James Gunn starts the DC Studio’s Universe on a thrilling high note with optimism, hope and kindness shining bright.
by: Brandon Pope
It might be a generational thing, but I’ve just never been a huge Superman guy. Past adaptations—particularly Zack Snyder’s ‘Man of Steel’—only deepened my indifference toward the character. The rocky track record of DC’s cinematic universe hasn’t helped either, which meant James Gunn’s first entry in his DCU reboot had a much higher bar to clear for me than your average superhero flick.
And wow—did it ever!
‘Superman’ is a refreshing, triumphant, and spectacular return to form that feels like a comic book come to life. It delivers exactly what a Superman movie should: hope, optimism, and joy. Simply put, this might be the best Superman film ever made.
One of the biggest knocks on Superman is that he’s too powerful—a god among mortals, faster, stronger, and more indestructible than anyone else in the DC pantheon. Gunn tackles that critique head-on by making a bold narrative choice: we begin with Kal-El at his lowest point. There’s no drawn-out origin story here. Instead, we drop into a fully formed DC universe where metahumans have existed for 3,000 years, and Clark Kent has been donning the cape for three of them.