Superman (2025)

[The Dark Knight]

Honestly? I can't say that I am all that interested in this. I wanted to reserve judgement until I saw a actual trailer, and ehhhh ... it just looks like more of the same. A fanciful and whimsical "world" where Superheroes are literally all over the place. So, effectively, just like what we've already been getting for nearly 20 years with the Disney's MCU now? Doesn't exactly scream fresh does it? I get that the film will try and make Supes the standout amongst the established heroes and all that jazz (Gunn literally cannot help himself in littering his superhero films with a mosaic of characters), but it's just a little too "Smallville: The Movie" to my liking.

If anything, I can't help but get Bryan Singer "Superman Returns" vibes from this. Another film that had positive reactions from teasers/trailers/ect, and why wouldn't it? Singer was coming off of X1 and X2, so he certainly had the wind to his back with Superman (I also distinctly remember if you said anything contrarian about Singer's SR, you were usually met with a Kevin Spacey Lex Luthor "WRONG" meme ad nauseam lol).

Then the film came out, and there was a element of stodginess to the proceedings. Which I can't shake with this as well. As it comes across as a barrage of "best of", rather than going with something truly bold, unique, and unwonted by what we've already seen. That, I think, was just one of the major mistakes with Bryan Singer's take, and it could very well hold true here as well. Since, yeah, we're getting crystal Krypton/Fortress (again), goofy/clumsy Clark Kent (again), a variation of the John Williams theme (again ... which let's say I am of two minds. One it's a masterful theme, but at the same time, I very much think the same of Danny Elfman's Batman theme. Do I think it should've been included in Nolan's films, or in the Reevesverse? Not particularly. We're back to the stodgy point again with this.), and a (again) a more whimsical world compared to Sndyer's MOS. Which, unfortunately, isn't anything new these days since we've been absolutely saturated with that sort of "superhero cluttered world" with all the stuff that's happened with the MCU narrative of movies from 2008!

I also agree with TDK about nothing being a sure thing with it comes to Superman. To expand upon this, when SR came out in the summer of 2006, it was accompanied with merchandise and promotional tie in products up the wazoo. Also, it enjoyed the distinction of having a director who previously enjoyed major success within the comic movie genre, and outside of the genre as well (Usual Suspects). SR also had the distinction of being the very first cinematic Superman since Christopher Reeve about 19 years prior to 2006. Yet, it was the slowest crawl to $200 million domestic in recent memory. Where I think it finally hit that milestone just a week or two prior to the DVD release that Nov. Snyder's MOS was somewhere in the $600 million range I think, and that was during the height of the Superhero movie craze. We're on the other side of that, so yeah, I get that WB has essentially bet the farm on this, so to say they have a lot riding on this is an understatement.

Wasn't super surprised the trailer didn't mention anything about "The Suicide Squad", are you?

Colors, I think I would be a little more enthusiastic if Guy looked a little bit more like how EVS depicted him during the GL Rebirth era, and not like as if he literally just walked off the CW back lot. Or to a lesser extent, a SNL skit. I guess we gotta get those chuckles in there somewhere.

^ You can always trust the judgement of Uncle Bingo.

The suit doesn't translate that well from the set pics (it does have a cosplay appearance at times), nor do I like the Clark Kent hair. Corenswet has the general appearance but does he have movie star presence and charisma? That remains to be seen. The first we see Superman he's beaten up on the snow, which is an odd first reveal. Crashing down to the ground brings to mind the MoS first flight, but this looks like a visually inferior knockoff. Kal superwhistles for Krypto but there isn't any snow blowing up from that action, and why is the dog running and not flying? I think Jonathan Kent looks miscast, and they could've done better than Hoult IMO.

The movie might be better than my initial first impressions. But if it is, the ball has been fumbled with the marketing so far. Same goes with the first still photograph that revealed the suit. Just because it's Superman doesn't automatically equal bums on seats. If anything history shows that's a negative. In the character's filmic absence people have moved on, prefer other characters and those stances have hardened. I will be very interested to see the box office.

[thecolorsblend]

If you want, you can consider this post to be a down payment on the inevitable Superman (2025) Comic Book Influences thread. I suspect this movie will keep all of us, me in particular, very busy.

But as a preliminary, at one point in the teaser, Superman seems to battle a fire-breathing stegosaurus looking thing.



I'm... simply not aware of a character like this anywhere in Superman's history. The closest I can think of is Krull, a one-off baddie quickly dispatched in All-Star Superman #03.





So, my best guess is that either the fire-breathing dinosaur is an original character or else it's a VERY reinterpreted Krull. No idea which is more likely. Or if I'm even right.

But speaking of All-Star Superman, Pruitt Taylor Vince's appearance...



... somewhat reminds me of Jonathan's overall aesthetic from All-Star Superman #06.



There's also All-Star Superman #09, which begins with Superman escaping from the underverse and crash-landing back on Earth.



I'm not sure if this is another All-Star Superman reference or not. Honestly, crash-landing as shown in the teaser could have any number of possible influences behind it. But in light of all the other All-Star Superman elements going on around here, I figured that I'd at least toss this out as a possibility.

Anyway, if I'm right about the above, then this goes a long way toward supporting Gunn's claim that the film is very heavily influenced by All-Star Superman. Which is no bad thing in my book. I'm a huge All-Star Superman fan.

I'm also a little suspicious of this movie's version of Steve Lombard. What little we see of him reminds me of Steve Lombard as shown in All-Star Superman. So, I might revisit this matter when better images of Lombard become available.