SPOILERS ALERT!!!

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

So, I’ve seen the latest ‘Superman’ movie written and directed by James Gunn at the cinema. This happens to be the first film of the new ‘DC Universe’ after the ‘DC Extended Universe’ series concluded with ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’ in 2023. 😐

Over the years, I’ve seen many versions of Superman in TV and film. This includes the Christopher Reeve films, ‘Superman Returns’ with Brandon Routh, the ‘DCEU’ films with Henry Cavill, ‘Superman & Lois’ with Tyler Hoechlin, and ‘Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman’ with Dean Cain.

Out of the many versions of Superman I’ve seen, I prefer the Christopher Reeve films and ‘Lois & Clark’, which I’m currently revisiting and enjoying on DVD. They stand out for me in terms of defining who Superman is as a superhero character fighting to save humanity.

So, when it was announced that a new ‘Superman’ film would be made, I was fascinated but I can’t say I was overly excited about it. Mainly because I didn’t know what to expect with this new version of Superman and I wondered whether he would please me or not. 😐

But I was willing to be open-minded and I hoped I would enjoy the film, regardless of any shortcomings. After seeing the film at the cinema, well…I can’t help but feel rather disappointed by it. Yeah, sorry to say this, but the 2025 ‘Superman’ film didn’t do it for me. 😦

There were things I liked about the film, but then there were things I didn’t like about it. Mainly, what it comes down to is the approach of defining Superman as a character and how he fits in with human society. The presentation of it was rather off-putting for me here.

It’s not helped by the fact that this film doesn’t really feature the beginnings of Superman. It’s more a middle chapter, as the film establishes that Superman has been with us for a long time. It expects us to know who Superman is without prior information beforehand. 😐

Now this isn’t a bad thing, as we don’t really need another origins story for Superman. That’s been done plenty of times. But I think it would have been better if we started off with Clark Kent about to work at the Daily Planet and we get told about his Krypton origins later.

‘Lois & Clark’ as a TV series did it fine with not starting off on the planet Krypton and we gradually got to know where Clark Kent came from in due course. Also, like ‘The Batman’, we don’t really get to know Clark Kent as a person. The film mostly focuses on him as Superman.

There’s also the humour to consider in this film, as I found it quite mean-spirited at times. Then again, this is from James Gunn who directed the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ movies in the ‘Marvel Cinematic Universe’ as well as directed his ‘Suicide Squad’ film in 2021.

A thing that gets me is that Superman is rather bad-tempered in this film. Don’t get me wrong, David Corenswet is a fine actor, but I felt he was too emotional at times, which isn’t in keeping with how I see Superman in maintaining a polite, graceful and dignified approach to life.

It’s also established that Lois Lane, played by Rachel Brosnahan, knows Clark Kent is Superman already and they’re currently having a relationship. Not a bad thing, but I didn’t feel for their romance compared to what’s in the Christopher Reeve films and ‘Lois & Clark’.

Another thing that annoys me is the fact that Superman’s Kryptonian parents sent Clark to Earth not because to help people, but to rule the Earth and obtain many wives. 😮 Now I thought this would be corrected in the film and it’d end up being a fiction by Lex Luthor. 😐

But it wasn’t corrected and it seems that was what Superman’s Kryptonian parents wanted him to do. It didn’t sit well for me. And I get why this was done, as it was to establish that Clark’s human parents Jonathan and Martha Kent were the ones to bring him up as a good person.

Whilst I appreciate that angle in the storytelling, I feel that it should’ve been both sets of parents of Superman’s that made him the good person he is. Not one set of parents being good and the other being not so good. It isn’t what I was brought up on with Superman. 😦

I will say this, I was glad to see both Clark’s human parents alive in the film with Pruitt Taylor Vince as Jonathan and Neva Howell as Martha. It matches to what’s in the ‘Lois & Clark’ series, as we don’t need another Batman‘s parents killed or Spider-Man‘s Uncle Ben killed here.

Nicholas Hoult plays Lex Luthor in the film. I found him a very good Lex Luthor, but there are things I question about him as Superman’s arch-nemesis, including the fact that he can control pocket dimensions. How is he able to do that? That part never gets explained!

Another thing that annoys me about this ‘Superman’ film is the introduction of Krypto, Superman’s dog friend. Now I was hoping for Krypto is to be a very good ‘super dog’ for Superman in the film, as it seemed to be implied that way for me when seeing the trailers.

But Krypto ended up being very annoying and ‘not-so-good-good-boy’, especially when he was being vicious and violent interacting with Superman, his friends and his foes. It’s not a very good introduction to Krypto and I would’ve preferred him being a lot nicer than that.

There’s also the introduction of the Justice Gang, including Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner/Green Lantern, Edi Gathegi as Michael Holt/Mister Terrific, Isabella Merced as Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl and Anthony Carrigan as Rex Mason/Metamorpho. Honestly, I feel these characters should have stayed out of this movie. 😐

I appreciate this film is setting up more films in the ‘DCU’ film series, but they do overshadow Superman at times. It makes it less a Superman film because of that. It would have been better if it was just Supergirl, played by Milly Alcock, appearing at the film’s end and have the Justice Gang left out.

The film also features Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen, Sara Sampaio as Eve Teschmacher (who ends up being Jimmy’s secret girlfriend in the film whilst dating Lex Luthor 😀 ), Wendell Pierce (who was in ‘Thunderbolts*’ recently) as Perry White, Beck Bennett as Steve Lombard and Mikaela Hooever as Cat Grant.

Terence Rosemore plays Otis, a character you might recall seeing with Lex Luthor in the first two ‘Superman’ films with Christopher Reeve. John Cena, who’s been in ‘The Suicide Squad’ 2021 film and the ‘Peacemaker’ series, makes a cameo as Christopher Smith/Peacemaker in the film.

Apparently, Bradley Cooper plays Jor-El, Superman’s Kryptonian father in the film whilst Angela Sarafyan plays Lara Lor-Van, Superman’s Kryptonian mother. There are Superman robots that work at the Fortress of Solitude. Why does Superman need robots in the film? 😮

Three of the robots are voiced by Alan Tudyk, Michael Rooker and Pom Klementieff. Alan Tudyk has done voice roles for films, including ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’, and Michaek Rooker and Pom Klementieff have been in the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ films. 🙂 There’s also Sean Gunn, who’s been in the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ films, as Maxwell Lord, a villain who’s been in ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ though he’s not the same character here.

So, yeah. The 2025 ‘Superman’ film wasn’t very satisfying for me. It was an enjoyable experience and I’m glad I’ve seen the film at the cinema. But in terms of this being a very good ‘Superman’ film, I wouldn’t be that generous, since it didn’t tick all the boxes for me.

I’m sure there are many people who praise the film highly. If you found the 2025 ‘Superman’ film very satisfying, I’m happy for you. But I don’t think I’ll be seeing the film again anytime soon and I prefer to stick with the Christopher Reeve films and ‘Lois & Clark’.

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂