I Just Watched - Superman (2025)

I’ve sat through every Superman movie, including that three-hour-long bore from 2006, Superman Returns, that basically nuked Brandon Routh's career down to a CW TV show. So, I wasn't sure what to expect from James Gunn's version, but I came away mostly entertained, albeit with a long list of annoyances.

No spoilers. The film wisely summarises the origin story in the first minute, dropping us into a world that feels lived-in. The problem is, it’s also completely bloated. Shoving Hawkgirl, Guy Gardner, Mister Terrific, and The Engineer into a solo Superman movie is a baffling choice that’s bound to leave non-comic fans scratching their heads. I'm still not sold on the classic-style costume, but I suppose it fits the personality and world Gunn has built here. Speaking of the world, Metropolis feels aggressively modern and 'relatable' to the point of parody, minus the whole flying aliens thing.

While we skip the origin, the plot places Superman early in his career. David Corenswet nails the part of a hero who is immensely powerful but still inexperienced and a bit naive. With no Justice League to guide him yet, what we get instead is the "Justice Gang." Nathan Fillion's Guy Gardner and Edi Gathegi's Mister Terrific are great choices, both in character and casting. But Isabela Merced’s Hawkgirl? Really? Maybe it's because I couldn't care less about the Hawks in the comics, but her character adds absolutely nothing here beyond being a token female member with a generic edgy-teen quirk.

Early days for Supes means Lex Luthor is the main villain, and Nicholas Hoult plays him brilliantly. You’d have to, of course; it's Lex Luthor. Then there’s the whole Lois and Clark thing... oh boy. I get that Rachel Brosnahan's Lois is the fierce, boss-girl human anchor for the dynamic, but man, we've seen this exact same setup in every movie and comic. Much like origin stories, it's just exhausting at this point.

But the one thing I absolutely cannot forgive is what Gunn has done to Supergirl. I have to spoil this one minute scene because it was my single biggest "wtf are you doing?" moment of the entire film. It is pure, unadulterated character assassination. In her introduction at the end of the film, Kara Zor-El crashes into the Fortress of Solitude to pick up Krypto. She is not just tipsy; she is completely wasted, stumbling around after a bender on some red sun world where she could actually get drunk. This is all played for a cheap, lazy laugh, which ends with her calling Superman, her cousin who has been looking after her dog, an affectionate "bitch" before stumbling out. It is a baffling and genuinely insulting misfire. This is our introduction to the hero meant to lead Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow? A character defined by trauma and resilience in the comics is reduced to a profane, drunken party girl for a gag.

As for the super-powered fights, they're alright, I guess. Some bits felt like filler, and I get that Gunn was trying his brand of "something different" for how Lex fights Superman, but I didn't care for it at all. It felt like it was trying way too hard to be original, like that Strange vs. Strange fight, and just ended up feeling uninspired and boring.