Superman flies high again with deeply political film

The big question heading into James Gunn’s new Superman movie is simple – how do you make Superman relevant to 2025 audiences?

If you’re James Gunn, you make the film aggressively political but also give it a timeless feel in the moments that count.

With a blank slate and a new leading man in tow, Gunn does what he did so well with the Guardians Of The Galaxy; he makes a film that is deeply personal to him. 

Gunn is now looking to do for the DC Universe what Kevin Feige did for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and he’s picked up a few tricks from his old boss.

A key rule; don’t expect the audience to watch 12 different movies and four different TV shows to understand what’s happening.

For this new Superman movie, you only need to know the basics; Superman came from Krypton, was raised on a farm in Kansas, works as a journalist in a newspaper, loves Lois Lane, and every so often, a creature from outer space might land in downtown Metropolis.

The Cavill era is no more, and Brandon Routh has been relegated to pub quiz trivia as David Corenswet is the latest actor to don the cape.

Corenswet is fairly well known for his roles on various Ryan Murphy Netflix shows such as The Politician or Hollywood, and has popped up in smaller roles in films such as Pearl and last year’s Twisters.

The fact that the audience doesn’t have a lot to go on makes Corenswet ideal casting, as the audience isn’t projecting a preconceived image or notion onto Superman.

Like Routh before him, Corenswet is going for the Christopher Reeve approach to Clark Kent and Superman – a bit gee whiz, misses home, and loves his dog.

The star of the show, and we suspect, the reason this film will become a hit, is the addition of a little dog named Krypto.

Dogs are a crucial part of any film’s success (Anatomy Of A Fall was amazing, but it would have been missing something without that pooch) and adding a superpowered dog into the mix does wonders for the novelty value here.

Krypto was modelled after Gunn’s own real-life dog, and that level of personal touch informs everything you need to know about this movie – this isn’t some superhero movie that fell off the conveyor belt, a flesh and blood human being made this.

Corenswet is a hit in the role, and is able to play both Clark Kent and Superman with aplomb.

Of course, Superman is only as good as his Lois, and Rachel Brosnahan is the film’s undisputed MVP among the cast.

Richard Donner’s 1978 original has some iconic scenes between Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder, and Corenswet and Brosnahan came mighty close to replicating that same magic.

Kidder’s performance as Lois Lane has rightfully endured for generations; with any luck, Brosnahan’s performance will also endure.

The best scene in Superman isn’t seeing our hero in flight or saving the day; it’s a simple, quiet scene in an apartment between Superman and Lois.

While a flashy, very expensive battle goes on outside the apartment window, Gunn deliberately puts the epic superhero battle out of focus while Superman and Lois work through relationship issues.

The film sparkles when Corenswet and Brosnahan are together in much the same way the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies made romantic idols of Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst.

Gunn goes for a different approach to Superman; in the world of this film, Superman has been doing his thing for a few years, there are other humans with superpowers, and Lois knows Clark’s true alter-ego.

It’s refreshing because it means we don’t have to spend an hour seeing Superman’s origin story rehashed yet again, and we can dive straight into the good stuff.

The margins of the film are where people are going to take issue.

While this film wrapped production before Donald Trump’s second victory last November, this film is unquestionably a response to those events (because that’s how subtext works!)

Nicholas Hoult’s take on Lex Luthor mercifully moves away from Jesse Eisenberg’s shambolic attempt to redefine Luthor as a Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Jobs-style tech genius, and Luthor here is very clearly Gunn working out his frustrations surrounding Elon Musk or Peter Thiel.

Hoult, incidentally, got down to the final two to play Superman before losing out to Corenswet; thank god Gunn had the sense to cast both of them.

Hoult has been on a great streak lately between this, Juror #2, The Order and Nosferatu – it seems that Hoult has realised he’s much more interesting as a weirdo character actor in a leading man’s body instead of trying to be the leading man.

The 2025 version of Luthor is very involved at the higher levels of government, and the film shows that Luthor has an online army designed to spread misinformation and division online.

One plot point deals with one of Luther’s goons spreading misinformation about Superman’s origins and how he is an immigrant sent to destroy people’s traditional way of life.

Marvel focuses on how many cameos it can shoehorn into a movie to please Reddit, DC is playing with very loaded material here.

For people who wish that superhero movies had a bit of bite to them instead of looking to sell toys, it seems that Gunn agrees with you.

Gunn isn’t so much subtle with his political commentary here as he is loudly talking through a bullhorn.

Superman is likely going to find itself in the middle of an online culture war, but Gunn argues that is the inherent point of the character – Superman has always been political.

When Superman was created in the 1930s by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the character became a major hit with the American public in the early days of World War 2 as the character stood for “truth, justice, and the American way.”

While America itself is in the middle of its own reckoning with its national identity, Gunn makes the argument that Superman represents the very best of America; an immigrant who wants to make the country a better place. 

Gunn is looking to reclaim Superman as an avatar for the American project; a force for good in an unstable world, and an entity that speaks to the triumphant spirit of the World War 2 era.

In a lot of ways, Superman is a traditional blockbuster, but it also has an unapologetic, progressive, forward-looking streak.

For audiences here in Europe, it is fascinating to watch a country go through a real-time divorce with itself, and that makes Superman way more interesting than your average blockbuster.

How does the avatar of the modern American myth meet the 2025 moment? That is the question Superman answers, with some confidence.

There is a lot riding on the success of this film; if it does well, it could spark a new wave of DC superhero films and all that entails, with Gunn running the show.

If this film fails, it will be seen as an example of what happens when you let a filmmaker try and make a personal film with heart and soul within the studio system.

If you value intelligence and warmth in your $200 million dollar summer blockbusters, you could do a lot worse than buying a ticket to see Superman.

It’s now up to the people; do you want more Ryan Reynolds and Taika Watiti Linkedin-core cinema, or do you want an auteur taking a risk with a deeply personal, political film?