Superman

“Maybe that’s the real punk rock.”

The Man Of Steel is easily one of the most iconic superheroes of all time, and one of the first superheroes created in comic book history. With double digit cinematic appearances and a legacy of actors portraying him across the big and small screen; providing a fresh take on Superman is becoming increasingly challenging, but that’s a challenge that James Gunn (The Suicide Squad) and David Corenswet (Hollywood) were ready to take on with Superman.

Intergalactic orphaned refugee Kal-El, better known as Clark Kent on Earth, has been proudly helping humanity for three years under the guise of Superman; making no secret about his alien origin, while working hard to keep his secret identity under wraps. When Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult, Warm Bodies) enacts a plan to destroy Superman for personal gain; everything that Kal-El has worked for is put in jeopardy and he is forced to reconcile his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing.

Superman marks the true start of James Gunn’s reworking of the DC cinematic universe after taking the reins alongside Peter Safran, following the fallout from Warner Bros. Discovery’s quite public breakup with Zack Snyder. Much like Snyder before, Gunn aims to centre his revival around Superman, who is arguably DC’s central superhero character. Unlike Snyder, Gunn doesn’t look to imbue his take on Superman, and on DC comics, with gritty realism and moody angst – this Superman is bright, colourful and full of hope, a new take on a classic hero that stays true to the character while looking to forge out in new directions. This film does a great job of blending the new direction with the classic influences; be it nods to the original John Williams score in the new score by John Murphy and David Fleming, or a new Superman logo that invokes the Kingdom Come storyline from the comics in the mid-1990s. Gunn has already demonstrated in his career that is a fan of the source material, especially when it comes to comic books, and that passion comes through in the design of this film. Of course, comic book accuracy is by no means all that matters to a modern superhero movie; and Gunn is not afraid to step out from the source material and inject new lore into the story of Superman, most notably the creation of a brand new villain in The Hammer Of Boravia and a very different line-up for The Justice Gang. Gunn’s ability to balance these new elements against classic comic book references gives the narrative interesting directions to take and leaves questions to be answered, while still keeping the heart of DC’s long and rich history in place.

Heart is a good term to use for Superman; as this film has a lot of it. Bright, earnest and colourful; Gunn’s take on The Big Blue Boy Scout has that nickname firmly in mind, and he is lovingly brought to life by David Corenswet. It certainly doesn’t hurt that Corenswet is a tall, handsome and well-built guy; perfect physical traits for The Man of Steel – but there’s a boyish charm to him that helps him portray both Superman and Kal-El, especially in the rare moments that we get to see the intersection of those two personalities around those who know and understand his secret. This version of Superman acts on the instinct of Doing The Right Thing, and the central narrative hangs on a conflict that has been born out of his desire to save lives without accounting for the potential ramifications beyond that act in the moment. Corenswet does a great job of portraying this desire to do good without making Superman come off like an idiot; leaning into naivety over stupidity, and allowing his charm and charisma to shine through. This also helps give extra gravitas to the moments when he is displaying true anger; it’s all the more impactful when showcased alongside the calm and cheerful demeanour that we usually see on both Kal-El and Clark Kent.

Corenswet is supported in this film by a huge cast of supporting characters; some central to the Superman lore and others from wider in the DC universe. Rachel Brosnahan shines as Lois Lane, with plenty of opportunity to demonstrate Lane’s whipsmart journalistic instincts will also setting her up as a more prickly presence to contrast Corenswet’s lovable Kent; she’s just sarcastic and sardonic enough to provide the straight-man foil to Corenswet’s more clownish moments, but it carries through to the rest of the Daily Planet team too. Skyler Gisondo makes a lasting impression as Jimmy Olsen, pairing the character’s traditional boyish good looks and charm with a dogged determination for a good story that pays off halfway through the film. Plenty of other supporting characters get brief screentime, including Wendell Pearce as Perry White, Beck Bennet as Steve Lombardi and Mikaela Hoover as Cat Grant, though not as much of a chance to really flesh out their characters. It’ll be interesting to see if they’re more involved in future outings for the DCU after their introductions here, as we wait to see what shape the wider universe is going to take.

On the villainous side of things, Nicholas Hoult (Warm Bodies) really steps into his own as Lex Luthor, bringing another iconic character to the screen in a new light. You can tell he’s done his homework on Lex, and there are elements of legacy performances strewn within his take on him. This Lex is the perfect intersection between genius and unhinged, clearly driven by both greed and jealousy, which becomes more apparent as the narrative continues. He’s supported primarily Maria Gabriela De Faria (The Exorcism Of God) as The Engineer, a surprising character to include given her comicbook history as the leader of a superhero team (another example of Gunn trying new things), but one who has been cleverly reworked and fits in perfectly within Luthor’s organisation. De Faria does a great job of bringing this complex character to the screen for her film introduction, and I get the feeling we’ll be seeing more of her as the DCU progresses, as it seems like there’s a lot more to learn about The Engineer than we saw from this first outing.

The support goes beyond just the primary villains and the Daily Planet staff, as Gunn also takes this opportunity to introduce other DC stalwarts in the shape of the Green Lantern, Guy Gardener (Nathan Fillion, Firefly); Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi, Princess Of The Row) and Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced, The Last of Us) as the founding members of The Justice Gang. All three characters get to provide both comic relief and superheroic assistance at various points in Superman, and Gunn makes a great decision by including them without spending time digging into their specific origins – their abilities are demonstrated on screen, their personalities are fully established and they’re ready to be featured in future projects, helping to tie the wider universe together as it gets its feet under itself. Gunn pulls off this inclusion at the risk of making a film that feels too stuffed with characters and narrative; and I say this without having mentioned the likes of the Superman robots (voiced by Alan Tudyk, Michael Rooker and Pom Klementieff), Luthor’s selfie-obsessed girlfriend Eve Tessmacher (Sara Sampaio, At Midnight) or Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan, Barry), who all also play key roles throughout the narrative and play them well. Gunn gets away with this giant cast by virtue of the fact that even the more branching parts of the central narrative end up wrapping themselves together as we learn more about Luthor’s plot to kill Superman, and everyone ends up working towards the same underlying goal. It’s a big risk but it has a solid payoff, both for the flow of this film and for the establishment of the wider universe; especially as we start to see these characters show up in other places. Gathegi in particular benefits from one of the most unexpectedly delightful sequences of the film, as he single-handedly takes down one of Luthor’s outposts to the cheerful sounds of Noah And The Whale’s Five Years Time; a song that I would never have thought of as the soundtrack to an action sequence, but that’s because I’m not James Gunn, who has more than proven his proclivity for pairing music to action over the years.

Superman stands out to me as both a reset point for DC’s cinematic adventures, and as a promise for a new tone for superhero adventures going forward. It’s bright and colourful without sacrificing drama, it’s earnest without being cringey, and it’s funny when it needs to be without distracting from the tone of the moment. James Gunn didn’t need to further prove that he understands his way around a comic book movie, but he did it anyway; and his take on Superman as a character brings the Man Of Tomorrow back towards being the symbol of hope that he has shone brightly as for almost his entire existence, centred around an actor who brings true warmth and heart to the role. For those of you who missed Superman in theatres due to superhero fatigue, or because you lost faith in DC’s cinematic output; I would heartily recommend you give this one a go, because I think that James Gunn’s Superman may well be my favourite interpretation of this character; and I am genuinely excited to see where they take him next.

Oh – and Krypto is a very good boy.