Superman 2025

It’s taken a bit longer than I anticipated, but I finally got around to catching up with the last theatrical release from DC aside from Supergirl which only just came out in theaters. I’ve heard a fair amount of mixed reactions to this movie, but it’s James Gunn behind it and I anticipated that I would come out on the more positive side of things when I finally watched this movie and I absolutely did. It really feels like it understands the spirit of Superman and yet also brings him into the 21st century. It has a good mix of realistic ethical and political questions about how someone like Superman would function in the modern world but it balances that out with some really fantastical comic book sci-fi and fantastical elements to make this still feel like a fun superhero movie.

For many years, Superman has felt like a difficult nut to crack. He’s been around nearly a hundred years and he means so many different things to so many different people that it’s nearly impossible for one film to capture the right tone to please everyone. He’s typically thought of as the pinnacle of goodness, and he’s also generally unbeatable with a few exceptions and without resorting to kryptonite. So in order to get all of that into one movie and make it cohesive is a difficult task. Gunn did a very respectable job of solving several of those problems. The film starts off by showing Superman defeated. He’s bloodied and battered after a fight with Ultraman who we eventually discover is a clone of himself created and controlled by Lex Luthor. And then his morality is called into question when Lex breaks into his Fortress of Solitude and not only steals the message of hope from his Kryptonian parents, but with help from the Engineer he also discovers a lost part of the message that turns that message of hope and peace into a message of tyranny which calls into question the entirety of Superman’s morals both within himself as well as in the public eye. On top of that, there’s the political debate as he had recently interfered into foreign affairs, stopping a war between an aggressor country and a victim country by threatening the oppressor. Something that was done without any thought to political tact and without approval from anyone or even incontrovertible proof.

And how much of this intrigue is brought to light through the early stages of a relationship between Lois and Clark, one that completely ignores the cat and mouse tactics of Clark keeping his super identity a secret. Instead, the conflict comes from their different personalities clashing. Clark as Superman believes that he’s doing the right thing for the right reasons without a single question in his mind. And yet, when Lois starts asking him the difficult questions from a more objective perspective he gets defensive, lashes out, and eventually turns tail and runs away. And all this after a subtle hint that he’s not actually the best at paying attention to his loved ones as he made his own favorite dinner of breakfast-for-dinner despite it actually being his own favorite rather than Lois’s fav.

The more physical conflicts in the movie are also handled quite well. From the initial Boravian Hammer slash Ultraman battles of brute force and Lex’s knowledge of Superman’s battle tactics, to the Engineer’s use of more cunning and unusual techniques to subdue Superman by suffocating him with nanites, and even Lex’s political wranglings to get him arrested where he contains him in a pocket universe prison with a metahuman who can turn his own body into kryptonite. Again, that’s a story element that creates a unique situation where it’s not just about Superman finding the strength or the help to get rid of a rock, but instead he is able to reach Metamorpho’s humanity and gain his help willingly as an ally rather than having to defeat him any other way. There’s also the use of the proto-Justice League, called the Justice Gang by Guy Gardner’s Green Lantern and no one else. They are an interesting group who don’t seem to play together all that well just yet, but are a poweful force both together and separate. Besides Guy there’s also Hawkgirl who doesn’t get a whole lot to do besides being the most morally grey hero when she drops the Borovian president to his death, and Mr. Terrific who gets to show what he can do both from the fighting standpoint, and also as another scientific genius.

There really is a whole lot to like about this new version of Superman, it has a great group of characters before even mentioning the fun update of Miss Teschmacher referred to only as Eve in this movie and is a great mix of ditzy blonde with a cunning streak running underneath her vapid exterior, and Jimmy Olsen as an unlikely chick magnet, or the randomness of Krypto just existing and being an unruly-yet-superpowered dog. There is a whole lot of fun to be had and I’m looking forward to not only catching up with Supergirl in the next few months, but also the return of Superman in Man of Tomorrow. Until next time, this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.