Superman Review: How To Launch A Superhero Franchise In 2025

It was nearly two full decades ago that Marvel Studios changed Hollywood with the launch of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and while that franchise continues going strong (with the next installment due out later this month), the landscape of the industry has greatly changed since 2008. There remains an appetite for superhero blockbusters, but the audience has been exhausted by the familiar – with various origin stories experimenting with different genres and visual styles but also sporting similar structures and plots.

So in this evolved landscape, how does one go about properly launching a new superhero universe in 2025? With Superman, writer/director/DC Studios Co-CEO James Gunn has found a brilliant answer: forget about plot, and just focus on story. Gunn is a trainer waiting by a treadmill that is already cranked up to full speed when you get to the gym, knowing that you already know how to run. The movie doesn’t so much build a universe as much as it drops you into one, and the adventure it takes you on is equal parts thrilling, emotional, dramatic, and joyful.

Best of all, while there have been more than a dozen Superman movies before and the films have been a dominant force in modern blockbusters, it nonetheless delivers an experience unlike anything we’ve seen before.

There are no origins in this movie to the point that we join this story as it is already in progress. Superman (David Corenswet) has stirred up controversy by intervening in an international conflict involving a heavily militarized nation invading a neighbor in hopes of annexation, and we meet him moments after he is handed his first ever defeat since dedicating himself to heroism. With help from his delightfully chaotic canine companion Krypto and resources at his Fortress of Solitude, the Man of Steel is able to recover, but the trouble is only beginning for the hero after he flies back to his home in Metropolis.

His budding romance with fellow Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) is on shaky ground, as his superhero activities add unique complications to their relationship – but far more dangerous are the schemes of tech billionaire Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult). In addition to having a hand in the international conflict that has purposefully put Superman in hot water, Lex also has his henchmen The Engineer (María Gabriela de Faría) and the mysterious Ultraman break into the Fortress of Solitude and go on a dirt-digging expedition. What they find and then expose to the whole world completely changes the way that humanity looks at the hero from Krypton, and he must find a way to prove to everyone what he truly stands for.

James Gunn instantly embeds us in the DC Universe with Superman, and it's a perfect way to introduce the world.

It’s not just that Superman doesn’t rehash the well-tread tale of an alien baby crash landing in Smallville, Kansas and being raised by a pair of loving parents who instill proper values; none of the characters are built with the traditional origin structure. Everyone in the audience has at least a vague impression of all of these heroes and villains, so the movie doesn’t waste time explaining who they are, where they come from, or what specifically motivates them. James Gunn skips all of the tired, extra exposition and simply tells the story he wants to tell with a collection of iconic and brilliant personalities, and it soars as he forgoes setup in favor of action.

Our understanding of who these characters are means that there is no heavy lifting in the narrative that sees a specific plan come together and then get executed: Lex Luthor is a wealthy, influential mogul with an outrageous ego who can’t stand the fact that an alien would receive the adulation from the world he feels that he deserves, and his immense resources allow him to execute a nefarious plan to ruin the alien – regardless of the immense cost. As a result of this, Superman is forced to question his own greater purpose, but his deeper understanding of who he is and what he stands for give him the fortitude to fight back. There are no MacGuffins or magic blood; everything emerges organically, and the ease with which it all flows is spectacular.

David Corenswet and Nicholas Hoult prove standouts in a Superman ensemble brimming with excellent performances.

A standout hurdle in successfully pulling off a story like this is the challenge of making sure that audiences recognize the characters from the get-go – which is why reboots like these tend to go the origin story route. Gunn fortunately has assembled a cast that has allowed Superman to effortlessly make that leap. David Corenswet has massive shoes to fill stepping into one of pop culture’s most iconic roles, but his transformation into the Man of Tomorrow is spellbinding in how effortless it is, as he captures the many dimensions of the protagonist: he has country boy charisma that pairs well with a powerful righteousness, but he can also never totally hide the vulnerability that comes with being an outsider and his desire to be accepted.

Nicholas Hoult, meanwhile, gives Lex everything this incarnation of the legendary villain needs, infusing the character with an immortal ego and palpable and unending rage that reads as exceptionally dangerous in combination with his intelligence.

The eternal battle between Supes and Lex takes center stage here, but Gunn’s script doesn’t scrimp when it comes to fleshing out the world, which provides instant depth and vibrancy to the DCU. Given the supervillain’s harnessing of hyper-advanced technologies and messing around in global politics, the movie operates in both supernatural and grounded realms that make effective use of a tremendously talented supporting cast. The former sees Nathan Fillion, Edi Gathegi and Isabella Merced come together as the superhero group dubbed the Justice Gang – Green Lantern, Mr. Terrific and Hawkgirl – and the stars beautifully harness Gunn’s sharp dialogue in their complicated collaboration (they are brought together by a common goal to do good, but their attitudes amusingly clash).

Meanwhile, Gunn also activates the editorial team at the Daily Planet, with Lois Lane recognizing that there is something not quite right at the center of the international conflict that spurred Superman to intervene, with an inside source at LexCorp feeding info to fellow reporter Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo) and editor-in-chief Perry White (Wendell Pierce) backing the effort. Rachel Brosnahan brings Lois to life with a pitch perfect dose of enthusiastic bullishness; Gisondo nails the nerdy lady-killer vibe that this cinematic incarnation of Jimmy Olsen puts front and center; and I’m just tickled reflecting on the quick dose gravitas Pierce delivers as he green lights the publication of an expose while flying above an endangered Metropolis while in a ship piloted by his star reporter in the blockbuster’s exciting third act.

Naturally, there are a handful of scene-stealers woven into the mix as well. Anthony Carrigan is tremendous as the shapeshifting Metamorpho and Sara Sampaio is a trip as the ditzy Eve Teschmacher – but nobody holds a candle to the terror of super dog Krypto, whose hilarious enthusiasm is balanced by epically destructive tendencies.

Superman has an immense scope that is consistently delivering exciting action.

The successful ensemble casting of the movie is hardly a surprise given that has been a demonstrated talent of James Gunn’s since the early years of his directing career as an edgy indie filmmaker, but his visual style has continued to evolve as well, and Superman offers great opportunity for him to further flex his spectacle skills. The movie doesn’t feature what I would call a signature sequence that stands above everything else, but there is no shortage of scope, wonder and excitement, as the story explores the spellbinding grandeur of the Fortress of Solitude, a kaiju battle in the middle of Metropolis, the horrors of a pocket dimension constructed by Lex to be used as a super prison, and the simultaneous bedlam of war and a world-splitting fissure in reality.

There is a lot riding on this film on a big picture level, as it’s positioned as a table-setter for a burgeoning franchise and an introduction to James Gunn’s larger vision as a studio executive. It performs that function terrifically, as I am instantly excited for everything that will follow – but independent of all that, it’s simply an awesome movie. Superman brings eye-popping marvels in coordination with impressive depth and shockingly relevant themes, and it does so in ways we’ve never seen from superhero blockbusters before.