I think we’ll dispense with the backstory. You know who Superman is. You know what this movie is. Let’s just get to it…
Well, that’s a helluva first impression. Although good first impressions are nothing new for a Superman movie, regardless of the quality of the final product. But I think what really works here is that there’s been genuine thought put into the story the trailer wants to tell, even with minimal dialogue. Many of the ads for blockbuster movies really do feel like just a collection of scenes, as you go from setpiece to witty line to explosion, etc. Here, once we see Krypto the Superdog hauling ass to save Superman (David Corenswet), there’s a clear theme being introduced that’s also supported throughout the trailer – Superman needs his friends and family. Yes, even as an omnipotent God, Superman just can’t simply go through life as a loner while he carries the weight of the world on his shoulders. This storytelling is also aided by little moments, such as when a civilian throws some trash at the back of Superman’s head. This is a world not fully ready to accept the Man of Tomorrow, certainly a dilemma that we’ve seen the character face before, but writer/director James Gunn appears poised to counter those challenges with sincerity, familial bonds, and perhaps more importantly – an embrace of Superman’s entire world, no matter how campy the comic book origin.
For there was no sign of a Krypto in Superman Returns (2006) or Man of Steel (2013), the last two films that were charged with reinventing the blue boy scout. People are free to have their own opinions of those movies, but it’s fair to say that those films didn’t fully land with the public at large. Man of Steel in particular, made partially as a response to the action-bereft ‘Returns, doubled down on depicting the character as an action hero and a vessel for simmering rage – but likely at the detriment to what draws most people in to the personality of Clark Kent. While Zack Snyder attempted to depict a lonely man who felt alienated from his adopted world, much of the audience eventually tired of Henry Cavill’s standoffish demeanor and passive aggressive attitude in his interpretation of the character. Yes, Cavill’s portrayal has a dedicated legion of fans, but his critics and detractors were also immense.
Thus, James Gunn’s Superman is tasked with hitting the tricky balance between the action-heavy spectacle and the emotional earnestness. For it’s imperative that the character’s heroics isn’t just defined by how hard he can hit, but how much his humanity can inspire. And giving the guy his damn dog is a big step in signaling that humanity to the audience – who can hate a superhero with a canine sidekick? Gunn is an unabashed comic book fan, while Superman Returns and Man of Steel both seemed to tone down the bizarre silliness associated with the comics. ‘Returns director Bryan Singer enacted a similar tone with his two X-Men films.
Throughout the trailer, we see glimpses of Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult), Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced) and Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion). This isn’t just the usual suspects of a Superman movie, but one where the DC universe seems to be already up and running. Superheroes already exist, and the title character is joining the party a little late. It’s an approach to world-building that is usually foreign to comic book movies, but after a plethora of origin tales, it’s a reprieve to be sent into an already established world. Meanwhile, Lexcorp looks like a magnificent monstrosity of unabashed excess and power, and the glimpses we see of Corenswet and Brosnahan’s chemistry are promising.
Where the movie is perhaps most controversial, given the many online takes on the subject, is the look of the film, which admittedly is a bit jarring upon first glance. Gunn’s work on the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy had the visual style of high contrast combined with dynamic/panoramic camerawork. Superman seems to be presented in a similar style, and while not every shot looks great here (although the production still has 6 months of VFX work ahead of it), this look does make the images vividly pop. Perhaps it’s not the most traditionally cinematic approach, but Gunn’s goal seems less in line with trying to win an Academy Award for cinematography, and more focused on mimicking the design of a DC comic – in particular All-Star Superman – and the splash pages that go along with it. It’s admittedly a risk as this visual approach may not entirely work in the feature length finished product – but I’ve seen enough safe movies of late, we should encourage more risks. Still, in this short look, the film is colorful, crisp, and feels 3-Dimensional.
Yet, even after such a well hyped and positively received teaser, there’s no guarantee this movie will be a homerun. Superman is a tricky character to depict because his supposed simplicity belies how hard it can be to write an earnest character that the audience is fully behind, partially because we’re so familiar with that archetype, making it more difficult to look past our cynicism and buy into the sentimentality. But Gunn seems incapable, as of late, of making an outright bad comic book story. He also appears to have been given a lot of creative freedom, and given how meticulous the rollout has been for this initial marketing campaign, Warner Discovery is feeling a lot of pressure to deliver here and not repeat past disappointments.
My biggest takeaway from this trailer is that there’s an immense amount of effort, care, and love being exhibited. That doesn’t guarantee a great movie, but it’s usually a good sign. 2025 will be an, uh… interesting year, and a fictional character isn’t going to literally save the world. But given his history, it’s fair to say that the intention of Superman has been to inspire people to believe in something, anything, that they find worth caring about. It’s a superhero designed with empathy in mind, and that’s a feeling we can always use to be reminded of.
Superman crash lands on our planet on July 11th, 2025.
