James Gunn’s first contribution to the relaunch of the DC Cinematic Universe was last December’s Creature Commandos. I wasn’t thrilled. Now I’ve seen the Gunn-written, Gunn-directed Superman movie and I’m much happier. Fair warning, there will be some movie spoilers below.
Debuting in Weird War Tales #93, the Creature Commandos were three GIs who had been transformed, scientifically, into versions of the Big Three monsters, a werewolf, a vampire and Frankenstein’s creature. They were sent into the European Theater of Operations on dangerous missions, with the military gambling they’d freak Germans out simply by their presence. IIRC, the ugliness of war and the willingness of the high command to treat people as cannon fodder was a constant subtext.
I was puzzled why Gunn would pick them for his first production — they’re far from a name to conjure with — but watching the first episode I understood. In this take, Amanda Waller, having been banned from recruiting regular people, even criminals, for Task Force X, has recruited freaks held in government custody: The G.I. Robot, Dr. Phosphorus and Frankenstein’s Creature, among others. The vibe between them is very much that of the Guardians of the Galaxy, a gang of outcasts making a found family of sorts (the premise also reminded me a lot of Monsters vs. Aliens).
The trouble is, while I enjoyed the Guardians of the Galaxy movies I didn’t feel any need to listen to the same kind of banter for seven episodes. It wasn’t bad banter but I could not get into it. I did wonder whether that was a bad sign for the DCCU going forward.
It turns out no. I was very satisfied with Superman (2025), starring David Corenswet as Superman/Clark and Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) as Lois and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor.
The plot has Luthor steal the message that Superman’s parents sent with him to Earth. The hologram is so fractured Superman’s only been able to hear the beginning, which appears to encourage him to help humanity. Among other attacks on the Man of Might, Luthor cracks and publicizes the complete message: Jor-El and Lara want Superman to rule humanity, break them to his will and impregnate enough Earth women to start the Kryptonian race over again. The world turns on Superman (“He probably has a secret harem already.”) and he finds himself questioning the reason he does everything or anything. Fortunately the Kents (Pruitt Taylor Vince, Neva Howell) are there to remind him his roots and his values come from Kansas more than Krypton, giving him the strength to rise up and renew the fight.
And in case you’re wondering, Gunn has said that the translation is accurate, not a trick by Lex. His parents wanted Kal-El to be Brightburn, but they failed.
The first thing that stands out about Superman is that it isn’t an origin story. Thank god. It was done as well as possible in the Chris Reeve Superman, badly in Man of Steel, and I doubt there’s anyone going to this movie who doesn’t know it. This takes place three years into Superman’s career, he’s already dating Lois, Luthor is his mortal foe.
The big rewrite of the origin — Jor-El and Lara aspiring to conquer Earth through their son — didn’t shock me much. It’s a good character problem for Superman but ever since John Byrne’s 1986 reboot Krypton has been an unpleasant place, either coldly scientific or militaristic. Jor-El and Lara were the exceptions; having them turn out rotten to isn’t that catastrophic.
The cast is good. Corenswet’s excellent as the good-hearted alien (“Maybe that’s the real punk rock.”), Brosnahan makes a somewhat harder edged Lois and Hoult nails Luthor as an arrogant techbro. His motives for destroying Superman are partly profit (I won’t detail the scheme) and partly jealous resentment that people look up at the Man of Might as a greater hero. My only reservation is the Kents, and that’s more Gunn writing the small-town couple as (in the words of Blazing Saddles) “the salt of the Earth — you know, morons.”
Much like the MCU, the movie seeds for the future. Along with Superman Metropolis’ Hall of Justice is home to Green Lantern Guy Gardner (Nathan Filion), Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi, more serious and competent than the Arrowverse version) and Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced — and why not Hawkwoman, I wonder?) as the “Justice Gang.” We later meet Metamorpho in Luthor’s pocket-universe prison. The opening screen crawl says metahumans have been a thing for 300 years. There’s a mural in the Hall of Justice showing that history, though I don’t see anyone who fits being the ur-meta of 300 years ago. This is not a dealbreaker; embracing figures from DCU history such as Super-Chief, Miss Liberty and Max Mercury is a plus. More broadly, there’s no doubt the DCCU is going to be very comic-book going forward rather than the toned-down version we get in Marvel movies.
There are elements borrowed from multiple incarnations of DC’s characters. The Fortress is modeled on the one from the Reeve films (it’s been the definitive comics version since Byrne’s reboot adopted it). The Hall of Justice from Super-Friends. Krypto, the Dog of Steel (TYG’s not a comics fan but she still loved him). A cameo by Supergirl modeled on Tom King’s take in Woman of Tomorrow, flying off to red-sun planets to get drunk.
And the movie emphasizes this is not the Zach Snyder Superman of Man of Steel, the one who engages in city-smashing battles without regard for collateral damage. Here he’s all about minimizing the damage: saving a dog, saving a squirrel, getting between people watching his fights and the flying debris or ray blasts. In one scene he even tries to save a kaiju attacking Metropolis rather than kill it.
More like this please.
“Krypto — fetch the toy.”
Covers top to bottom by Joe Kubert, Curt Swan, Nick Cardy, Swan, Gil Kane and Bilquis Evely.
Pingback: OMG, I didn’t know white men were unemployable in the movie industry because of DEI! | Fraser Sherman's Blog