Are Heroes Making a Comeback?
The reception to Superman may suggest they are
I’ve been mulling this thought for awhile, beginning late last year when the teaser trailer for the new Superman received a rapturous response and then a bit more after the presidential inauguration, which absolutely feels way more than only six months ago. Now that the movie it out, it seemed a good time to say it out loud.
Are we in - or about to enter - an era where our cultural heroes act heroically? And by this, I mean fictional heroes, because…{gestures at literally everyone with a modicum of power and two spare dimes to rub together}…get real. This lot isn’t coming through for anyone.
Are audiences craving stories about actual good guys? Are we sick of assholes who “save the day” by being worse than the enemy? Are we tired of heroes who are downright mean? The online reaction to a character like Superman suggests some of us are. We’re drawn to a portrayal of the Man of Steel wears his heart on his sleeve and his underwear on the outside, as God intended.
Superman is supposed to be the guy who makes sure nobody dies today, even the villain. Especially the villain. He’s the person who can look the world’s worst asshole in the face and 1) assume he has a better nature and 2) appeal to it. Superman is the character that says everyone can help. All of us – no matter how angry or hurt or depressed – have good inside. Each of us can step back from an abyss, change our lives, fix our mistakes, and find redemption. No one – even Lex Luthor – is a lost cause.
Superman treats humanity like two kindergartners who just had a fist fight and now have to shake hands, and that’s exactly right. That’s the Superman who’s showed up in 2025, when we needed him most. I like this Superman.
Not everyone does. There’s a strong troll contingent calling the character “woke” and wimpy. We’re so divided by politics that we can’t read a book or watch a movie without being forced to pick sides, even when it involves a character that used to be a common cultural touchstone. When did Superman – generally considered the blandest of them all – become a subject of disagreement? Can you imagine your parents arguing with the neighbors about whether or not Superman is kind? Or if he should kill people? (For that matter, can you imagine them discussing Superman at all? Ever?) Sad to say that modern writers of film and comics have taken the simple phrase “Superman wouldn’t do that” as a challenge to cry, “Oh, yes, he fucking would.”
James Gunn’s Superman would not do that – whatever that is – and it’s a vast improvement over Super-Anything Goes Man.
I hope there’s more of this to come. I appreciate difficult, complicated characters – I’m personally difficult and I can’t write a happy ending to save my life – but I also want to believe that I have a better angel inside, somewhere, buried under trauma and shit. When the world feels like it’s overrun by assholes, is it too much to ask to spend 2 hours in a darkened theater watching someone modeling basic human decency, super-powered or not?
Superman can’t fix what’s wrong with the real world, but if he can make you forget it for a few hours, he’s done ok in my book.
But is the movie any good? Spoilers ahead:
I liked it. As noted above, this is my Superman. I love the Big Blue Boy Scout. David Corenswet landed the character’s strength, obstinance, naivete, and heart. He and Rachel Brosnahan make a good pair, good-looking but not too perfect. Seriously. Pay attention when either is in profile. Look at the schnozz on that guy! On the whole, all of the actors were well cast. Nicholas Hoult has never given a bad performance. I freaking adore him.
Buuuuuuuut….while the portrayal of Superman is A+, the film itself lands somewhere in the middle of the pack of superhero movies, which need to be judged on their own merits, separate from other films. So, yeah, Superman is in there somewhere. It lacks the relative gravitas of The Dark Knight, the spectacle of The Avengers series, and the sense of wonder of the Christopher Reeves’ Superman. But it avoids the tedious asshole-to-hero character arc that made a lot of the Marvel movies feel so repetitive, and while the film is admittedly goofy, it wears its goofiness as a badge of honor, unlike the unintentionally eye-rolling moments of, say, Green Lantern. And it’s certainly more entertaining that some of the dregs, such as The Eternals or Schumacher Batman sequels.
The major flaw is the superfluity of characters, many of whom add nothing to the story. I get that Gunn and WB wanted to show the “universe” but at times they seemed to forget they were making a movie. The Engineer and Element Man worked in their roles very well. Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, and just about everyone at the Daily Planet took up valuable minutes that added almost nothing to the story.
In several instances, the script had the right scenes but the wrong characters. The Jimmy-Eve connection was amusing, but Lois Lane should never need a junior reporter to feed her that much plot information. The scene where Lois confronts Superman about his choices would have been better served by the Mr. Terrific character, thereby establishing the contrast that sets Superman apart from the other heroes of his story world. Fewer characters in the mix would have streamlined the clutter without weakening the sense that Superman exists in an extended shared universe.
The pacing is wonky as hell. The “catch your breath” moments hit at awkward points, and there’s not enough slow burn to let the big moments pay off. The ending was also pretty stupid, with the big revelation relying on the cop show trope of enlarging photographs to read miniscule background details that provide all the evidence you need to put the bad guy away. Not to mention the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it mass evacuation of Metropolis when Luthor’s final plan goes awry. After 9/11, New Yorkers were trapped in the city for days, but in Superman, some 8 million people can flee Metropolis in an afternoon, while a literal black hole opens up in the bay. I mean, honestly. And yes, people will say "but that's comics!" but it's not 1975 and James Gunn isn't being paid $5 a page to write a 12-page Superman story so he can afford rent.
And finally – and I hate typing this –Krypto was a big let down. I knew this wouldn’t be the comic book Krypto, who understands conversation and has average human intelligence, but I didn’t expect I’d root for Superman to drop his dog off at the Space Pound, either. My breaking point? The opening scene where Krypto dog piles (sorry) a severely injured Superman. I don’t care how super this dog is, or how stupid or poorly trained, dogs don’t do that. Dogs know when another creature – especially a familiar human – is sick or injured. I’ve never met a dog that would pounce on someone like that. I guess it was funny (?) that Krypto was punching Superman in his ruptured spleen, but I found it offputtingly inaccurate.
So, great cast, wonderful heart, some script problems, and despite all that kvetching, I liked it. It was fun and the character Superman is on point. If you like superhero movies, and don’t give a shit about Zach Snyder one way or the other, you’d probably enjoy it. If you aren’t disposed to them, this one won’t change your mind.
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