Superman (2025) [Spoiler Review]

Primary Disclaimer: I work for the company making some of the premium theater concession products for the movie. 

Secondary Disclaimer: Mallika Rao, my girlfriend, co-wrote this review. 

David Corenswet isn't a god, he's just excellent at playing a man often mistaken for one. James Gunn, however, may be a god.

His take on Superman is an exhilarating ride through the journey of one of America's biggest icons, as he rises, falls and rises again. It’s practically a religious experience to witness Krypton’s best take to the skies and take down the bad guys.

In James Gunn's Superman, when the title character (David Corenswet) puts himself front-and-center in international conflict, the domestic fallout is greater and more far-reaching than he could have possibly imagined. 

Superman, a.k.a Clark Kent, stops a foreign invasion from the fictional U.S. ally Boravia into the poorer neighboring fictional country of Jarhanpur after losing his first fight to the mysterious "Hammer of Boravia." This seemingly heroic act receives swift backlash, which is only compounded by his and the world's discovery of a leaked video message from his birth parents in Krypton, which includes invasion sentiment from patriarch Jor-El (Bradley Cooper, in a surprise cameo).

The movie also features some of the usual cast of characters, including Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult), Jimmy Olson (Skyler Gisondo), Perry White (Wendell Pierce), but also introduces a multitude of DC superheroes like Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi), Guy Gardner's Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), and Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced). It is written and directed by James Gunn, and it's edited down to 129 minutes --  an unprecedented pace for a Superman movie -- by William Hoy and Craig Alpert. 

In preparation for the movie, I've been listening to a series from one of my favorite podcasts Blank Check on their Patreon page covering the Superman franchise. I also recently rewatched Superman Returns and Man of Steel, having rewatched Richard Donner's first Superman a few months ago.

One of the things they covered on the Blank Check series was how slow the arc of Superman's story is in previous films. James Gunn's Superman counters this trend by keeping things at a brisk pace, and the audience is strapped to that speeding bullet from the beginning. 

Theatrical Poster | Copyright 2025 Warner Bros./DC Studios

There are moments where the audience is reminded of why Gunn is a genius at the superhero film genre. Elements of the Guardians franchise are present throughout the film, from the needle drops, to the remote-piloted drone combatants that were also a key component of Guardians Vol. 2.

Also present is the strong emotional center that is at the core of Gunn's previous work, if not more so. This is especially apparent with the pairing of Lois and Superman. While there are rarely scenes with Superman's beloved alter ego, one of the finest moments in the film is an interview scene with Lois and Clark. 

It's been well-documented online how smoothly Brosnahan and Corenswet's chemistry test went, and the evidence is clear in this scene. This might be the strongest display of chemistry between actors in this genre in the last decade. 

It all culminates in their first flight on-screen together, which sadly is left too close to the end but still maintains the thrill of scenes like it in previous films.

What also struck me is how well DC's most beloved couple plays in a staff room at the Daily Planet. This is a less meek, put-on Clark than we typically see in live-action. It's primarily communicated with his glasses and tousled curls, and less in his voice and actions. He's not bumbling and he's able to hold himself in a room, so there are less glances at his and Lois's way when people are wondering how they become a romantic match. It also nicely blurs any debatable dividing line between Clark and Superman. When you start from either place, that's just him.

One element of the Superman films that has always struck me is his origin story, though I’m more simpatico with Spider-Man...the scrawny kid in school who didn't really gain confidence or find his place in the world until college. When I see Sally Field's Aunt May, I see my mom. My dad and Cliff Robertson’s Uncle Ben can paint kitchens together for their wives. And I didn't meet my biological parents until 2022, so it's funny that in 2025, I've shifted from one hero to another because now there’s a movie where all four of my parents are essentially on-screen. 

What got me was that leaked video featuring Jor-El and Lara. When shown in full, the message they leave for Kal-El essentially says to exert his full force over the humans. As YouTuber Troyoboyo17 states, "Kal-El was sent to rule over Earth, repopulate it as a new Krypton." Many fans like him have called this character assassination of Jor-El and Lara...I'd argue it's re-interpreting the characters for this generation...and for myself.

Another thing I saw in 2022 was The Batman by Matt Reeves. That one played with the Wayne legacy a bit with Thomas Wayne nearly aligning himself with the mob to protect his wife. Three years later, we have a House of El that aligns closer to Man of Steel's Zod, putting the continuation of their lineage and species above all else. Even if these are separate universes, this now isn't unprecedented in this series of movies from DC Studios. It reminds me of the most extreme cases of narcissistic parents who still believe that what they're doing is for their children.

To make a long story short, my adoption became a cloak-and-dagger situation with revelations that are actually more in-line with Spidey. On that note, Spider-Man: Family Business, the one with Peter's sister Teresa, is a reviewed recommendation of mine. 

Now, what happened to me was the right thing to do in the moment to just make sure I was going to be okay. Basically, some significant members of my biological family never knew about me until the tail end of the pandemic. It was absolutely not the lie to maintain for decades. With all family members now known, we'll one day pick up the pieces.

To that end, I had some hope as I watched how the revelations in Superman that once damaged Clark's relationships with the world and his friends, are put in perspective through the grounding of who he knows, loves, and trusts, such as his adopted parents the Kents.

With the Kents, we have the lovely Kansas couple Ma (Neva Howell) and Pa (Pruitt Taylor Vince). Vince delivers a comforting, though standard message that your choices and your actions make you who you are. But it's the line Pa Kent says before that sticks out. 

Parents who do it right give their kids the tools and support to just go out there and see what sticks. Even if that kid wants to go to college four hours from home, fresh off scoliosis surgery, and pursue fine art with his stick figures...Good parents will point out that the writing about trying to get those stick figures to look like Bugs Bunny or move like The Iron Giant are something worth zeroing in on. But I'll finally digress back to my review of this movie.

As I took in a second viewing of the film, I noticed little details in the writing and execution that built on political themes laid out in the plot (which have gotten a lot of attention online). For example, Lex Luthor is portrayed as a tech tycoon hellbent on world domination (sounds familiar?). 

Even more reminiscent of Elon's recent government takeover was his interactions with the Department of Defense (not to mention that random teenage boy who's on his staff somehow). There are also Zuckerbergian elements at play, as Luthor maintains an army of monkeys akin to Russian bots. 

Keep in mind that the script was written probably around three years ago, before the current events that eerily cross your mind as you watch certain moments in the film. That means the script was drafted before the Oct. 7 attacks in the Middle East, the 2024 U.S. presidential election and the ensuing immigration attacks that it transpired. While themes in the film feel incredibly true to reality today, this is a testament to the filmmakers' ability to be prescient on national and global affairs. 

That said, while the film reads as a political manifestation, it is so much more than that. It is a meditation on kindness at a time where it is sorely needed.