James Gunn and crew deliver in a fun, Silver Age Comics influenced start to the new DCU

How do you make a movie that provides any sort of drama for a character who essentially is omnipotent? That’s the struggle that modern comic and movie writers have been contending with for the last 50 plus years for Superman. Through the original 30 or so years of comic books and movie serials, the character was more limited. No one in the 50s was asking for or even thinking about “What would it be like to be a metahuman in today’s world?”. He battled the bad guys, and you really didn’t worry about the fact that he could pick up a battleship.

As comics and their audiences matured, both big two comic companies changed what they wrote about and how they wrote about the reality of being a superhero. Mature subjects sometimes can into play in addition to the BANG! POW! of your average issue of a comic book- love angst, power, inner demons, even drug use was now part of the world of mainstream comic characters. Movies must reach a much wider audience to be successful by almost any metric than comics. It’s a struggle every writer deals with- these are essentially adolescent fantasy characters with very simple wrong versus right mentalities in a world that often sits gray and complicated. Making them realistic to a wide-ranging audience is difficult.

This is a tightrope though that as a writer/director James Gunn has succeeded at a few times before. In Superman he can bring out real pathos and struggle for the Man of Steel, but without making him overly angsty or angry. He ably creates a Lex Luthor who is vile and sinister, the smartest man on the planet- just ask him. Luthor hates Superman from start to finish, as he is a powerful alien to be feared and reviled. he doesn’t belong here among us, and Luthor has never trusted him. Luthor knows in his soul that Superman is up to something and will stop at nothing to not only stop Superman but to destroy him and anyone who stands with him.

So basically, he’s an analog to Stephen Miller in real life.

Nicholas Holt does a fine job as Luthor. He never takes him over the top and into melodrama. He infuses a feeling of real revulsion to Superman. This man really believes Superman is ultimately evil but is also jealous of him. He drips rage because he cannot fathom with all his brilliance as a scientist/businessman why the denizens of Metropolis and the larger world prefer Superman.

David Corenswet is adept as Clark/Superman. He’s goofy, sweet, and naive at times. He also can bring out frustration and even doubt to the character. Superman, like Captain America, is not perfect and not above mistakes. Each sees their imperfections and mistakes as opportunities to grow, and that the ideals they believe in apply to everyone equally. They strive to be a better man every day. Corenswet captures that particularly on his trip back to Smallville. Even the most powerful being on the planet Earth can have their moments of doubt and fear, they need family to help them get back on course. Corenswet and the script show off a love for the common man, an embrace of all and everyone. Superman stands for everyone. He is hope and aspiration personified. He is here to lead by example.

Gunn gets to the heart of Superman- the struggle between ultimate power and the choices we make on who we are and what we stand for. His Superman/Clark Kent believes that he was sent to help humanity and struggles when he finds out that this may not necessarily be the case. The message of “we are a sum of our choices” and never destined to be what parents or mentors or leaders want us to be resonates today more than ever. it provides a soul to the movie that unfortunately the last attempts at Superman on the big screen somewhat missed (and I say that as someone who enjoyed Man of Steel and Henry Caville’s portrayal of Big Blue). He’s corny, dog gone it, but that’s Superman. 

Those other attempts also missed out on having a Krypto the Superdog. There were a few eyebrows raised when the inclusion of this Silver Age character was revealed, but Gunn and team make the CGI dog a central part of the story and use Krypton to show off Clark’s humanity. Krypto helps Superman out from start to finish and they have fun with him. They don’t fear being a little silly with the dog, his actions, and they use him a couple times to pull at your heart strings. It’s a success and just adds the wholesomeness. I don’t think it would or could have worked nearly as well without Krypto. It makes me wonder- will we see Streaky the Supercat in the Supergirl movie?

If the movie has one fault, it IS a bit bloated, and the pace feels relentless. Because it starts not as an origin story with a core cast of say 4-5 people but operating 3 years after Superman reveals himself to the world (and 300 years after the first Metahumans per the opening scrawl), we already have an established group at the Daily Planet, and other established Metahumans that Supes knows and has interacted with. Unfortunately, then some characters like Perry White (Wendell Pierce) and Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced) get little screen time. Others like Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi), and Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) help anchor the movie, get their own time to shine, and provide not just as co-stars but as real pieces to the universe that Gunn is looking to build.

And it’s a BIG universe already. One movie in, and we have Lex, Max Lord and the “Justice Gang”, Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan), Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo, also voiced the character in the awesome Creature Commandos), and a quick appearance by Supergirl (Milly Alcock), the next DCU character to get a movie. And it’s a stable that will grow quickly when the Peacemaker season 2 hits in August. Gunn does a decent job of juggling all the setup that he is doing along with telling a tale. Both suffer a little overall from the inclusion of the other, but not enough to cause real harm to the movie. It’s imperfect but highly fun, heartwarming, and affirming. As many people have noted in reviews and comments, it’s a nice balm for a couple of hours to what we have happening in the real world daily. It’s hopeful. 

Other thoughts- I loved that they incorporated the John Williams theme from the ’79 Superman movie so much into the score of the movie. It’s iconic and beloved and they did it justice as well as leaving room for their own music. Well done. The inclusion of Mister Terrific made very happy. As a huge fan of the character and of the Justice Society comics, it was as cool to see him on screen and with such a comic accurate interpretation of the costume and character as it was to see any second or third string Marvel Character. I hope we see more of the Justice Society, and I am intrigued by the idea that the Golden Age DC characters might have a place in the current DCU. There are so many silly but fun characters from the Golden Age and their “modern” counterparts as well. The richness of its history is one of the things I loved about DC when I started reading their books in 1985.

Overall, it is a great start for the new DCU and a fun summer movie. It’s not perfect, is at times too bloated to be a masterpiece, but it hits all the beats needed and the actors and script are good to great. A good blockbuster fans should see on the big screen, with a bucket of popcorn. It’ll leave you with a smile on your face.

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