An all-you-can-eat buffet of Superman, or James Gunn’s Superman, as it’s invariably called, presumably to set it apart from the crowd. Not that Gunn seems interested in standing out from the crowd too much. His Superman’s tights are baggy, like the cheapo ones from the black and white era, though most of Gunn’s inspiration comes from the 1970s Christopher Reeve Superman, in the look of Superman/Clark Kent himself, the production design and most obviously in the use of the John Williams theme, which new composers David Fleming and John Murphy take off the peg now and then, usually when the big guns are needed.
On the subject of guns, after playing him a handful of times, Henry Cavill was meant to be the Man of Steel this time around too but scheduling caused by the shakiness of DC Extended Universe kicked that idea out of play, and doubtless the various allegations aimed at Cavill did not help.
In the 1950s TV version of Superman, George Reeves stood for “truth, justice and the American way”. Seventy-odd years on David Corenswet’s Kryptonian is wrangling with too much American way, in a plot about a far-flung stan of the old Soviet empire where American geopolitcal overreach is being manipulated for personal gain by Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult).
Closer to home, in an interesting update, the Man of Steel is fighting existential battles of his own against a fickle public triggered to froth point by his immigrant status – again, Luthor is behind it.
With all this going on, there isn’t much room for the rest of the gang. They are here but most of them only get a walk-on – press photographer Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo), Daily Planet editor Perry White (Wendell Pierce), Krypto the dog, even Supergirl (María José Moreno), for what’s little more than a promo trailer.
Really it’s a two-fight card with Superman v Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) in the warm-up bout, the amorous interchanges between Clark/Superman modelled on the pyrotechnics of Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell in His Girl Friday, apparently. For the main event, Superman v Luthor, a plot kicking off with Luthor and his army of social media trolls telling a Big Lie about Superman, which gets halfway around the world before the Man of Steel can put his cape on.
Superman no longer popular shock! But he’ll come back, he always does. It’s the character’s biggest problem as far as audience interest is concerned – gods are not like us so why should we care? To keep the ball in the air, Gunn and co keep switching location – Superman’s ice palace, Metropolis, the fractious border of Boravia, the troposphere, Department of Justice HQ (a brief hello to Frank Grillo). And he keeps the characters coming – Lois, Jimmy and Perry, Krypto, a gigantic megamonster stomping through Metropolis, the Justice Gang of Green Lantern, Mister Terrific and Hawkgirl, Luthor’s alternative band of bad metahumans, Clark’s kindly and boring adoptive parents, Jonathan and Martha.
A lesser director than Gunn would probably be swamped by all this. But let’s remember that he did Guardians of the Galaxy and The Suicide Squad, both of which fielded a large number of characters and managed to be both entertaining and interesting.
The villainous Luthor as a tech bro, now there’s an idea that’s been overtaken by real-world events – see it as satire, if you like – and it’s possible to carp about other quibbly, caveaty aspects of the film. But Gunn melds the serious, the sexy and the amusing well. And he’s technically astute – the art design, the robot and creature work, the way it’s been shot (by DP Henry Braham). The special effects work is also a standout – a sequence where Superman battles to escape a black hole is knuckle-whitening and technically exhilarating.
At the centre of it all, great casting. Corenswet is (it seems appropriate) a sweet Superman, Hoult particularly good as the snivelling and envious Luthor, Brosnahan good too. Apparently Kate Bosworth got some stick from the nerds in 2006’s Superman Returns because she looked too young to be playing a Pulitzer-winning journalist (whereas a guy who can fly, no problem). Hence Brosnahan, now too old for some of the nerds at 34. Ignore them. They keep these things flying but they’re a weight that needs to be carried.
And at the end of it all, a Marvel-style 40 minutes of biffing you can probably watch at 1.5x if you have that facility.
It was good. I wasn’t expecting to like it, but I did. Energy, smarts, good work all round. Maybe not faster than a speeding bullet, but not far off.
Superman – Watch it/buy it at Amazon
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© Steve Morrissey 2025
