The Real Punk Rock

Directed by James Gunn

Starring David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult

Released July 11th, 2025

Rated PG-13

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s…another comic book movie. It’s more than fair to question the existence of yet another movie featuring superpowered people wearing ridiculous outfits punching each other, but it helps that this one sports a good story, memorable scenes, iconic characters, and an ample amount of heart. Written, produced, and directed by James Gunn, the head of the newly formed DC Studios, Superman is the starting point for a planned series of films incorporating characters from DC Comics. Gunn previously helmed the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy for Marvel Studios, and 2021’s The Suicide Squad for the DCEU (the previous DC cinematic continuity).

I’m not a huge fan of Gunn’s Guardians movies, and I thought his Squad movie was just so-so. Because of that, I was nervous to watch his take on the most iconic superhero of them all. I questioned if he was the right creator to take on Superman, a character that was so different from what he had tackled before. Around a half hour into the screening, I breathed a big sigh of relief. This is probably the best movie featuring Supes since 1980’s Superman II. And even that movie’s theatrical release was pretty flawed, since director Richard Donner was replaced by Richard Lester. Thankfully we got to see the original vision of the film years later with the release of Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut. But I digress. James Gunn proves he has a fundamental understanding of what makes Superman…super, man. It’s kindness! That’s the secret ingredient. Kindness.

This is not an origin story. Gunn figures audiences are familiar enough with baby Kal-El’s journey from doomed planet Krypton to Earth’s small-town Kansas, Ma and Pa Kent raising the baby they name Clark, his eventual move to and employment in Metropolis, and his coworkers at the Daily Planet. So too are we familiar with the evil Lex Luthor, obsessed with taking down Superman. Gunn decides to drop us into the middle of a battle, after onscreen texts inform us that metahumans have been living among us for centuries, though Superman himself has only been in the public eye for three years. Because audiences have seen nonstop superhero films for such a long time now, I think it’s easier to be dropped into the middle of the action without having to answer questions like “How did they get these powers?” It’s kind of refreshing. 

Billionaire tech genius Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) is out to destroy the reputation of Superman (David Corenswet), saying that “Nothing has felt right since he showed up.” He’s doing this through creating international conflict and blaming the fallout on The Last Son of Krypton. You could say the movie’s political story seems ripped from today’s headlines, but sadly it could have been ripped from the headlines from any decade on planet Earth because our violent history repeats itself over and over again. Following in the footsteps of Gene Hackman, Kevin Spacey, Clancy Brown, and Michael Rosenbaum, Nicholas Hoult turns in a fantastic, rage-filled performance as the villainous Luthor. In addition to his loyal staff of LuthorCorp employees, Lex also has fan favorite henchman Otis (Terence Rosemore) and girlfriend Eve Tessmacher (Sara Sampaio) in tow. While Otis is a throw away cameo, Eve has a story arc that I quite enjoyed. 

Another tech impresario, Maxwell Lord (Sean Gunn), is funding his own trio of metahumans to fight crime. “The Justice Gang” is comprised of Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi), Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), and a Green Lantern, Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion). Mr. Terrific gets a…terrific action sequence, Gardner gets a few funny lines, and Hawkgirl gets a whole lotta nothin’. Maybe she’ll have more screentime in the sequel. Over at the Daily Planet, you’ve got cigar chomping editor Perry White (Wendell Pierce), sports reporter Steve Lombard (Beck Bennett), columnist Cat Grant (Mikaela Hoover), young photographer (and ladies’ man) Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo), and intrepid reporter Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan). I cannot imagine any contemporary actress being a better fit for Lane than Brosnahan. Not only does she look the part, she also creates a character I’d like to follow down the road on more adventures. Brosnahan excels at the no-nonsense reporter side of Lois as well as the more vulnerable private side, handling both effortlessly.

Many talented actors have played Clark Kent/Superman. We’ve been blessed with the talents of Kirk Alyn, George Reeves, Chirstopher Reeve, Dean Cain, Tom Welling, George Newbern, Tim Daly, Brandon Routh, Henry Cavill, and Tyler Hoechlin. And now we have David Corenswet, who is wonderful. His Clark Kent is underutilized, but he absolutely shines as Superman. The suit looks fantastic, his aw, shucks, golly gee whiz mannerisms are great, and the movie does a good job in making Superman, a man full of hope, feel different than the other superheroes around him. At one point during a large battle, Supes takes the time to scoop up and save a squirrel. A random squirrel that was in danger. And I thought, that’s what he would do. No other superhero would care about that, and that’s what sets him apart from his contemporaries.

On the Kent farm back in Smallville, we spend some time with Clark’s adoptive parents. Some may describe this version of Ma (Neva Howell) and Pa (Pruitt Taylor Vince) as country bumpkins, but I like the fact that they are so very different from the people their son would meet once he moved to the big city of Metropolis. This is a bright and colorful movie that is somewhat marred by Gunn’s penchant for lowbrow humor, which rears its head in a surprising amount of off-color cursing and some juvenile situations, but thankfully is not present in the characterization of Superman himself. At more than two hours long, you would think the film would take the time to slow down and breathe. It does not. The pace is exhausting, barreling ahead with action sequences at the expense of character development, leaving The Engineer (Maria Gabriela de Faria) and Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan) lacking in impact.

I’ve gone this whole review without mentioning Krypto the Superdog. I’ve spoken to a surprising number of people who were under the impression that this flying doggo was created for the film. Not so! Krypto is from the Silver Age of comic books, and he was a rapscallion back then, too. This whole movie feels like it takes a lot of inspiration from the Silver Age, from tech genius Lex Luthor to the Fortress of Solitude’s robot automatons, to Krypto the Superdog. Krypto is a triumph of cinematic special effects, a completely computer-generated character that feels as real as anything around it. You don’t have to be a dog person to fall in love with the mutt. And while I don’t think you have to be a comic book fan to enjoy Superman, if you are, you can rest assured that this movie does the Man of Steel justice.