There is so much riding on the shoulders of James Gunn’s Superman. The film effectively launches the DC Universe (which technically started with the Creature Commandos animated series), it’s James Gunn’s first film as the co-CEO of DC Studios, and it also needs to put a fresh spin on a character with a long and somewhat mixed history. And by the way, it also needs to be a really good and successful film on its own.
It’s not fair to Superman to go into the film with all those expectations, and yet it’s impossible to ignore those factors at the same time. That’s the dilemma that comes with quite possibly the most famous superhero in the world.
With all that in mind, James Gunn’s Superman successfully accomplishes its multifaceted mission, with a highly entertaining film that has great action, gorgeous visuals and a star in David Corenswet who seems perfectly suited to not only play the Man of Steel, but to carry the DCU banner for years to come.
Superman releases July 11, 2025 in theaters.
Official Synopsis
“Superman,” DC Studios’ first feature film to hit the big screen, is set to soar into theaters worldwide this summer from Warner Bros. Pictures. In his signature style, James Gunn takes on the original superhero in the newly imagined DC universe with a singular blend of epic action, humor and heart, delivering a Superman who’s driven by compassion and an inherent belief in the goodness of humankind. DC Studios heads Peter Safran and Gunn are producing the film, which Gunn directs from his own screenplay, based on characters from DC, Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
The film stars David Corenswet (“Twisters,” “Hollywood”) in the dual role of Superman/Clark Kent, Rachel Brosnahan (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) as Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult (the “X-Men” movies, “Juror #2”) as Lex Luthor. The film also stars Edi Gathegi (“For All Mankind”), Anthony Carrigan (“Barry,” “Gotham”), Nathan Fillion (the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films, “The Suicide Squad”), Isabela Merced (“Alien Romulus”), Skyler Gisondo (“Licorice Pizza,” “Booksmart”), Sara Sampaio (“At Midnight”), María Gabriela de Faría (“The Moodys”), Wendell Pierce (“Selma,” “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan”), Alan Tudyk (“Andor”), Pruitt Taylor Vince (“Bird Box”) and Neva Howell (“Greedy People”).
“Superman” is executive produced by Nikolas Korda, Chantal Nong Vo and Lars Winther. Behind the camera, Gunn is joined by frequent collaborators, including director of photography Henry Braham, production designer Beth Mickle, costume designer Judianna Makovsky and composer John Murphy, along with composer David Fleming (“The Last of Us”) and editors William Hoy (“The Batman”) and Craig Alpert (“Deadpool 2,” “Blue Beetle”).
DC Studios Presents a Troll Court Entertainment/The Safran Company Production, A James Gunn Film, “Superman,” which will be in theaters and IMAX® nationwide on July 11, 2025, and internationally beginning 9 July 2025, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.
Review – A Hopeful Start for the DC Universe
Superman is, at the same time, the most recognizable superhero in the world, and the hardest to write into a great story. One of the main reasons that Superman is such a difficult character to handle is because he’s not relatable. With super strength, invulnerability, flight and laser eyes, he’s quite literally a super man. As evidenced by his moniker, the character is the definition of wish fulfillment. In a world where many of us feel powerless to make an impact, we all wish there was a Superman who could fly in to save the day. The challenge lies in telling a compelling and relatable story with a character who is nearly perfect.
In pop culture history, older Superman stories like George Reeves’ Adventures of Superman (1952) and Christopher Reeve’s Superman: The Movie (1978) brought the character to life and are largely fondly remembered by fans. Reeve in particular is still considered the definitive live-action Superman actor for his effortlessly natural portrayal of the character. Since then, there have been numerous iterations of Superman, most recently with Tyler Hoechlin’s well received portrayal in the TV series Superman & Lois, and the popular Henry Cavill in Zack Snyder’s feature film universe that preceded the current DCU. Cavill played the character as recently as 2022 in Black Adam, appearing in an ill-fated post-credits scene which ultimately led nowhere.
James Gunn and David Corenswet’s version of Superman carries all of that history and expectation into this film. Corenswet, who is listed as 6′ 4″, absolutely looks the part and might be the closest visual approximation of the character since Reeve. Despite his impressive physique, Corenswet also has a relaxed and affable demeanor that is reminiscent of Reeve, but with a bit more of an everyman quality. What comes through is that Corenswet looks like he’s having the time of his life playing the character, and his enthusiasm is infectious throughout the film.
The film begins with text on screen that sets the stage for the DCU world in that moment. With an emphasis on the number 3, Gunn outlines in Star Wars-like fashion what is happening as the story begins. For example, 3 centuries ago, the first metahumans appeared and kicked off the “Gods and Monsters” era; 3 years ago, Superman first appeared as the strongest metahuman to date; 3 hours ago, Superman lost his first fight against another metahuman. There are several other time related moments outlined as well.
With the stage set, the first time we see Superman, he is badly bloodied and battered following his first loss. Gunn seems intent on showing audiences that this version of Superman is not a god and is not perfect. In fact, the three main characteristics of this Superman are that he has all the physical tools, he has a wealth of heart and compassion, and he seems to exercise his brain far less than he should; surprisingly, he’s actually a bit of a hot head.
As soon as Superman is given express healing treatment thanks to his Kryptonian robot servants and the Sun, he rushes back into the fight with seemingly no new strategy, and thus, no new result. Superman, only 3 years into his superhero career, is still a novice and hasn’t faced many worthy opponents. He’s apparently gotten by on his peerless powers and seemingly hasn’t had to think about strategy too much. Later, when Superman has to deal with a massive Kaiju unleashed on Metropolis by Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult), Superman does his best not to kill the creature, hoping instead to take it to preserve its life and simply remove it from danger. Later still, when Lex abducts Superman’s dog, he charges into Lex’s skyscraper office and trashes his furniture while demanding Krypto’s freedom. All these instances, among others, feel like a concerted effort by Gunn to illustrate some areas where Superman is lacking.
Hoult delivers a solid performance as Lex Luthor, the wealthy, evil, genius intent on taking Superman down. Hoult’s Lex is a lot less eccentric than some of the notable versions of the past played by the likes of Gene Hackman, Kevin Spacey and Jesse Eisenberg (my personal favorite live-action Lex is the one played by Michael Rosenbaum in the TV series Smallville).
Nevertheless, Hoult’s Lex is evil, confident and well-prepared. He’s assembled a noteworthy army around him to help defeat Superman, including a shape-shifting tech villain known as The Engineer (Maria Gabriela de Faria) and Ultraman, a mysterious masked brute with the strength to match Superman. Lex has an thoroughly prepared plan to take down Superman, and while some of his tactics seem a illogical, including a battle strategy where he verbally calls out blow by blow instructions to a computer team who then controls the actions of Ultraman, it’s good to see a Lex who isn’t goofy.
On the side of justice are Clark’s well known friends and confidants, Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo) and the “Justice Gang” trio of Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi), Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced) and Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion). With strong supporting characters on both sides, Gunn excels at the DCU world building that is required of this film.
Brosnahan’s Lois is as strong and incisive as fans would expect from The Daily Planet’s top reporter and Superman’s love-interest. There’s an extended scene between Lois and Clark early in the film which establishes the relationship dynamics between the two. Clark agrees to give Lois an “exclusive” interview, thinking that he is beyond criticism (again, he’s not always thinking), and Lois drills down hard on the actions of a metahuman with so much power acting without oversight. The interview ends up like you would expect from most couples, with tensions spilling over to their personal relationship. It’s nice to see a character as critical as Lois given the opportunity to show her journalistic and analytical skills, elements which haven’t been as consistently featured in past films. But while her characterization is strong, the romantic connection with Clark is unconvincing.
The Justice Gang are corporate sponsored superheroes, backed by Maxwell Lord (Sean Gunn). While they are heroes, their corporate entanglements immediately give reason for some skepticism, especially for comic fans who know where the Maxwell Lord story goes. In this story, the trio are friendly with Superman and have worked with him, but aren’t necessarily perfectly aligned. Fillion’s Guy is as abrasive and obnoxious as fans should expect, and Merced’s Hawkgirl has a great design with a lot of potential. Gathegi’s Mr. Terrific is the one of the three who is given some excellent moments to shine in the film and takes full advantage; two of the most cheer-worthy scenes in the entire film focus on Mr. Terrific.
While Mr. Terrific has those stand out moments, he most perfectly represents the strengths and flaws of the film as a whole. When he’s great, he’s great. But when Gunn leans too heavily into wanting laughs in the film, the results can be overly silly. In one moment, Mr. Terrific is the coolest character in the film. In another, he feels more like a caricature than a real character. That knife’s edge is typical for those who are familiar with Gunn’s work, and Superman is very much a James Gunn film, for better or worse.
The story as a whole is relatively predictable, including what was undoubtedly expected to be a big reveal during the film’s climax (but shouldn’t be surprising to most discerning viewers). There is a geopolitical conflict between two fictional countries that will inevitably draw comparisons to current real world conflicts. Here again, the silliness of the film undermines the intended impact of the global war. It’s yet another example of how some films would be better served not trying to shoehorn a storyline of war that involves Middle Eastern or Arab countries.
While the film is not particularly novel or innovative and certainly has some flaws, it carries the superhuman burden cast upon it respectably, giving Superman fans a film with plenty to enjoy and DC fans every reason to look forward to the future of this new universe.
Rating – 3.5/5 Pocky
Ron is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of POC Culture. He is a big believer in the power and impact of pop culture and the importance of representation in media.
