characters one film at a time. This hits the ground running and throws you into DC like no other DC film before it (except maybe James Gunn's The Suicide Squad).

It's a fun time at the movies that maybe could lead to a more serious Superman movie if a director wanted to go that way. But it also could lead to more fun fantastical summer Superman flicks too.

I enjoyed it, particularly because, while it's not an entirely new take on Superman, it did bring across a lot of new Superman lore from the comics that I haven't seen before, and really moves the character forward from being a superman who hasn't figured himself out yet.

James Gunn did, in one movie, what Warner Brothers was trying to do with the DCEU over many films. I'm looking forward to seeing more in this version of the DCU.