A New Age of Movies: a Review of Superman
Written by Quinn De Vecchi
Released in theaters on July 11, and now on streaming services for the first time, Superman is a joyful and almost genre-bending take on DC Studio’s most famous superhero. Much known for his Guardians of the Galaxy series from Marvel Studios, James Gunn has changed companies, but not his filmmaking style.
Superman is full of cheeky jokes, blooming romance, and the occasional music-fighting montage—one of Gunn’s monikers from his previous movies.
In Gunn’s new start in the DC world, Superman (David Corenswet) has just involved himself in an abroad war, much to the rest of the world’s disfavor. Lex Luther (Nicholas Hoult) uses this to his advantage, hoping to push Superman out of a positive light and take over military operations with the aforementioned war. Using his superhuman assassins, Luther puts a hit on Superman, just as the latter is battling between his superhero life, and his normal one: Clark Kent, a shy reporter for the Daily Planet. This also leads tensions to rise with Superman and his romantic interest, the bold and cunning Lois Lane, another reporter for the Daily Planet. The movie features political unrest, a portal to another dimension, and even dog-napping.
Paola Granda-Scott, a junior theatre design and production major, has been a DC fan for a long time. She saw a stark contrast between the new Superman versus the old.
“The everyday DC fan probably hasn’t read the comics. In that context, they are only familiar with Zack Snyder’s Superman, portrayed by Henry Cavill as dark, menacing, apathetic, and incompetent when it comes to actually rescuing civilians,” she commented.
“In James Gunn’s movie, Superman returns to his comic roots of kindness and desperation to be good. Both 2013 and 2025 are marked by catastrophes and bizarre happenings, with different responses. 2013 responded with a gritty movie to match its surroundings, and 2025 responded with a story about a kind man making a difference, and giving hope.”
Superman, while first seen as just another reboot, has grown to over an 83% popularity vote on the movie-rating site Rotten Tomatoes. Critics called it “fun, quirky, and [even] hopeful.”
At IAA, Superman also relates to students’ art and how they showcase it. Gunn played on a new type of filmmaking—and albeit risky, ended up changing how watchers perceived movies, and superheroes.
“Like all art, the movie Superman showed separate issues between the lines. Art can be anything, but often it’s used to make a statement,” said Tessa Thakker, a freshman Interdisciplinary major.
“One of the messages I got from Superman was a reminder of what a real hero is: brave, but not fearless; strong, but not invincible; and merciful, but not tolerant to violence. It made a statement, and I think that is an amazing use of art.”
James Gunn is anticipating releasing new movies in the future for DC Studios: Supergirl, Man of Tomorrow, Clayface, and others. Fans and artists alike can get excited for a whole new retelling of the famous comic characters.