Superman (2025)

It’s only appropriate that Superman would repeatedly be the hero DC would use to kickstart their cinematic universes. While Batman has had more movies than his boy scout intergalactic buddy, no one can deny Superman is one of the most important comic book characters ever created, and it’s only fitting that he would show the world that superhero films could be taken seriously with the 1978 Christopher Reeves film, and birth a new cinematic universe with the 2013 film, Man of Steel, starring Henry Cavill. With the previous DC universe finally being pulled off life support, a new one was announced and Superman was set to lead the charge, but the landscape had become far more hostile, with a lot of online hate being lobbied at this new film for its casting, effects, seemingly directionless narrative, and return to a more optimistic portrayal of the son of Krypton. So much was on this movie’s shoulders (including the future of this new cinematic universe) and the whole world waited to see how it would turn out.

In a world where superheroes are the norm and fight intergalactic threats on the regular, Superman (played by David Corenswet) tries to be a beacon of hope for the people of Metropolis, but has trouble fully convincing them after causing a conflict with the foreign country of Boravia, which put the United States in a position of seemingly getting involved with foreign affairs. To make matters worse, Superman’s image is dramatically tarnished by billionaire Lex Luthor (played by Nicholas Hoult), who detests Superman with such a passion that he tracks down the location of his Fortress of Solitude, steals the final message sent by his Kryptonian parents, and reveals to the world that he was sent to enslave humanity (something even Superman was unaware of). Feeling like his entire identity is a lie, Superman almost gives in and allows Luther to take him into custody, but with the help of his girlfriend, Lois Lane (played by Rachel Brosnahan) and fellow superhero, Mr. Terrific (played by Edi Gathegi), he’s able to come to terms with who he is as a person and grow confident enough to stand against Luthor and fight for the planet he calls home.

The 2025 adaptation of Superman is unlike any iterations that’ve come before it, and in doing so provides a feature that feels sparky and distinct, but also a tad confused and poorly established. There’s a lot to enjoy with this movie, like its classical cheery atmosphere, very charming actors, and its brand-new world that opens up a ton of fun possibilities, but with poorly set-up characters, a fairly uninteresting and miniscule story, and a very overstuffed script, there’s improvements that need to be addressed if this universe has any chances of lasting.

Ironically one of the things that was causing the most controversy for this film was James Gunn, who used to be seen as the maverick of comic book properties and admired for his off kilter yet strangely sentimental movies for both Marvel and DC. This changed, however, when he was announced to be overseeing DC as its co-CEO, and that he would be directing and writing Superman, which many thought was a bad call as his style didn’t really mesh with the character or his mythos. With complaints that ranged from legitimate concerns to obsessive fan complaining, it was a movie set to face ravenous viewers, but the delivery proved to be far more fitting than expected. While Gunn is known for his harder edge and raunchy comedic sensibility, that is thankfully toned down here in exchange for a much zippier and more modern vibe than past entries and it does a surprisingly good job emulating the atmosphere one would expect from a Superman story. Most of the people involved seem to truly get Superman, down to his humble nature, his powerset, and even most of his core characteristics, and because of the new coat of paint this more comic-leaning universe provides, it stands apart from other universes and has a treasure trove of characters, worlds and storylines to freely explore.

While it’s nice that this version took a different approach and brought in elements like a more superhuman-filled environment, it tries so hard to be different that it kind of sacrifices some essential ingredients. As to be expected from the trailers, the movie is way too crowded with varying plot threads, supporting characters, and exposition-heavy dialogue that makes what should be a gradual glide into a new world feel like a nosedive, as the film actively chooses to mitigate any context or backstory. While it’s understandable not wanting to repeat a scenario audiences have seen play out several times, offering a completing different kind of universe leaves the audience scrambling to figure out the basics, with only mild relief coming in the form of awkwardly forced-in expository dialogue. It also doesn’t help that the plot isn’t that interesting, being centred around a political conflict that feels too miniscule and uninteresting for the character, which is the biggest problem this film suffers with. While it captures the attitude and personality of Superman, it’s not able to emulate his status as it lacks any sense of weight, grandeur or epic scale the character requires, resulting in a narrative that while not poorly composed, lacks any sense of punch or ‘‘oomph’’.

While this film had its fair share of haters out the gate, there was also an equal amount of supporters, and the casting started things off strongly. All of the main characters in the Superman mythos were given very solid choices to portray them, with Corenswet, Brosnahan and Hoult all being well received by audiences, but what caught people off guard were the other people involved. While some supporting characters made sense like Jimmy Olsen, Perry White, Eve Teschmacher, and Ma and Pa Kent (played by Skyler Gisondo, Wendell Pierce, Sara Sampaio, Pruitt Taylor Vince and Neva Howell), others like Mr. Terrific, Guy Gardner (played by Nathan Fillion), The Engineer (played by Maria Gabriela de Faria) Hawkgirl (played by Isabela Merced) and Metamorpho (played by Anthony Carrigan) feel very random and (as to be expected) barely get any time to develop distinct character traits or relationships with other characters because they’re glorified cameos rather than crucial players. They’re performed well and do have eye-catching powers, but those who aren’t already privy to their existence will learn nothing about them here.

As for the traditional Superman characters, they really did a good job picking actors who  exude the very nature of these roles, and it leads to some very memorable performances. Hoult is very convincing as Lex Luther and really gets his sense of superiority and arrogance down, Brosnahan is wonderfully punchy and tough-as-nails as Lois, and Corenswet really encapsulates the classical heroism and all-around lovability of this figurehead, it’s very good casting on all three. However, while their portrayals feel appropriate, the aforementioned poor worldbuilding and insanely fast pacing means that they feel more defined by outside knowledge rather than built-in establishment. Because there’s so many sub plots and characters to focus on, there’s almost no time for any of these characters to just be themselves, and that can prevent chemistry from being built between the three. Clark Kent is barely even shown, he and Lois don’t get much time to bond outside of a cute interview sequence (which even then is used for exposition), Lex’s pettiness is taken to such an extreme degree without any sense of build-up that he just feels like an pathetic arrogant troll, and even with these great portrayals, it’s hard to call them definitive versions because so much is relying on past knowledge rather than working on it themselves.

In terms of how this movie looks, people were already reacting harshly to it from the trailers, with several computer effects, costume choices and even basic camera shots being criticized for looking fake and even unappealing. There is credence to these complaints as while the film looks fairly standard for a typical superhero flick in the early 2020s, the occasional awkward effect or strange shot is more noticeable because it ironically has more life and color to it than others. This is a very vibrant movie with otherworldly elements that allows for a lot of flashy visuals, incredibly detailed make-up work (Metamorpho for his limited screen time does look very impressive), very comic-accurate costuming by Judianna Makovsky, and chaotic action set pieces that usually get bogged down by the effects not looking or feeling genuine enough to not be distracting (although some of the moves are legitimately cool).

The awkward camera work is probably due to cinematographer, Henry Braham, who previously showcased through his work on The Flash and Guardians of the Galaxy 3 a preference for very narrow and tight shot composition that are strikingly over-lit and not always the easiest to catch up with (especially when it’s plastered to Superman’s face like a stray drone). It’s not really bad looking despite all the clutter, but it’s unfortunate that due to the rapid speed of the movie and the seeming inability for the camera to stay still sometimes (there are way too many needless spinning shots) that none of the actual different, interesting, practical-looking production design by Beth Mickle stands out, which is a major shame as it brings the classical retro/futuristic take on Metropolis to life fairly accurately. The score by John Murphy and David Fleming is also annoyingly inconsistent, featuring a harsh guitar riff that does illicit a twinge of grandeur, yet never blossoms into something stronger and instead retreats back to replicating the forever iconic John Williams piece (which is just a mistake on some many levels).

Superman (2025) is pretty much a comic book, as its paced like a comic book, written like a comic book (with an opening text and everything) and even has a story like a comic book, but instead of feeling like Issue 1#, it’s more like Issue 376#, and therein lies everything that’s wrong with this movie. It deserves praise for sticking out, nailing a lot of the casting, and actually giving the world a Superman that is cheerful, caring and embodies what the character should (as opposed to the depressed, emo, aura-farmer of the Snyder-led films), but while it offers vibrancy and life, it lacks consistency, steadiness and patience, which should be required for an intro into a new cinematic universe. With a plot that’s too barebones to feel epic yet too elaborate to be engaging, characters that rely on prior knowledge to establish dynamics instead of prepping it themselves, and a visual style that can be very all over-the-place, this fails at being the perfect Superman movie, but considering the poorer quality of all other version besides the first two Reeves movies, it can at least say it’s third best. It’ll be interesting to see where this version of DC goes in the future, but for now, this man of steel glistens quite beautifully despite some obvious cracks in the composition.