Superman: The opening act to the new DC Extended Universe

James Gunn inherited quite a mess when he signed on to be the head of DC Studios. For a decade, the DC Extended Universe had struggled commercially: films like Man of Steel and Aquaman had no real narrative or tonal cohesion, and the comic book cinematic universe started coming together too late compared to Marvel. DC needed to make a play, and they needed to do it fast and smart in order to stay in the fray. Why not just copy the playbook from someone with experience making three of Marvel’s most highly regarded movies? After the success of the Suicide Squad soft reboot/sequel, The Suicide Squad, DC Studios brought on director James Gunn to spearhead the entire operation. His first act of power? Rebooting the seminal DC superhero for the third time (as far as the films are concerned). 

James Gunn’s Superman is the opening act to the new DC Extended Universe. Instead of telling the Man of Steel’s origin story for the umpteenth time, the movie takes a page from 2022’s The Batman and drops us right into the story. After a brief history lesson on the lore, we’re thrown right into the action. Superman (David Corenswet) has just stopped an invasion in Bavaria and subsequently ended a war—or at least that’s how he sees it. His involvement is questionable; he claims he was acting in the interest of the people and doing good for the world. However, the world wonders why the United States sent him to get involved in a foreign conflict.. His archnemesis, Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) sees this as an opportunity. Luthor’s been supplying countries with arms and has a new idea for sale: a group of supersoldiers to defend the world and step into conflicts that would otherwise be unimaginable for regular troops. 

Dropping us right into the story works, but only to a certain extent. The universe we’re introduced to is so far along by the time the movie starts that it feels like we’re missing key information, and the audience is expected to roll with it. That doesn’t really work considering the movie’s massive first-act issues. Instead of digging into the Superman lore, Gunn (who wrote the screenplay in addition to directing) sketches a bare outline of Superman’s origin story and presumes the audience will understand concepts like metahumans and interdimensional travel. This leads to awkward pacing and repetitive exposition without a real explanation of why any of this matters. We know Superman, we know his story, but we don’t know crucial information like the latest happenings in this Superman’s universe, the political climate he inhabits, and his role in it. In The Batman, that framework succeeds by providing all the necessary details to enjoy the journey without digressing too much into the larger comic-book universe around Batman. Here, it feels like watching the film adaptation of a required reading and then having to know all the answers about the book itself when the test rolls around. 

Despite those first-act issues, this movie is mostly a breath of fresh air. If you’re willing to play ball with it and realize some things won’t get a satisfactory explanation, it’s a lot of fun. James Gunn brings some of the flair from the Guardians of the Galaxy movies to this iteration of Superman. The movie never takes itself too seriously, which is a huge contrast to Zack Sndyer’s dark and moody versions of the characters. And David Corenswet is one of the most human versions of Superman we’ve ever seen. He balances letting the hero have his emotional moments and gravity with capturing the energy of Clark Kent, a normal guy who’s having fun with the job even though everything is counting against him. When trolls online talk down about him, he’s impacted by it, and Corenswet sells his character as one who wants to do a lot of good in a world that doesn’t trust him fully. There’s a lighthearted nature to the character that we haven’t seen since the 1978 film, and it makes for a refreshing take on the story. 

While the movie is called Superman and is about, well, Superman, James Gunn leans into his comfort zone of ensemble films with a large cast of characters. The Justice Gang assists Superman, but they’re a corporate superhero group working more in the interest of the shareholders. Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion) is their leader, Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi) is really good at “computer”, and Hawk Girl (Isabela Merced) seems to just be along for the ride (she gets things to do, but the movie never tries to make her a standout). The real surprise comes from Gathegi, who gets a sideplot helping Lois Lane. He understands what to bring to the table comedically and manages to deliver even the most mediocre lines with a sense of gravity and believability. A fair amount of the film’s third act laughs in my theater came from his delivery and his character. And I’d be remiss to not note a star performance from Krypto, the Super Dog. He does all the little cute things that a small dog does, and also all the annoying things that a small dog does (speaking from experience, the annoyingness probably outweighs the cute)
Ultimately, Superman does exactly what it set out to do: reboot a franchise for the zillionth time. Does it take a lot of risks? No, but it never really needed to. The goal was to create something fresh and serve as a palate cleanser from the somber previous iteration. And Gunn is so successful in this endeavor that it’s easy to forgive some of its blunders, delivering a live-action cartoon that takes us back to the comics of the ‘80s and cartoons before that. We’ll have to see where the rest of the new DCU’s “Chapter One: Gods and Monsters” storyline goes, but for now, the universe is in good hands thanks to one super man (and the rest of the crew that made this happen, of course).

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