Review: Superman (2025)

 Dust off your cape and trunks, Superman takes flight once again.

Alright, let’s do this.

 

Superman (2025) opens on a stretch of Antarctic ice as we get a text crawl explaining this universe. Three Centuries ago, the world became aware of Metahumans, humans with amazing powers. Three Decades ago, an alien pod crash landed on Earth and was discovered by Jonathan and Martha Kent. Three Years ago, Superman introduced himself to the world and was hailed as the most powerful Metahuman. Three Weeks ago, Superman interceded in a war between the countries of Boravia and Jarhanpur, stopping the Boravians from invading. Three Hours ago, Superman was attacked by a man calling himself the Hammer of Boravia. And Three minutes ago, Superman lost his first fight. And our first image of Superman (David Cornswet), Kal-El, last son of Krypton, is him crashing into the Antarctic ice, looking like he was beaten to hell and back. He whistles, summoning Krypto the Superdog to help him out. After, well, being a dog for about a minute (play fighting, licking his face, dragging Superman’s leg around etc), Krypto grabs Superman by the cape and drags him the few hundred yards to Superman’s Fortress of Solitude as it raises up.

 

Inside the Fortress, Clark is met by several Robot servants, the leader of which appears to be Four (Alan Tudyk) who gets him set up in a chair designed to maximize the sunlight his body can absorb. This is to rapidly heal Superman, but the process is painful as hell from the look of it. Four plays the message that came with his pod from his parents, Jor-El (Bradley Cooper) and Lara Lor-Van (Angela Sarafyan) telling him about where he comes from. The message is damaged, though, and cuts off halfway through. Superman gets healed and immediately prepares to fly back to Metropolis. Four advises against this, as Superman is only up to about 83% of his full strength, and the Hammer beat him when he was at 100%, but Superman’s gotta Superman. He stops when he notices that Krypto had smashed up the place a bit since he’d been there last. He tries to chastise the robots for not keeping an eye on Krypton, but Four points out that they had. They feed him, but he’s unruly. Four thinks it’s because he knows they’re robots and thus are incapable of actually caring about his wellbeing. Superman makes Krypto sit when he tries to come with him and flies off.

 

Unbeknownst to him, he’s being tracked by the Engineer, Angela Spica (Maria Gabriela de Faria), a cyborg working for Lex Luthor. She wants to try to get into the Fortress, but Lex tells her to wait.

 

 Superman flies to Metropolis at top speed and we get our first look at the Hammer of Boravia. Personally, I think the Juggernaut is going to sue if he ever saw this design. Anyway, Superman battles the Hammer, but we learn that the Hammer has got tech support. Billionaire industrialist and all-around scummy dude Lex Luthor (Nicholas Holt), and a team of LuthorCorp tech guys are monitoring the fight via drone cameras, and imputing commands to send to the Hammer to counter each of Superman’s moves. One of the techies tells the other that Lex has been obsessively studying Superman for years to learn his attack patterns and program these counters into his super weapon. Anytime Superman moves, Lex calls out a command like 18A, 34B, or 98Z and the Hammer applies the appropriate counter. The Hammer drops Superman into the concrete when Lex announces 44T. A falafel salesman named Malik Ali (Dinesh Tyagarajan) and other bystanders gather around and help Superman to his feet despite his protests. He gets ID by Lex’s drones, which can’t be good. Meanwhile, the Engineer tries to get to the Fortress, but it drops back into the ice. Lex orders her back and for the Hammer to finish up. The Hammer finishes spouting anti-Superman rhetoric and says that if he interferes with Boravia again, he’ll be back. Superman tries to go after him, but he’s too hurt. One of the civilians says that maybe he shouldn’t have done that thing in Jarhanpur.

 

The Hammer flies to a base outside of Metropolis, enters a pod of some kind, enters a weird cave-looking area and then steps out into the LuthorCorp control building, revealing something that we all knew already, that he’s working for Lex. The Hammer is really “Ultraman,” Lex’s minion and personal bodyguard. The LuthorCorp goons all cheer for this great victory.

 

Later, a much less bruised Superman heads into work as Clark Kent, news reporter for the Daily Planet. Inside, his boss Perry White (Wendell Pierce) complains that he’s late. Clark apologizes and does his best to play down Superman’s defeat at the hands of the Hammer, despite his coworkers like Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo) and Steve Lombard (Beck Bennett) are constantly bringing it up. As he walks to his desk, Pa and Ma Kent (Pruitt Taylor Vince and Neva Howell) call him. Well, Ma calls and Pa occasionally grunt to make it clear that he’s there. She wants to congratulate him on his front-page story. He has to brush her off a little as he’s busy, but it’s clear his parents love him. Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) comes over and pokes holes in Clark’s story about the incident, asking if the Hammer really did just fly in out of nowhere and deck Superman, to which Clark insists that it’s true. Jimmy wonders if maybe Superman did overstep with this Boravia thing, but Lois rightly points out that they don’t know if this guy is really from Boravia. When Jimmy says that’s what he called himself, Lois counters by saying she doubts that’s what his parents named him. The reporters shift focus to an interview with Boravian President Vasil Ghurkos (Zlatko Buric) also denying any ties to the Hammer. Clark says that “Superman” said that he thought the Hammer was faking the Boravian accent. Lois seems skeptical as hell about how he’d heard that, but Clark insists he interviewed Superman right after the fight. She points out how funny it is that he keeps getting these interviews with Superman, but he brushes it off. Ghurkos goes on to complain that the alliance between the US and Boravia has been ironclad for 30 years, until Superman came along.

 

We cut to the Pentagon, where Lex is in an interview with the Secretary of Defense, and several top generals including Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo). He’s pitching them his latest ‘defensive products’ Ultraman and the Engineer. He explains that the Engineer gets her powers from Nanites in her blood and that coupled with her former spec ops experience makes her the perfect weapon. He’s much more vague about Ultraman for some reason, just saying that he’s the most powerful being on the planet. He also has his armored flying soldiers he calls Raptors. They’re all included in his PlanetWatch program. He’s trying to convince the joint chiefs to hire his PlanetWatch to capture Superman after this whole incident with the Hammer. Flag points out that Superman stopped the war, that he’s naïve but well intentioned, but Lex keeps on poking at this idea that Superman needs to be held accountable.  Director Crawley (Tinashe Kajese-Bolden) points out that LuthorCorp has sold nearly a trillion dollars’ worth of arms to Boravia over the years and points out the conflict of interest here. Lex insists it’s not about business, saying that they’ll die if Superman keeps going half-cocked like this. He tries to use the fact Superman has his secret fortress in the Antarctic as proof of possible wrongdoing, but they aren’t going for it. Partially due to his popularity, and because of the fear of what would happen if they went after him and failed. You don’t swing at Superman if you’re not positive it’l hit. One of the others asks about Kryptonite, and we learn that that material has been scoured from the planet, but Lex claims he has a work around. They’re still not going for it.

 

Lois returns to her apartment and hears someone in her kitchen. She grabs a bat to defend herself, only to learn it’s Clark, he’s over to make her breakfast for dinner to celebrate their three-month anniversary. That’s right, she’s been in the know about Clark Kent being Superman for a while now. He says Breakfast for Dinner is her favorite, but she points out that it’s actually his. She still kisses him, though, so it’s clear she appreciates the thought. They start to have a sort-of fight about Clark’s interviewing tactics. He treats it as more playful, but it’s clear Lois isn’t exactly happy that Clark keeps interviewing Superman from an ethical standpoint. To prove that he’s good at interviews regardless of who is doing it, he offers for her to interview him. We’ve all seen the scene, but to speed through it, Lois asks Superman some hard questions about his actions in Boravia and he gets more and more upset about how protecting civilians isn’t a good enough reason to stop a US ally from declaring a war. There are several asides about what is on and off the record, something Clark is really bad at calling, and Lois just keeps poking the tender spots. Oh, and he reveals that he took Ghurkos out into the desert and put him up on a cactus to get him to swear not to do this again. She shifts to how Superman is getting a lot of heat on Social Media lately. Clark says that “Superman doesn’t have time for Selfies,” and Lois teases him for talking in the third person. Lois asks about where he comes from, and he says he’s been upfront about being an alien and that his home planet was destroyed. He says that all he has is the video of his parents telling him to help people and that he cherishes that more than anything. Lois then points out that there is a growing sentiment online that he’s here for not-so-good reasons, pointing to the hashtags Superspy and Supershit, which really upsets Clark. He actually starts to storm off, but Lois stops him, and they try to talk things out for a little longer, but don’t make much headway. She mutters about how she ‘knew this would never work,’ and Clark asks what she means. She just says she’s not good at relationships, and Clark leaves.

 

We cut back to the Antarctic as Lex touches down with the Engineer, Ultraman, and his airhead girlfriend Eve Tessmocker (Sara Sampaio). The Engineer asks how they’ll get inside, and Lex just says oh ye of little faith as the fortress raises up. They go inside and are greeted by the Super Robots. Lex has his goons take out the Robots in a very impressive fight scene to show off their powers. Krypto attacks and damages the Engineer, but she just throws a ball of nanites onto his face to disable him. Lex goes to Superman’s computer and says that hopefully something on there will give him the evidence he needs to get the joint chiefs to act. He goes into his hatred about Superman, insisting he’s an It not a Man, how he’s got a stupid costume and stupid grin and yet somehow, he dominates the world conversation. He has the Engineer begin to hack the system. She asks what they’ll do if Superman comes back and Lex reveals he has a plan to keep Superman busy for a while. As the Engineer works, she’s able to repair the damaged message from Superman’s parents.

 

 The plan, as it turns out, is to have his minions, one of them being Otis (Terrance Rosemore), unleash a small monster into downtown Metropolis. Well, it starts small. By the next morning it’s full-on Kaiju sized. Superman is doing his best to fight the creature without killing it and to protect the civilians around it, including their pets and a squirrel that almost gets squished. He’s eventually joined by the Justice Gang (Name still up for debate), consisting of Green Lantern Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced) and Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi). They’re a privately funded superhero team funded by Maxwell Lord and his LordTech industries. They help fight the monster but also inadvertently cause more damage as they’re overall less careful than Clark. Lois, meanwhile, is watching the report from the Planet. Fun fact, the reporter doing the story is in real life the youngest son of the late great Superman actor Christopher Reeve, Will Reeve. Terrific comes over to Superman and asks for details. Superman reveals that he’s been doing his best to get the creature out of here alive, which doesn’t impress Mr. Terrific. He tells the others to go for its eyes, as its hide is too tough. Ultimately Mr. Terrific throws his T-Spheres into the creature’s stomach and detonates them, killing it. It falls backward, but Superman catches it before it can crush anything. The report Lois watching says that there were no casualties thanks to Superman.

 

After the fight, Guy tries to get the crowd to cheer for them all, but no one seems to be noticing. Why? Because Lex Luthor is on the big screen, revealing that he’s got proof that Superman is here for nefarious intent. He plays the full message, revealing that Jor-El and Lara sent Clark here to conquer the planet. They tell him to rule the people, to dispatch anyone that goes against him, and to take as many wives as necessary to breed a new generation of Kryptonians. Jor-El explicitly tells him to rule without mercy. Superman is shocked to learn this part of the message. On the talk show, Lex claims that Superman’s actions have been to lull humans into complacency and get them prepared to serve him. Lex goes on to say there’s no telling how large his ‘secret harem is already.’

 

Superman walks away from the angry crowd around him into a Stagg Industries building nearby. The Justice Gang follow him, Guy making a force field around the building to keep people out, and Guy straight out asks Superman if he has a harem. Superman denies it, saying that he’d never heard that part of the message. Mr. Terrific unfortunately confirms that the message is real, he knows the people that confirmed the message and says they wouldn’t say it’s legit if it wasn’t. Hawkgirl asks where they got the footage, and Superman races to the Antarctic.

 

Lois confirms with her news source, as it turns out Generals Mori and Rick Flagg, that they’re considering taking Superman in for questioning. Rick asks if Mori is buying it, and Mori says he’s not putting anything past Luthor, but that the message is authentic so they can’t ignore it. Ghurkos uses the reveal to drum up hate for Superman, joking that Superman wants to add Boravian women to his secret harem. After the interview he goes to his office and tells them not to disturb him. It’s revealed he has that same portal device behind a portrait of him that Ultraman used, confirming he’s in on whatever Lex is doing. He meets with Lex in that weird space and Ghurkos celebrates beating Superman. Lex says not to celebrate just yet, and reveals that as part of whatever deal they worked out, he’s getting half of Jarhanpur when the dust settles.

 

Superman arrives at the Fortress to see his robots in bad shape. Four is stabbing himself repeatedly in the head. Superman sees his computer is wrecked. He asks how Lex got into the Fortress as the door is DNA coded, but Four doesn’t know and shuts down. Superman whistles for Krypto and panics when he doesn’t come running.

 

Superman flies to LuthorCorp, kicks down the door and demands that Lex give him the dog. Lex has Eve record and post the whole interaction. He comes across as calm and collected as the angry alien spouts nonsense in his office. But he makes sure to take a dig at Superman to make it clear he does have Krypto by whispering that it’s an ugly dog in a cape.

 

We see Clark watching the Cleavis Thornwaite show that night as he spins Superman as the only rabid animal here. He has Peacemaker (John Cena) on, and he also talks shit about Superman. He missed 22 calls from his parents while all this is going down, so it’s clear they’re worried too. In the window we see the Justice Gang fighting some sort of giant energy creature. Lois, who’d been waiting for him, asks “you have a dog,” and Clark says that it’s a foster situation. She asks if he’d been helping with the creature, but Clark says it’s just an energy imp and the Justice Gang can handle it. He was looking for the dog. He explains that the message was damaged, and he only ever heard the first half of it, and he believed he knew how it ended. He says he’s not here to rule over anyone, and Lois says that she never believed that for a moment. He apologizes for their fight about the interview. He asks what she meant when she said she knew this would work, but she says she doesn’t know. Clark says that he’s going to turn himself into the DOJ in the hopes they’ll take him to where Krypto is. She says it’s just a dog. Clark agrees, and even says he’s not a very good dog either, but he’s alone and scared, so he has to help. They hug and Clark says he loves her before leaving.

 

Superman is violently thrown to the ground by Ultraman as he’s arrested. He says no one reads his rights and Rick Flag tells him the courts decided rights don’t apply to aliens. He goes on to say that due to the difficulties in detaining someone like Superman, they’ve outsourced his imprisonment to PlanetWatch. Flag does apologize for all this as the plane touches down to take him away.

 

We cut to that beach from earlier. Superman is taken through to the Portal device and taken in. He’s put into a cell cube with Rex Mason aka Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan). They call him Element man, but that name is less fun. Lex is waiting for him, and Superman says this obsession with him is getting creepy. We learn that this is a pocket dimension Lex created, it exists outside this universe. Clark whistles for Krypto but the dog doesn’t come. Lex explains that Rex can reshape his body into any element, even ones not naturally occurring on Earth, and as he says this Rex turns his hand into Kryptonite.

 

While Superman is gone, we learn that Ghurkos and Boravia are preparing to invade Jarhanpur less than a day later. Lois is distracted from the news, though, saying that she’s looking into how Lex fits into all this. Jimmy points out the arms deal angle, but Lois doesn’t think that is the case. She says that she’s got a contact with the bank that does the deals between LuthorCorp and Boravia and they say that Lex is charging next to nothing for the weapons. Jimmy asks why and where they’re holding Superman, Lois calls it the 78 billion dollar question. Jimmy, deciding to help, goes into his contacts and looks at someone he has labelled “Mutant Toes.” He messages her, despite the unhinged message, and gets told within 30 seconds that Superman is being held in a pocket universe. He says he doesn’t know what that is nor does his source, but she’s sure he’s there. He says Lois owes him big, as Mutant Toes starts messaging him some more asking to meet up.  

 

In the pocket universe we learn that Lex has largely manufactured the Superman online hate, using a literal farm of monkeys on Computers to message how much they hate Superman 24/7. He sees Krypto as they travel, he’s being held a pod and they’re beaming the images of Super Squirrels into his brain so he’s forever chasing them. Lex says they’ll examine Krypto, learn what they can, and then put him down. They arrive at Lex’s private holding cells. He says they’re mostly rented out to governments to hold their political prisoners, but he’s got some personal prisoners too, like his petty ex-girlfriend. Dude is unhinged. Lex says that he’d have killed Superman already were it up to him, but the Government insists that Superman answer some questions first. We also learn how Lex is keeping Rex under control, they’re holding his son Joseph hostage. Lex leaves and says they’ll be back tomorrow for answers.

 

Jimmy meets with his contact in a back alley. She’s actually Eve Tessmacher, who is obsessed with him. She apologizes for having to meet him in such a shady place, saying they have to because Lex follows her on traffic cameras. Jimmy asks why she stays with him, and Eve tells him about all the exes Lex has in his pocket universe. Damn. Jimmy tries to get Eve to tell him about the connection between Lex and Boravia. She’s disappointed at the thought that he’s just trying to get information out of her. He swears that getting info out of Lex is to just get rid of him so they can be together again. He begs her to get info, and she says she’ll see what she can do.

 

Superman tries to talk to Rex, offering to save Joseph if he’ll just let Superman go. Rex refuses, telling Superman to not talk to him and that there is no way out. When Superman tries to talk more, Rex hits him with a bigger Kryptonite dose and he passes out.

 

We cut to the Hall of Justice, home base of the Justice Gang. Lois has stopped by to get them to help her save Superman. Guy asks how she even knows Superman. They feel each other out, and we learn that in universe Superman wears hypno-glasses that make him look different when he wears them. When Guy confirms they also know Superman is Clark Kent, Lois throws up her hands in exasperation that he’s this trusting. Guy says that he only trusts them as they’re “of the cloth.” Mr. Terrific reveals that he put trackers into Superman’s blood, but they’ve disappeared. Even if he was dead, the trackers would work. He disappeared at a supposedly defunct army base and agrees with Lois article that Superman is in a pocket universe. Lois wants them all to go to Fort Kramer to get Superman, but the others aren’t comfortable fighting the US Government. Well, Guy and Hawkgirl aren’t. As Lois storms off, Mr. Terrific joins her and offers to take her to the Fort. Good guy, Michael Holt. They take his T-Ship, as Lois vents about their relationship, revealing she was going to break up with Clark before all this shit went down and he said he loved her.

 

Lex wakes Superman up, saying that they have a special guest to talk to him. Superman thinks he means Ghurkos and so makes fun of how Ghurkos pissed himself when he flew him to the desert. But no, he’s just there to watch. The person he brought is the falafel guy Ali. Lex puts a gun to Ali’s head and demands Superman tell him who he’s working with. Ali tells Superman not to answer, saying that he has no family and no one will miss him, begging Superman to protect himself for once. Lex asks who raised him as a child. When Superman doesn’t answer right away, he pulls the trigger and kills Ali. Superman screams in agony at his death. Lex admits he thought that that would go on longer. He promises to bring someone else Superman knows here next and they’ll keep doing this game of Russian Roulette until he talks, suggesting he’ll Clark Kent next. Beside him, Rex is also crying.

 

Mr. Terrific and Lois land at Fort Kramer. He uses his T-Spheres to map Superman’s movements, ignoring the Talon soldiers as they order they leave. Next comes one of the best scenes of the movie, where Mr. Terrific solos the entire camp using his T-Spheres and Lois watches from inside a force field to the tune of “Five Years Time” by Noah and the Whale. Never underestimate the smart guy. They find the pocket universe portal, Mr. Terrific saying that using that device has huge consequences. Namely that if your math is off even a little, you risk making a blackhole, and that risk goes up every time you use it. He has his T-Sphere’s hack the system, saying he’s only helping because it’ll piss off Guy.

 

Rex finally breaks after processing what happened, realizing his son is in danger even if he cooperates. He stops making Kryptonite and Superman starts to recover, but slowly because he doesn’t have sunlight to power him up. He tells Rex he needs one to heal.

 

Lois and Terrific get the portal device working and make their way inside. Beneath them is an anti-proton river, and we see weird growths on the portal on their side. Mr. Terrific says it’s too dangerous for them to go themselves. He sends the T-Sphere to check things out.

 

Rex says that he can’t make a sun, but he can make something like it. He makes a small star between his hands, even as the other prisoners try to rat them out. The mini son flashes bright, blinding everyone. Superman rockets over and knocks out the goon holding Joey. Rex flies over and tells Superman that he has to be the one to carry Joey as Rex can’t hold him while he’s in a gaseous form. Superman frees Krypto next, and they make their way to the portal. The portal starts to flash and break, Mr. Terrific says it’s been open too long.

 

Talon guards jump Superman and knock him into the Anti-Proton River. The guards try to grab Rex, but he splashes them with a powerful acid that definitely kills all of them. Mr. Terrific’s T-Spheres find Krypto and the dog immediately starts chasing him. Superman holds Joey out of the anti-protons as they hurtle towards a blackhole. He whistles for Krypto and tries to get him to help them, but he doesn’t get the danger. Rex arrives and grabs Superman, doing his best to pull them out of the blackhole. Superman uses his Super Breath and pushes them all free. Mr. Terrific’s remaining T-Sphere leads them back to the portal, which is basically squished by the rock of the other universe. Superman knocks them all through right before it’s destroyed. Superman tries to go back through to save the others, but he’s too weak. Mr. Terrific tells Lois to take the T-Craft somewhere where Superman can rest for a bit, he says the controls are intuitive. He’ll do his best to secure the portal. Rex flees with Joey into the night. Lois can think of only one place to take Clark, and that’s Kansas.

 

Lex’s learns of the jail break and throws a fit. He orders Eve out of the room and demands to know where Superman went. Eve calls Jimmy and tells him she has everything he needs to ruin Lex. She mutters that the straw that broke the camel’s back was Lex throwing a pencil at her a moment ago. She makes Jimmy promise to spend the WHOLE weekend with her in exchange for her info, which he begrudgingly does. She uploads a bunch of pics for him, just as Ultraman bursts in and grabs her. He’d heard her screaming from the other room. Unfortunately, it seems like all she did was send him selfies. Hundreds of Selfies.

 

The T-Craft Lands at the Kent farm and Martha and Jonathan introduce themselves as they drag Clark inside. He passes out in his old bed, muttering to his ma that his bio parents sent him to earth to hurt people. John asks if Clark’s going to be okay, and Lois says he will be. Martha tells her not to mind John, saying that he’s a big old pile of Mush when it comes to Clark. Jimmy texts Lois to tell her to call him. She looks over Eve’s pics and is weirded out by how much game Jimmy has. That is until she takes a closer look at the selfies and realizes in the background of every single one is incriminating evidence. The big one being a picture of Jarhanpur split in half, one side labeled new Boravia, the other Luthoria. She tells Jimmy she’ll be right there and they need to talk to Perry.

 

At LuthorCorp, Lex is crashing out hard, demanding they open the dimensional rift at Fort Kramer. The device might be gone but the aperture is still there. He insists they’ll be able to close it; they just need it open long enough to lure Superman in. Mr. Terrific does his best to slow him down on the Fort Kramer end, because he’s Mr. God Damned Terrific. Unfortunately, the rift gets bigger and opens a canyon into the pocket Universe.

 

In Kansas, Clark wakes up to find Krypto watching him while laying on him. He goes outside to eat breakfast and watch Krypto play with the cows. Jon joins him and they have a heart to heart. Clark is still upset about the message, and Jon tells him that what he thought the message said is infinitely more important than want it actually said. Clark wanted to be a hero, that’s what matters. Jon says Parents aren’t for telling what their children are supposed to be. They’re guides, tool givers, not directors. Jon says that he couldn’t be more proud of Clark and starts tearing up. Martha comes out and tells him there’s something on the TV to see. On the news we see the Boravian military about to invade Jarhanpur, the villagers preparing to face them. We see all the characters reacting to the villagers raising a flag with Superman’s S on it and chanting for him. Martha tells him that he cleaned his boots. Mr. Terrific’s T-Sphere arrives and he tells Clark that he needs to get to Metropolis now. The rift is growing and it’ll consume the whole world if he doesn’t stop it.

 

In Metropolis an evacuation is underway. While everyone is trying to flee, Lois and Jimmy explain the plot to Perry. Saying that Lex sold the weapons to Boravia for pennies on the dollar in exchange for half of Jarhanpur. Perry summons his best people to come with them to take the T-Craft, grabbing Cat Grant, Steve Lombard, and Ron Troope. They get onboard and prepare to post the story as Lois does her best to take off.

 

So Clark must choose between saving a country and saving the world. Hell of a choice. Guess you’ll have to see the movie to find out.

 

Okay, so the good. This is a perfectly cast movie. Everyone from David Cornswet to minor characters like Anthony Carrigan’s Rex were spot on for what I know of the characters. David looks damn good in his cape and trunks. I love the behind the scenes story that he came up with the justification for the trunks, telling James Gunn that the fact the look silly is the whole point, to make him seem nice and approachable. You believe him when he screams in pain, and you believe him when he’s giving a heartfelt speech. Perfect. Nicholas Holt is great as Lex Luthor. He perfectly fits the insane hate energy that Lex is supposed to have for Superman. I especially liked his speech in the finale where he makes it clear he knows he’s envious as hell of Superman. It always come back to how badly he wants to be the center of attention, of being the person everyone talks about. Is it petty? Hell yes, but Lex is petty when it comes to Superman. Edi Gathegi is the standout performance though. He’s extremely cool as this basically unknown to the general populace hero Mr. Terrific. His fight scene at the fort was amazing, and I loved all of the nerd flexes he had throughout this story. Rachael Brosnahan is great as Lois, capturing her “I’m a cynic but I want to be proven wrong a good percent of the time” attitude. I could list offal the actors who did great, but there’s not a bad performance in the bunch. I liked the effects, it made me believe a man could fly again. The look of the pocket universe was cool too. I loved the colors and textures of that other dimension, it’s very James Gunn’s style. Speaking of, he’s great as director and screenwriter. I loved this whole thing. And how Lex is finally beaten, chef’s kiss.

 

My negatives are minimal. I hate that I now know details about Mr. Terrific. … Let me explain. Mr. Terrific is a character that has appeared as a minor character in several DC projects I’ve watched including Justice League: Unlimited, despite knowing of him since I was a teenager, until this movie came out I couldn’t have told you what his powers or backstory were. He was just the guy with a T on his face for me for nearly 20 years. But now I know he’s Michael Holt, that his powers are tech based and that he’s a legacy hero, taking up the mantel from Terry Sloane. It’s the end of an era. Yes, this was mostly a joke negative, but otherwise this section would be tiny. Overall, I think the movie is a bit too fast pace. It takes a bit to get going, but when it does it goes at a breakneck speed. Think like 20 to 90 in zero seconds. But other than that, nah, I loved it.

 

This was a great reintroduction to Superman. The story perfectly captures his best qualities, that he’s first and foremost an agent of kindness and shield for the weak. He inspires those around him to be better people. He’s the hero that other heroes look up to him and try to emulate him. That while he’s an immigrant that was brought to our world, that he is as human as anyone. He does what he does because it’s right and he protects people. He is, in short, Superman. I had high expectations when I heard James Gunn was taking over the DCU and starting over with the big blue boy scout, and he met every single one. I am super excited to see what he does next (the Clayface horror film is what I’m most anticipating, but Supergirl should be great too). So, ya, this is my favorite Superman movie of the last two decades by a mile. Hope you enjoyed it too. Have a good night!

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Bluesky: ‪@basicssuperhero.bsky.social‬