Superman (2025) [+]
Jul 23 2025
Superman is the first movie for James Gunn, who is now in charge of the DC Universe reboot of films to try and compete with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. David Corenswet plays Clark Kent aka Superman, Rachel Brosnahan plays Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult plays Lex Luthor.
The story starts in media res (with a bit of background text indicating that Superman has been super-heroing for several years now) as Superman smashes into the Antarctic ice after being defeated. He recovers at the Fortress of Solitude (and it's great to see Krypton and the Fortress's robot helpers) then heads out to battle the Hammer of Boravia and he manages to not win again because the Hammer is controlled by Lex Luthor who knows Superman's every combat move and has 1000+ countermoves he can feed to the Hammer.
Anyway the Hammer leaves. It was all a ruse to get Superman to retreat back to his Fortress and Luthor's henchwoman The Engineer (Maria Gabriela de Faria) tracked Superman and found the Fortress. Luthor and his two meta's, Ultraman and The Engineer, break in to the Fortress to find Superman's secrets which Luthor will use to show that Superman is a danger to the Earth that only his organization can stop.
Meanwhile Superman battles a giant monster and needs the help of the Justice Gang, a corporate super-hero group led by Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion) and including Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced) and Mr Terrific (Edi Gathegi). Once Superman is revealed to be a villain he has to turn himself in and the US government outsources his confinement to Luthor who happens to have a pocket universe where's built an ultra-secret meta-prison (which he also uses to imprison people he doesn't like such as his ex-girlfriend that wrote a mean blog about him). It's put o Lois Lane and Mr Terrific to find and break out Superman before Luther's plan is completed.
There's also nice subplot moments. Clark and Lois have been in a secret relationship and she knows he's Superman. Superman also has both parents (Pruitt Taylor Vince and Neva Howell) back in Smallville (in different DC continuities one or both dies while Clark is young and in all previous movies I think Pa Kent dies). Superman has a bit of a weird relationship with Krypton who we finds out right at the end is actually Kara Zor-El's (Milly Alcock) dog.
And there's Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo) who is quite the ladies man and even Luthor's current girlfriend Eve Taschmacher (Sara Sampaio) is Jimmy's ex and still wants to get back with him and is willing to reveal Luthor's plans to Jimmy. Perry White (Wendell Pierce), Steve Lombard (Beck Bennett), and Cat Grant (Mikaela Hoover) make appearances but have very small roles.
This is a really good movie. Has a bit more humor (and more derpy humor) than any previous Superman film and I guess is closer to how Guardians of the Galaxy has more humor than other MCU films (which themselves are more humorous than DC films so far). Going into this I didn't know so it was a bit jarring that first time Krypto playfully mauls a wounded Superman. But halfway through the film you get used to it (I loved Lois and Superman having a serious conversation at night while outside in the distance we can see the Justice Gang fighting a huge monster).
The story starts in media res (with a bit of background text indicating that Superman has been super-heroing for several years now) as Superman smashes into the Antarctic ice after being defeated. He recovers at the Fortress of Solitude (and it's great to see Krypton and the Fortress's robot helpers) then heads out to battle the Hammer of Boravia and he manages to not win again because the Hammer is controlled by Lex Luthor who knows Superman's every combat move and has 1000+ countermoves he can feed to the Hammer.
Anyway the Hammer leaves. It was all a ruse to get Superman to retreat back to his Fortress and Luthor's henchwoman The Engineer (Maria Gabriela de Faria) tracked Superman and found the Fortress. Luthor and his two meta's, Ultraman and The Engineer, break in to the Fortress to find Superman's secrets which Luthor will use to show that Superman is a danger to the Earth that only his organization can stop.
Meanwhile Superman battles a giant monster and needs the help of the Justice Gang, a corporate super-hero group led by Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion) and including Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced) and Mr Terrific (Edi Gathegi). Once Superman is revealed to be a villain he has to turn himself in and the US government outsources his confinement to Luthor who happens to have a pocket universe where's built an ultra-secret meta-prison (which he also uses to imprison people he doesn't like such as his ex-girlfriend that wrote a mean blog about him). It's put o Lois Lane and Mr Terrific to find and break out Superman before Luther's plan is completed.
There's also nice subplot moments. Clark and Lois have been in a secret relationship and she knows he's Superman. Superman also has both parents (Pruitt Taylor Vince and Neva Howell) back in Smallville (in different DC continuities one or both dies while Clark is young and in all previous movies I think Pa Kent dies). Superman has a bit of a weird relationship with Krypton who we finds out right at the end is actually Kara Zor-El's (Milly Alcock) dog.
And there's Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo) who is quite the ladies man and even Luthor's current girlfriend Eve Taschmacher (Sara Sampaio) is Jimmy's ex and still wants to get back with him and is willing to reveal Luthor's plans to Jimmy. Perry White (Wendell Pierce), Steve Lombard (Beck Bennett), and Cat Grant (Mikaela Hoover) make appearances but have very small roles.
This is a really good movie. Has a bit more humor (and more derpy humor) than any previous Superman film and I guess is closer to how Guardians of the Galaxy has more humor than other MCU films (which themselves are more humorous than DC films so far). Going into this I didn't know so it was a bit jarring that first time Krypto playfully mauls a wounded Superman. But halfway through the film you get used to it (I loved Lois and Superman having a serious conversation at night while outside in the distance we can see the Justice Gang fighting a huge monster).