Up, up, and Away! There's a New Superman in Metropolis

Superman: Rated “PG-13” Runtime 2h 9m

Director: James Gunn

Stars: David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Alan Tudyk, Grace Chan

Director James Gunn has finally produced a superhero movie that I have been waiting years to see. He has developed the “initial” movie in a planned ongoing mythology that bypasses the “mandatory” (re)telling of the hero’s origin and does what I’ve been talking about for quite some time now. In one interview, Gunn said it himself. “We don’t need to go there.” Gunn’s statement acknowledges that—for all intents and purposes—we all know the basic elements of Superman’s origin and his arrival here on Earth.

So, yeah, we don’t need a new telling of the origin story for Superman (who has existed in movies, comics and books and our collective consciousness since he first debuted in Action Comics #1 in 1938. Hence, I believe that it is safe to say that pretty much everyone in the world has even the most basic understanding of who Superman is, and how he got here. Any time spent on rehashing all of these elements would only be a waste of time and bore the audience. We already know who Kal -El is, so let’s (as they say) cut to the chase.

Which is something that Gunn does right from the get-go. The film begins with Superman crash-landing in the arctic. Being rescued by Krypto, who drags him the rest of the way to the Fortress of Solitude (which is apparently now located in Antarctica) where the Superman robots nurse him back to health by exposing him to intense amounts of (yellow) solar energy. To be sure, three weeks prior to his epic beat-down, Superman had stopped an invasion by Boravia of the neighboring nation of Jarhanpur (both of these nations exist in the DC-Comicsverse). It was this incident that precipitated all of the action that follows.

This is followed by the reveal that Lois and Clark/Superman are an item, Clark allowing himself to be interviewed as Superman by Lois; Superman (aided by the “Justice Gang” (actual name still pending) to defeat a monstrous Kaju that is terrorizing Metropolis; Lex (with Ultraman and The Engineer (a character imported from DC publisher Jim Lee’s Image-based Wildstorm Comics that has been integrated into the DC Universe) breaks into the Superman’s Fortress and hacks into his system to learn the true nature of his parents message; then directs Ultraman to give Superman yet another epic beatdown (all with the help of a tech support team).

This leads to Superman being arrested, turned over to the Lex who secured him in a pocket universe where we are introduced to Metamorpho (A long-time favorite DC-comics character of mine). This is all followed by the rest of the film (no spoilers here, go see the film) which is easily one of the best Superman films ever made. We totally love the inclusion of Krypto (seeing him in the first trailer excited us so much it cemented that we were totally going to see this film), as well as the rest of the Justice Gang (the Guy Gardner incarnation of Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, and Mister Terrific (if you are at all unfamiliar with these characters, we highly suggest obtaining and reading Paul Kuperberg’s prose novel JSA Ragnarok).

What this film work so well is that Gunn (as stated) jumps right into the story, Superman has been a public figure for three years, the addition of the Justice Gang, Metamorpho, Krypto and the surprise appearance of…well, you really need to see the film for this one. (yes, it has been revealed elsewhere, but not by us, No Spoilers, remember?) And while some fans expressed outrage over the way Clark reacted to some of Lois’ very probing questions (as shown in the 2^nd trailer) we didn’t have an issue with it, and we’ll share why.

Superman is a true alpha-male Boy Scout. As such, he is absolutely convinced of his noble motives in doing the things he does are righteous. Truly, he’s an honestly good guy, and as a powerful metahuman who understands the mantra “With great power…” feels that he is justified in doing the things he does, the way he does them, so he is completely thrown off balance by the questions Lois lobs in his direction, as clearly no one has ever question him (or his motives) in this fashion.

Needless to say (and what was not shown in the trailer) is that Clark eventually backs down and the couple resolve whatever issues they were having in the moment (proving again, that Superman is in fact a fully-evolved male and understands that opinions that aren’t his—especially from your female partner—are perfectly valid, and should be considered). If this causes you to think that Superman is “woke” and want to dismiss him as weak, that’s on you, as in Action #1 (back in 1938) Superman defended a woman who was being beaten by here husband. Also, if the new catchphrase for Gunn’s Superman is “Truth, justice, and a better tomorrow” (instead of “…the American way.”) you should check out my article Truth, Justice, and a Better Tomorrow: A Superman Story where I talk more in-depth about this and related funnybook issues.

But, back to this Superman movie. This film is honestly fun, exciting, and well worth seeing, even if you aren’t a hard-core funnybook fan. It also convinces me that Gunn has a better handle on the characters, and the source material, so now—for the first time in a very long time—we are honestly looking forward on the cinematic future of the DCU.

Oh yes, there are two (count 'em two) end-credit scenes. One midway through the credits, and a second at the very end (and, yes that’s the one you totally need to stay and see.)