You can follow our posts on Superman at this link, and our posts on the new movie, Superman (2025) at this link.
Well. There it is.
We finally get an idea of the plot in broad strokes. For comics-folk and Superman fans, we get the characters and literal from-the-comics stories getting referenced. I'm seeing Action Comics 900 and All-Star Superman #12. Maybe a dash of Dini and Ross's Peace on Earth (a great one-off if you can find it).
But, and stick with me, this feels like the Superman I look for in the comics and the Superman I occasionally get in TV or film. It only happens when the creators don't get bogged down with being about their own internal mechanisms or veer off to just punch things (although I like that, too, from time to time).
This is a Superman who is out there doing his absolute best in a world that is so (unnecessarily) complicated, doing the right thing is frowned upon when you don't check with the right paper pusher to get permission to save lives.
Ya'll, from Action Comics #1, Superman was the fantasy of two guys who asked "what if you didn't have to ask to do the right thing? What if no one could stop you when you tried to help? What would that look like? How would we react?"
In his first appearances Superman is seen busting into the governor's mansion to insist on a stay of an execution for an innocent man. An issue or three later, he's taking on weapons dealers trying to start wars, forcing them to the front lines - he is not asking anyone if it's okay. Superman was intended to be a bit rogue-ish and outside the law, because it's never been too hard to see we build systems that don't benefit the people who need them to function, and certainly that was the case in the mid-1930's.
If your idea of Superman is a flag-hugging do-gooder - he's been that, and there's history there. Over time, in the comics, TV and movies, the angle of the rogue hero changed a bit, as Superman exploded in popularity in the 1940's, making sure Superman was non-controversial was paramount in order to sell Ovaltine and jumpsuits to kids. But in 1946, he still took on the Klan in the Clan of the Fiery Cross storyline on his very popular radio show. Also, he had to adapt in part because of the comic-book Senate hearings where the feds threatened to shut comics down altogether.
Coming out of the Senate Hearings, Superman became the friendly uncle figure. But over time that image receded, and while he's often a friend to law-enforcement, etc...* in the past forty years, it's fair to say - despite what Dark Knight Returns would tell you - Superman has often been portrayed as basically operating independent of governmental or any authority outside of the Justice League, while demonstrating varying levels of awareness of the impact of his actions in the moment. And that's made its way into TV as well. In a post-Apollo-mission world where we know Superman is routinely in space, in a world where we've gained a greater understanding of how our world is interlocked, and when the post WWII notion of The American Way lost meaning and eventually faded into distant memory, the slogan changed, and the politics of Superman became global concern rather than protecting any individual country.
For readers, this meant a kid sitting in Spain or Australia could have Superman, too.
If given someone who needs saving - be it Lois getting shot in a made-up country in the Middle East, saving North Korean submarines, interfering in a global conflict, an internal conflict, or alien politics, he's going to get involved. And it often doesn't go well.
For some time, the heart of Superman comics has been the question less of "what can Superman do?" but "what is a responsible use of this power?" It's akin to "you have great power and thus great responsibility", but takes the responsibility, perhaps, and asks instead, "okay, how do you deploy it? And do you let the agendas of others dictate your choices?"
I've already seen at least one person come to the conclusion that this is a young, naive Superman. But it's more a question of philisophy.
When you're Superman, how do you judiciously go about changing the world, and do you care if you bruise some egos along the way? Do the rules of man matter if you can save people? To the trailer's question - do you even start to think about the fallout? Should you worry about going through channels when people are going to die? How is it responsible to let someone else tell you what to do when you know you can help?
And in that way, Superman has remained intensely relevant, year-over-year of my adulthood.
Especially when our villain is really the embodiment of petty jealousies and fury that someone isn't playing by the rules that made their world work. Rules they can also change or ignore to their advantage.
The best writers get how a Lois Lane, who is going to hit with the force of a thousand Christiane Amanpours in her pursuit of the truth (Lois's agenda is not political - she's as obsessed with the truth), is going to keep Clark honest - especially in the version where she knows his identity.
I'll talk about the snippet of performances here, because our sequence with Lois and Clask is pretty far from "I like pink very much".
One could write a hell of a book on Lois Lane - who appeared the first time as a hard-bitten reporter at the Daily Star just panels after Clark landed his job in Action Comics #1 - as a reflection of the times, views of journalism and absolutely as a study in gender. (Whoops. Someone did.) And I think, here, the truth-seeking Lois is an attractive way to go. Make her someone Clark has to respect because of that dedication, even when it makes his life hard. And she can respect him for what he does even when she has to consider all the angles.
Honestly, I thought we got the best version of this Lois we'd ever see would be Bitsie Tulloch's Lois in Superman and Lois. But I love what I see here from both Rachel Brosnahan and David Corenswet. They're real characters, not actors posing or busy being icons.** The approach feels remarkably... human.
I will always love Superman: The Movie, but the Metropolis portion is clearly built for an almost sort of Broadway comedy styling. Which works! It also keeps us at arms-length, from being able to connect with Superman and Lois as humans rather than archetypes. It's simply different styling. But to get Superman back in the conversation after two decades of successful superhero movies (and two Reeve-starring sequels of iffy quality, followed by two DOA Superman relaunches) DC needed for people to really connect with Superman on the big screen.
We also see more of the rest of the cast - Mr. Terrific (still so excited about that), Guy Gardner/ Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, The Engineer, Metamorpho... and even Eve Tessmacher. Rick Flag Sr. is there. A version of Ultraman (which is like putting a huge can marked "worms" on the table). Ma and Pa Kent - who look like normal humans and not Costner and Diane Lane.
And, of course Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, feeling plucked directly from the comics more than any version I can recall.
There's some exciting action in Metropolis! Battles on baseball fields! Kaiju in the financial district! This Superman will not just lift progressively larger weights or die to make a point. And there's a world that's populated with a sort of sense of wonder.
It's a world in which the population has a complicated relationship with their Superman. Where being square - and caring about people - is the ultimate act of rebellion (kids, take note). Did I inhale sharply when the anonymous gentleman helped Superman out of the crater? Maybe.
There's plenty of bad opinions online about everything from the look and feel to including Krypto. Ignore that noise. We know what people think is *right*, as if there's only one way to make a movie or tell a story. Seeing a movie that is crisp, clear and lit with sunlight isn't wrong. Not everything needs to look like it's filmed in a sandstorm at midnight. You can have jokes and joy in a movie. But folks will scream into the void all day long about it. Also, 70% of those opinions will vanish after people actually do go see the movie.
All along the way, every glimpse I've seen of Superman has felt like a new, polished up Superman who is very much what I want out of Big Blue in any medium. I don't know how the general population will deal with the Amazing World of Superman, complete with Super Robots, Krypto and monsters in Metropolis. I don't care in, really, how they feel - I'm getting a Superman movie that isn't afraid of focus groups or working off a spreadsheet of what gamers, 14-24 think is awesome. This looks like a Superman movie I could take my parents and nephew to see. It's a Superman who cares about the least of people, but all people. And he's glad to put himself between them and... say... a gigantic monster ambling between buildings.
And, hey, again - we've got Krypto. So.
*I just recently came into ownership of Action Comics #309 where he's palling around with JFK
**this was also a huge strength of Superman and Lois
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