DC Superheroes in Cinema and Streaming (2025 and Onward)

This is good.

For perpetuity, I'm very excited about James Gunn's universe.  I like that there's going to be consistency across all media, and I like that there's a singular plan.

My only issue is that we're, again, going to have a younger Superman with an older Batman (presumably).  But I also think it would be a cool idea to have Batman show up in Superman (2025) as a newbie, have a bunch of movies where Batman isn't around (but maybe is referenced) and the next time he shows up, he's already created the Bat-family.

I wonder if they try to find someone like Tom Holland who looks like a teenager even though he's *ALMOST 30* and then age up Damian to 16?

Otherwise, I assume they allow him to age normally.  But even then I think he's gotta be older than 10 or we're in a Walt from LOST situation.  A reference I assume you don't get

I have to agree. I'm looking forward to this iteration of Superman as well. Based on the trailer, I'm also super excited for the movie.

There is an auction place on eBay called Homes for Our Troops that was auctioning off a few tickets for charity to things like celebrity Zoom calls, events, etc. One of those events would have been the James Gunn Superman Premiere, with a chance to meet and hang out with the cast and crew of the movie. For around $1200.00 at the end of the auction. I was heavily...heavily debating getting myself those tickets. But I ended up not doing it...I don't know at this point if the James Gunn version is going to be a flop or a top version. I am really hoping it will be one of the better versions.

And hopefully, it will be a great one.

Cavill's Superman is deeply flawed and I don't think they could salvage it.  And if they wanted to say "this is a different Superman that just looks like Henry Cavill" they could have, but Cavill is also 41.  I assume he'll age pretty great, but he doesn't look like he's in his 20s anymore, and Superman isn't really supposed to age much at all.  Corenswet should look right for the next 10-15 years.

I do wonder about Gunn's style, but I think he's capable of doing the stuff that would work for Superman.  There are parts of the Guardians movies that feel right, and I think the Guardians Holiday Special shows he doesn't have to be fully cynical.

And I think Superman just hasn't been done right.  Gunn is taking inspiration from a couple of great Superman comics, and if he can pull it off, it could revitalize Superman again.

Yeah not only that but the character is broken.  Superman has no connection to humanity outside of Lois Lane.  It was the entire plan for Superman in the Snyderverse - Lois gets killed and Superman goes evil.  He has no friends, and he doesn't seem particularly interested in being a superhero or saving people.  I don't understand why he does it.

Again, I know you could just say Cavill is playing a different version of Superman, but you'd need him to play a Superman in is 30s.  I don't think he could realistically play a young Superman.  And so a Cavill Superman either decided to be Superman as an adult, or he's well into his career.  And that's clearly not the story they wanted to tell.

I assume Cavill will have a role in the new DCU.  I think he'd be a pretty good adult Shazam, and it might be fun to have him play a different spin on what's essentially Superman.

I already bought my ticket to see SUPERMAN on Thursday night when it comes out.

That said... it feels a bit like a non-event in that Superman feels like he's been pretty present, whether in MAN OF STEEL or BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE (actual title) or JUSTICE LEAGUE or SUPERGIRL or SUPERMAN AND LOIS.

With SUPERMAN AND LOIS, I feel like I spent 2021 - 2024 watching a long-form Superman film in four parts, so this new film isn't the novelty it might have been without the CW show.

Still, if a Superman movie succeeds, superheroes succeed, so I hope it goes well.

I'm glad it went well!

There's a scene in Season 1 of SUPERMAN AND LOIS where Superman's equally powerful half-brother, Tal-Rho, tells Superman that humans have destroyed our ecosystem and rigged our society to fail and Superman should have taken over our planet and gotten us in line years ago as our ruler and king. Tal-Rho says he intends to do what Superman should have done already.

I was, uh, really struggling to think of any counterargument. Tal-Rho yells, "Make a choice! Us or them!"

Superman quietly replies: "There is no us or them."

I... really needed that. I guess I still do and that's why I'm seeing it tomorrow even though it's a work night.

Somehow, despite deliberately choosing Thursday tickets, the cineplex app assigned me a Friday screening and I did not see the early preview of SUPERMAN. Rao forgive me. May Temporal Flux have mercy on my soul.

So I saw Superman.

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I liked it.  I didn't love it like I was hoping I would.  But it had a lot of the things that I would want in a Superhero movie, and I think it's a nice, solid foundation for a new DCU.

Things I liked:
- I liked this version of Superman.  I like my Superman to be innocent, and I loved that Clark kept saying things like "gosh" and golly" when he was fighting.  I liked that he saved the squirrel.  I like that he was upset when the Justice Gang killed that kaiju monster.  I like a Superman that feels like he has an obligation to save every human life, and I appreciated a Superman that considers himself to be human first.  I know, somewhere, Informant would've liked that too.  Although I have no idea where he or his head is anymore.
- I liked this version of Lex Luthor.  Gunn has said that he really likes the Rosenbaum Lex, and I think you can tell that.  What's funny is that Nicholas Hoult doesn't *seem* imposing, but he's basically the same size as Corenswet.  Maybe not as "big" but almost as tall.  I like that Lex admitted that he was envious, and that it's what is driving him.  I liked that Lex was basically Ultraman, and when Ultraman was beating up Superman, it was really Lex doing it.
- I worried that the movie would be too full.  Superman and Lex and Lois and Green Lantern and Hawkgirl and Mr Terrific and Metamorpho and Ultraman and the Engineer and this Hammer of Baravia.  A lot of characters.  But they made it work.  The movie didn't seem too bloated, and it still felt very much like a Superman movie.  I liked all the supporting characters from Guy Gardner to Jimmy.
- I liked Lois Lane.  In Nando v Movies' spoiler-free review, he remarked that Lois usually gets the short end of the stick in movies like this, but I really liked her portrayal.  She's confident in her journalism, but she's vulnerable everywhere else.  She feels like a well-rounded character.
- Everything with the Kents and young Clark and being a parent and being a son got to me as a parent.  I almost teared up a handful of times.

Things I didn't like / were confused by
- The plot seemed like a bit too much.  I think you could've simplified some of the plotlines and it would've maybe been a cleaner movie.  I didn't love the inclusion of a Superman clone in the first movie, and I think I might've preferred a movie where the Engineer is Lex's only muscle.  She seemed to give him all he could handle, and it wouldn't just be a punching contest.
- I don't understand how Superman survived the nanobot attack.  What did he do?
- Why was this called Superman: Legacy, originally?  Someone pointed out years ago that a lot of characters in this aren't the original version of themselves.  It's the second Green Lantern.  It's the second Engineer.  Hawkgirl is the second hawk person.  I thought the movie would delve into the idea of following in someone's footsteps.  Obviously, Clark's story is about how he was supposed to represent the legacy of Krypton but is choosing to follow the legacy of the Kents.  But I don't know if that's clear enough that it would be the title of the movie, and I feel like it's a bit of a stretch.
- We gave Man of Steel a lot of issues for destroying Metropolis and leading to so much death.  I'm not sure there was a whole lot less death in this.  I know they were evacuating Metropolis, but how many entire skyscrapers were destroyed?  We know there were people in some of them - probably most of them.  I think getting rid of the pocket dimension storyline and removing the black hole threat would eliminate that issue.  I just don't love Metropolis being destroyed with no consequences, and I don't know why they keep doing it.
- Along the same lines, are we going to have another Superman that people don't necessarily love?  I think the movie tried to sweep the whole "he's here to rule us" under the rug, but I think a lot of people wouldn't forgive him.  I think he'd win some people back by turning the tables on Luthor, but I think the movie needed to end with a big interview from Superman where he promises to win people back or something.

And then there's Krypto.  I think he was a good addition, and I liked how they worked together.  But was there way too much Krypto?  I think maybe.