Superman

James Gunn’s all-new Superman is a dopamine-firing extravaganza with mind-scrambling concepts and an empathetic hunk in blue tights.

A man and his (super) dog.
Image courtesy of Warner Bros.

Superman can fly faster than the speed of light, is endowed with X-ray vision and can stop a toppling skyscraper in its tracks. But he has one appalling frailty: he has an inability to distrust those around him. Oh, and there’s his fatal allergy to Kryptonite. Both are weaknesses that the entrepreneurial capitalist Lex Luthor intends to exploit to his advantage – and considerable financial gain. Played by Nicholas Hoult in a collar and tie and without a trace of villainy, Luthor is a narcissist of inconceivable egotism who is willing to put his own profit ahead of the rest of the world’s. Such is his unscrupulous self-interest, he has sided with the pompous dictator of Boravia whose troops are massing at the border of its poorer neighbour Jarhanpur. With Superman out of the way – globally discredited by a touch of social media manipulation – Luthor is on the brink of unimaginable power and wealth…

Superman has undergone many transformations since George Reeves first played him in 1951, but now it seems we need him more than ever. In spite of his numerous extraterrestrial attributes, Superman would appear to have picked up an additional – and invaluable – gift since his time on Earth: his humanity. The Man of Steel has long been prescribed with a Christ-like mantle, and his standing as a saviour figure has never seemed more timely. Nor for that matter do the terrifying excesses of DC Comics’ Metropolis now feel so aligned with the evils of the contemporary world, from the misuse of technology to the public’s overriding belief in fake news. Indeed, the film’s topicality is deeply disturbing.

As Marvel struggles to sustain its market share, DC Comics arrives with a triumphant fanfare, its new reboot launched with a few notes of John Williams’ original theme played over the opening title. The man behind this sudden upturn is James Gunn, the writer-director of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise and The Suicide Squad. Just as Rembrandt never wasted a brushstroke and Ernest Hemingway never wasted a word, so James Gunn makes sure every minute counts. From the exhilarating start, when the entire Superman backstory is dispensed with in a few informative (and witty) captions, and we find Superman stranded in a snowy wasteland, the film slips into gear and goes hell for leather.

Relative newcomer David Corenswet is more than capable as Superman and his alter ego Clark Kent (in the latter guise vaguely resembling Richard Ayoade), while Rachel Brosnahan is a terrific, grounded and super-smart Lois Lane. The CGI is, of course, second-to-none, while the plot unfolds like a Dan Brown page-turner. Thankfully, Gunn refuses to underestimate his audience and expects us to know our quantum physics, so that a portal to a pocket universe and the science of nanobot surveillance is taken as read. In reparation, Gunn crams his film with scrumptious Easter eggs, the odd star cameo, in-jokes and numerous laugh-out-loud moments and wonderful characters. Jimmy Olsen’s drop-dead gorgeous ex-girlfriend Eve (Sara Sampaio) is consumed by self-doubt because she thinks her toes are ugly, while Edi Gathegi's Mister Terrific is a tech mastermind who has failed to fix his garage door.

This is what superhero movies should be like – super. And yet James Gunn takes Superman above and beyond, melding science fiction with geopolitics, social commentary and adrenalin-rushing escapism.

JAMES CAMERON-WILSON

Cast: David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Edi Gathegi, Anthony Carrigan, Nathan Fillion, Isabela Merced, Skyler Gisondo, Sara Sampaio, María Gabriela de Faría, Wendell Pierce, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Neva Howell, Zlatko Buric, Beck Bennett, Terence Rosemore, Bradley Cooper, Angela Sarafyan, Frank Grillo, Sean Gunn, Will Reeve, John Cena, and the voices of Alan Tudyk, Grace Chan, Michael Rooker, Pom Klementieff. 

Dir James Gunn, Pro Peter Safran and James Gunn, Screenplay James Gunn, Ph Henry Braham, Pro Des Beth Mickle, Ed William Hoy and Craig Alpert, Music John Murphy and David Fleming (and a few notes by John Williams), Costumes Judianna Makovsky, Sound David Acord. 

DC Studios/Troll Court Entertainment/The Safran Company-Warner Bros.
129 mins. USA. 2025. UK and US Rel: 11 July 2025. Cert. 12A.