Superman (2025)

There are a lot of things to like about Superman, but my high expectations left me feeling underwhelmed.

I have the advantage of being familiar with some of what the movie is drawing from. I inferred the Ultraman twist off the name (Crisis on Two Earths) and I’m familiar with Metamorpho from Young Justice and the DCAU, but the decision to blitz past establishing the setting and characters deadened a lot of the potential emotional impact or investment.

This movie’s Lex Luthor is a very specific version of the character that is different from the ones I’m familiar with. My familiarity with the character comes through the DCAU and Young Justice. Superman (2025) presents an interesting take on the character — but it’s kneecapped by the fact that Luthor has to spend a considerable chunk of his screen time angrily shouting his motivations. Since this movie doesn’t have any prerequisite material (maybe I was supposed to watch Peacemaker first?), for the movie’s premise and plot to work, the movie has to establish a large number of characters and relationships within a short runtime. Luthor isn’t the only character impacted, but it felt the most egregious for me: what should be a fresh and compelling take on the character is undermined by the fact that Luthor speed-runs his entire relationship with Superman over the course of a single movie. While his outbursts feel in character — and I appreciate how much this man is genuinely seething at the thought of Superman — I think a lot more of Luthor’s “direct” motivations could have been left implied. Luthor telling Superman he orchestrated the Boravian conflict says a lot on its own. It could have been a single statement that portrayed a lot about the character, but the audience’s understanding was deemed too important to risk subtlety.

There are plenty of small details to like — the movie isn’t entirely unsubtle. Metropolis is completely desensitized to world ending threats; Mr. Terrific has an established history with LuthorCorp; Superman saves everyone and everything; The Green Lantern Corps and the Guardians are directly mentioned; Rex/Metamorpho is just an accepted part of the world; Peacemaker shows up in the background; etcetera. It is really cool to point at the screen and go “I recognize that thing” — but it also means that the way Luthor exposits information is jarring in comparison to everything else. Its a superhero world that feels full of super heroes, but worldbuilding can’t replace characters developing relationships on screen.

In fact, it’s because of what the story goes out of its way to establish that Metropolis’ crowd’s 180 on Superman seems odd. The entire crowd Superman just saved turns on him immediately when Jor-El’s message is revealed — but this is a Superman who has been saving and serving the city for three years. The movie goes out of its way to establish that Metropolis faces city-destroying threats constantly through the average citizen being undaunted by danger. A sense of betrayal makes sense, but the instant full turn (to the point of attempted physical violence against the invulnerable man) feels strange given both what we know at that moment in the movie, and especially after things like the inter-dimensional imp which happen after. Perhaps the citizens of Metropolis are, as a whole, ungrateful for Superman because they are so used to his presence and protection — but it is difficult to rectify that thought with the visible mortal danger that either threatens to or does destroy the city throughout the movie.

Superman is a perfectly enjoyable superhero movie, but it feels like the fifth movie in a universe that doesn’t exist. It’s action figures being smashed together, lightly sprinkled with compelling character moments. The movie wanted to be a grand culmination of Superman and Luthor’s conflict — unfortunately, in and out of universe, this is their first confrontation.