I feel compelled to come clean right from the beginning: I don’t care much about Superman, but that’s not to say that I never enjoyed the hero. I’ve seen almost every iteration, and I’ve always wondered who was going to don the cape next whenever they made an announcement project a new project or film. For casual viewers like me, though, it has felt like devoted fans and obsessives have laid claim over the opinions surrounding James Gunn’s bright and delightfully silly new chapter of man of steel. As cheesy as it may sound, though, Gunn’s film implores us to find the goodness in your fellow man and to always fight for what’s right.
Superman has always appealed to me because of what he stands for, and every actor who has embodied that ideal has succeeded to varying degrees. In many people’s minds, no one can touch the legendary icon that Christopher Reeve created, and I remember being drawn to Dean Cain for his good looks (not so much any more because of…things…) and the presence of Teri Hatcher. Seriously, Mom, how did you not know? After that, Clark Kent and Superman have been embodied by Tyler Hoechlin (nice five o’clock shadow), Brandon Routh (only one shot but chin dimple on point), Tom Welling, and, of course, Henry Cavill. That last Supe was probably the easiest to swoon over, but he, unfortunately, appeared in films that were so self-serious and drab that it zapped out all the fun and joy of an easygoing experience.
Why am I harping on the men in the blue tights, you might ask? One of the things that I loved about Gunn’s Superman was how Rachel Brosnahan’s Lois Lane looked at David Corenswet’s Clark/Superman. As co-workers of The Daily Planet, she prods him about his proximity to Metropolis’ hero in public even though Clark and Lois are in the early throes of secretive romance. It’s fair to assume that every Lois Lane looks at Superman in wonder as he blasts off into the sky, ready to protect the innocent and meek from whatever evil is threatening them, but Brosnahan telegraphs to us how that astonishment can make the most skeptical of us hopeful again. She is a reporter seeking justice through integrity and the written word, and her eyes seem to say, ‘Wow, I really can hope again.’ After Superman and Lois have a conversation (the scene where a neon purple monster is bouncing around the sky in the background), he steps out with no sound accompanying his departure, the gentlest wind making Lois’ hair blow back softly.
Lex Luthor (a seething, furious Nicholas Hoult) wants to take Superman down a peg and prove that brains are stronger than brawn, and he has the money to do it. Just a few weeks earlier, Superman stopped the Boravian invasion of its neighboring country, Jarhanpur, and Luthor can control the Hammer of Boravia by drones and a staff of nerdy, underlings. Luthor barks out codes, so they can swing the Hammer’s fists however Luthor sees fit. When Superman crashed onto Earth three decades ago, he came with a video message from his parents, but the second half of it was always distorted. After Luthor steals the video, he broadcasts it to the entire world, and Jor-El and Lara’s correspondence instills immediately distrust in Superman’s identity and purpose on Earth when the back half is finally heard.
Some audiences have criticized Gunn’s film for how it implicates Superman in a conflict between two countries and how that mirrors the Russian invasion of Ukraine or the senseless bloodshed in Palestine. In addition, some have bemoaned that Corenswet’s version of this hero is “weak” because he takes many blows and the film even begins with Superman being dragged home by the scrappy, disobedient pup, Krypto. To those complaints, though, I offer in rebuttal that Corenswet’s take showcases a man who keeps getting back up to fight and, horror of horrors, show some kindness as destruction descends all around these characters. That has always, I thought, been the quality of Superman that we all united behind. When you believe in something, you see it through to the end. Maybe that’s naïve of me to pinpoint, but Superman standing for kindness, tolerance, and fighting injustice has, I thought, always been a credo in which the Man of Steel flies behind, whether the film around him is colorful and fun or brooding and dark. If you think that the parallel between Superman being hidden away to a pocket universe is trying to make a comment about only the politics of today, you need to take a long, hard look at how other authoritarian regimes have dones this throughout history.
As Clark Kent, Corenswet keeps his hair pushed forward but makes his speaking voice a tad deeper. We don’t get to see him as the intrepid reporter very much (being Superman takes up quite a bit of his time…), but a scene between him and Brosnahan’s Lois Lane, where she tries to give her boyfriend some perspective on how his actions will look to citizens, is refreshing for letting words hold power when other superhero films are more concerned with visual effects. Corenswet is a fantastic Superman. His eyes register the hope synonymous with the character, and he never doesn’t register strength. Superman’s impulsiveness to help or acting before he thinks feels right with a younger person in the part, and the scenes with Jonathan and Martha Kent are essential in showing how our ideals can be reinforced by the ones that we love. It makes me laugh whenever these comic book films come out and people complain that things “are not being done right” when another version will eventually come along. Edi Gathegi, as Mr. Terrific, has remarkable presence, and Krypto is adorable and fun. A much needed reminder that you cannot control everything, especially the temperament and attitude of a pup.
You may think that my opinion of Superman is “wrong” because I don’t have a deep knowledge of the story or the history other than the other films, but who cares. When did kindness equate weakness in so many audiences’ eyes? Maybe we need a tougher or more present narrative in a superhero film to make everyone understand what a superhero film can do. This Superman shows how having a hero can inspire but also how it plants a seed in all of us. Corenswet’s hero does save a lot of individuals from certain death or violence, but there are many moments where no one comes but everyone is thinking about him.
Lois Lane is a character who has to use her intelligence and gumption to thrive as a journalist, even she is overwhelmed with what Superman promises in terms of the goodness in all of us. Maybe her eyes widen because even this hero can give us all something to believe in again.
Superman is in theaters now.
