Superman (2025)

3 1/2 Stars (out of 4)

Tales from the Krypton

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

A few years ago, Evan Puschak, a.k.a. "The Nerdwriter" on YouTube, published an essay about Superman, in which he outlined how the character could be portrayed in a human way, not as an "overgrown boy scout," that could appeal to actual viewers. In one way or another, every Superman movie since Superman II (1981) has failed to do this.

The third and fourth Christopher Reeve movies were just rushed and cheap, obviously cashing in on current trends. Superman Returns (2006), was the equivalent of the Marc Webb Amazing Spider-Man movies, well-made, watchable, but ultimately soulless and pointless. The subsequent Zack Snyder movies were unadulterated disasters, poorly cast, and more concerned with punching and bashing than anything resembling human concerns.

So it has been nearly fifty years without a decent Superman movie. When James Gunn announced his new film, the news was met with trepidation. We have been hurt so many times. Should we get our hopes up? But the casting seemed right. The costume looked good (it was colorful again, unlike Snyder's unrelenting gray). And Gunn had done so well so far with superhero fare.

I went into Superman with my hopes a little higher than they should have been. And, surprisingly, I came out with those hopes intact. This is a terrific film, finding just the right balance between character, humanity, action, humor, and lore. Its only flaw is that it runs a tight two hours and nine minutes — almost a short film in terms of superhero movies — and it could have been longer. (Trust me… 99 times out of 100, I'm complaining that films are too long. This is special.)

Rather than re-hash the familiar Superman origin story, which was done well enough in Superman (1978), and even better in the three-episode The Last Son of Krypton arc of Superman: The Animated Series, Gunn gets things going right away. He gives us a clever countdown of historical moments, beginning three centuries ago, then three decades ago, three years ago, three months ago, three weeks, three days, three minutes, etc. It ends with Superman (David Corenswet) badly beaten by a new villain called the "Hammer of Boravia."

It turns out that Superman, on his own, prevented an invasion of the country of Jarhanpur by the country of Boravia, stopping a war and saving countless lives. This has created an international controversy. Why should one person get to decide such a thing, especially when there were so many other factors to be considered? Now gravely wounded, Superman calls on super-dog Krypto to bring him to the Fortress of Solitude for healing. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) launches a nefarious plan, designed to bring down the Man of Steel.

Superman gets help from a ragtag band of heroes including the egomaniacal Guy Gardner/Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), and Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi, amazing, bringing a level of Blaxploitation cool to the movie). His Daily Planet cohorts are also ready to jump into action: Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan, easily the best Lois since Margot Kidder), Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo), Perry White (Wendell Pierce), Cat Grant (Mikaela Hoover), and Steve Lombard (Beck Bennett). (I would have liked to see more of the news team at work.)

After trying to save a kidnapped Krypto, Superman finds himself trapped in a pocket dimension, guarded by Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan), who has been forced to make a Kryptonite fist to keep our hero sedated, and with no sunlight to re-charge his powers.

The characters all have emotionally believable motivations, even Luthor, whose entire, exceedingly complex scheme to wipe out Superman, is based, unsurprisingly, on his own ego. But it's Superman who comes out the most intriguingly here. Normally, Superman stories lean heavily on the character switching back and forth between Clark Kent and Superman, often with comical touches, and equally as often, with a hint of bittersweet as Clark is forced to give up a measure of his dignity to preserve his super-secret.

Gunn has chosen to meld the two identities. Here, Clark and Lois are already in a relationship and she knows his secret. So do the other superheroes. (In the thick of battle, they refer to him as "Clark.") So his conflicts come not as a form of slapstick, but as a genuine soul-searching for who he really is. One of the cleverest touches comes in the form of a recorded message from his Kryptonian father (Bradley Cooper) and mother (Angela Sarafyan), contrasted with the more down-homey teachings of his earthly, adoptive Kansas parents (Neva Howell and Pruitt Taylor Vince).

A key moment in the history of superhero comics came in the 1970s when writer Denny O'Neil and artist Neal Adams gave us a new look at Green Lantern (alongside Green Arrow and Black Canary) as they discovered that good and evil were no longer as black-and-white, or as easily identified, as they once thought. Gunn's film subscribes to this school of thought. Certainly Luthor is as evil as they come, but Superman's inner conflicts present a more nuanced chessboard.

He's an alien — and, yes, an immigrant — who comes with a measure of cool, all those superpowers and the adoration of many fans, but also a huge caveat. Who else is like him? Who are his people? Who else wears such a fantastically, stupidly colorful suit? Yet he also has human values. He tries to do good. He tries to love and care and think of others. (He even saves a squirrel!) But things are never easy.

I keep thinking of what many might consider a throwaway scene, one of those jokey "buttons" that come during or after the end of the closing credits. Superman and Mister Terrific are assessing a building, that, after the chaos of the final showdown, has not been put back together as perfectly as one might hope. The two quietly survey the structure for a moment before Superman suggests that, umm, it's not quite right is it? Mister Terrific responds with indignation, upset at the indication the job he did was not good enough. He strides away, kicking at rocks as he goes. Superman, left alone, thinks to himself aloud, "I can be such a jerk sometimes."

That moment of self-doubt sums up what this new Superman is all about. He's trying. He's constantly trying to figure out who he is, what he represents, where he belongs, what's right and what's wrong. He makes mistakes. He makes a lot of mistakes. In simpler times, superheroes represented our hidden potential, the sides of ourselves that, if only people could see, would mark us as extraordinary; except that people usually only saw the Clark Kent in us. Gunn's Superman re-assesses what it means to be super, and to be a man — and human — and makes it resonate for us all.