Review: Superman (2025)

It's already unruly.

Ever since Marvel Studios reached the apex mountain of comic book movies with 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, they have been struggling creatively. The streaming shows flopped, the movies feel redundant, and ever since they brought back Robert Downey Jr. and Thunderbolts* turned out to be The New Avengers, it’s clear they would do anything for a do-over.

Luckily, if that’s how you look at it, the DC movies were never that good or culturally important, so when they wanted to start over … they just did! Now, James Gunn, director of the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy and the better Suicide Squad movie — as well as one of the few auteurs allowed to work in the MCU — is the CEO of DC Studios. His first move in the new role? Hire himself to write and direct the new Superman, now in theaters. Wouldn’t you?

Superman is now played by David Corenswet, neither the born-for-this Christopher Reeve nor the hulking Henry Cavill (oh yeah, Brandon Routh made one too), but he’s the kind of Superman that we want. He stands for truth, justice, and peace in the Middle East. For many, Superman’s idealism is their own personal Kryptonite, a phoney-baloney feeling of moral (and physical) superiority. For Corenswet, it’s the world’s greatest superhero’s Midwestern white bread and salted butter. His Superman is so naturally good that he even makes sure he saves all of the squirrels. Unfortunately, his first outing is an atypical introduction written by an unusual pick for the job. Superman’s greatest power is arguably his earnestness — James Gunn shoots spitballs from the back of the class.

Read Patrick’s review over at Hotchka.