Review: Superman (2025)

Spoiler-free before the paywall, spoilers AFTER the paywall

Well, it’s finally Superman day, and I made my way to the first possible showing in Cardiff to see it, because it’s safe to say it is the film I’ve been most eagerly anticipating this year.

Delicious Superman doughnut from WhoCult to celebrate

This is despite falling out of love quite a bit with superhero content recently, particularly the films and TV shows, as they have felt samey and formulaic for some time now, even the offerings from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which at least in the films, have felt like they have been struggling post-Endgame to really hit the highs they were consistent for prior to it.

Likewise, I have really not enjoyed much of the DC cinematic offerings, with a couple highlights (The Suicide Squad, also by Gunn, Birds of Prey and Blue Beetle mainly), but otherwise a little too grimdark, self-important nonsense to find truly entertaining for some time. The best have nearly always been ones which are not part of the wider cinematic universe they have struggled to create, such as The Batman, but they’re attempts to mirror the success of the MCU have all fallen very flat for me or not lived up to longevity.

Superman promotional graffitti in Cardiff

So with Gunn’s new role spearheading a renewed DCU, I was hopeful. He, after all, had succeeded in making a pretty obscure set of characters household names in the MCU, and the wildly different (at the time) style that he brought there became the standard across the line to some extent, particularly with the subsequent Thor films. Moreover, I have felt that Gunn’s sensibilities when it comes to the superhero genre and concept more closely align with my own, so naturally, I was eager to see how he’d start this whole thing. Though not without some trepidation - after all, we have been here before, only to see it spectacularly fail, and an incredibly vocal contingent who do support the po-faced and incredibly dark previous attempts have seemed determined to harpoon any hope of success for this one before a minute has even screened.

I am happy to say, however, that Superman (2025) is fantastic. It is sincere, hopeful and bright, in a way that feels radically new and different from the de facto standard of a lot of superhero fare, and I think this puts the DCU in strong stead to continue.

What Gunn and the team achieve here is perhaps the most blatantly comic book inspired version of a superhero movie thus far, with it literally feeling like a comic book jumped right off the page. That means it at times is a little wild and silly, powerfully upbeat and positive, and filled with zany larger-than-life concepts.

This is perhaps the one area that the film may face some trouble: people have become so used to grounded, darker, muted versions of the superhero concept, and people who are not fans of the comics at all and prefer more seriousness in their superhero movie fair, may find this heart-on-its-sleeve adoration of Silver Age concepts and brightness off-putting. Similarly, the fact that this, the start of a new DCU cinematic age, starts fully in media res, with only some brief lines of text at the start of the movie to communicate that a) we will not be getting an origin story, b) we will not be getting the emergence of metahumans story and c) there could be any number of superhuman characters who will drop in at any moment possibly throwing some off.

The film owes a lot more to Christopher Reeves Superman films, or the animated series and Justice League cartoons tonally than anything else.

However, for those open-minded enough to roll with it, these concerns are quickly overcome by the fun, spectacle and immense amount of heart the film has on show.

It also takes some fun, if not entirely original, risks with the concept of Superman entirely, which I think really worked for it. It gives us something a little new, at least in this medium, to say about the character, and in a way that I think is very timely for the moment we live in.

After all, clear Silver Age inspirations though it may have, it is firmly rooted in the now, with brief ruminations on social media, billionaires, truth and justice in a widely diverse and interconnected age, and a central human conflict that feels like a clear allegory for the present, most-immediate and discussed humanitarian crisis of our present moment that you can find.

David Corenswet as Superman

Corenswet shines as Clark/Superman, utterly believable as both dorky, and utterly sincere and strong as you can find. Here is a Superman who isn’t otherwordly and living above humans, but feels very human himself, prone to moments of anger, self-reflection and pain. His chemistry with Brosnahan’s Lois is off the charts, and they are entirely believable as serious journalists, and a young, new couple. Hoult is menacing as Lex Luthor, feeling like a classic supervillain but also like an accurate portrayal of greed and lust for power that we see in our current billionaire class. And the cast playing the Daily Planet staff are great fun, though perhaps a little under-utilised, functioning, as has been mentioned elsewhere, like a Greek choir to keep the audience up to speed with the action, its ramifications and where we are for the next segment of story.

The one possible downer in these players, for me at least, is Gisondo’s Jimmy Olsen, who at one point is does something that feels really ethically icky, and it made it hard to like him as a character. His comraderie with Clark is great and you start off liking him, but then this moment passes, and Olsen is left feeling a little bit of a skeezeball. Though, unfortunately, believeable as a journalist.

All in all, the film runs a risk of coming across as hokey, but instead quite deftly balances it and threads the needle perfectly into becoming a story about radical empathy in a world that is trying to shut that down, and what humanity could be.

In one of the few needle drops in this film, we are presented with that as a core concept: that radical empathy, sincerity and positivity is the new punk rock. It actually makes sense, and is a great way of keeping the Big Blue Boyscout image of Superman but also saying how that isn’t corny, but something to be sought.

It’s a fantastic start to the DCU and I cannot wait for more. For those who do have trouble with the tone of this film, it is worth noting that Gunn is on record as saying different projects will have completely different tones, a problem that has stymied the MCU for some time, with films in that series often feeling formulaic and too similar, even when one comes along to upset the cart, the subsequent films all then start to match that new tone. We have seen this already with Peacemaker and Creature Commandos, shows that are also in the DCU, so I imagine the films will follow suit.

But if you have been looking for superheroes to be bright, colourful and hopeful again? Superman is the film for you.

Now, I'm going to get into some much more spoiler heavy thoughts after the paywall jump here: if you’re already a paid subscriber, I sincerely recommend checking out the film yourself before coming back for this, and if you’re not, but would love to see what I think more, then please do consider jumping onto the paid subscription tier.