Spoilers Superman (2025) Grade and Discussion

[the G-man]

I think from the point of view of the Kryptonians, their planet was a Utopia. In the comics, we did have Byrne's cold scientist approach to Krypton--which might have been Gunn's intended vision of Krypton in this movie. Both the movie and Byrne's stories approach Superman's goodness as coming from his human upbringing rather than any connection to Krypton.

Byrne's whole "Krypton was no utopia" and "Superman may be from another planet but his upbringing on earth and specifically America made him who he is" seemed to be exactly what Gunn was going for here (which, again, makes the whole "Superwoke" complaint baffling)

 

[Moviefan2k4]

As I understand it, the whole kurfluffle started when Variety, misquoted/took out of context Gunn’s fairly tame comments and the right wing twitterverse swallowed the tabloid bait whole and so on and so forth.

Yeah my roommate pretty much swallowed Fox's take on the matter right away, which is odd since he's a pessimist about the world in general.

 

[JoeZhang]

Byrne's whole "Krypton was no utopia" and "Superman may be from another planet but his upbringing on earth and specifically America made him who he is" seemed to be exactly what Gunn was going for here (which, again, makes the whole "Superwoke" complaint baffling)

Bryne adds a specific beat I don't think I have seen elsewhere - Superman is born on Earth to make him specifically American via birthright citizenship. This point pops up again in A2001 where future Clark Kent can become president because of this fact.

Later versions return to him being actually born on Krypton.

 

[TRON JA307020]

Byrne's whole "Krypton was no utopia" and "Superman may be from another planet but his upbringing on earth and specifically America made him who he is" seemed to be exactly what Gunn was going for here (which, again, makes the whole "Superwoke" complaint baffling)

Actually the people who say it's woke haven't seen it. They are going off of one comment Gunn said. They've tried to make it political. As a matter of fact a lot of reviews it isn't woke at all. It seems Gunn decided to just make a fun movie with no messaging or preaching. I haven't seen it but that's what I'm getting from the reviews I've read or listened to on youtube.

 

[the G-man]

Actually the people who say it's woke haven't seen it. They are going off of one comment Gunn said. They've tried to make it political. As a matter of fact a lot of reviews it isn't woke at all. It seems Gunn decided to just make a fun movie with no messaging or preaching. I haven't seen it but that's what I'm getting from the reviews I've read or listened to on youtube.

I've seen it and found it be extremely apolitical. I've seen a few reviews that still maintain it's "woke" but I think those are by people who just wanted the clicks

 

[TRON JA307020]

I've seen it and found it be extremely apolitical. I've seen a few reviews that still maintain it's "woke" but I think those are by people who just wanted the clicks

Yeah. Warner Bros were not going to take a chance on losing money going a route where it became politically preachy. After all kids see these movies to. When I was a kid when I went to see a action movie like Die Hard, adventure movies like Indiana Jones, superhero movies like Batman I didn't care about messaging alI wanted to see a fun adventure movie, eat a giant tub of popcorn with a jumbo pop. That was it. I think that's the feel they wanted with this movie. Just a fun adventure that doesn't take itself so seriously with teaching moments or political viewpoints.

To me movies are supposed to be a comfortable escape from reality. After all we have to live most of our lives listening to people preaching their opinions on tv, at work, family or friends. Movies can be a great way to escape that.

 

[Dick Whitman]

James Gunn discusses the music in an episode of a podcast I regularly listen. https://audioboom.com/posts/8748134-james-gunn-on-the-music-of-superman

 

[TRON JA307020]

James Gunn discusses the music in an episode of a podcast I regularly listen. https://audioboom.com/posts/8748134-james-gunn-on-the-music-of-superman

The music relys heavily on the Williams scores from the reeves versions right?

 

[fireproof78]

Yeah my roommate pretty much swallowed Fox's take on the matter right away, which is odd since he's a pessimist about the world in general.

I just roll my eyes. Even the conservative radio show I occasionally listen to both hosts had no issues with the film.

Not everything is about politics.

 

[TRON JA307020]

I just roll my eyes. Even the conservative radio show I occasionally listen to both hosts had no issues with the film.

Not everything is about politics.

Yup. There's a conservative leaning youtube channel about sci fi tv and movies I watch sometimes and the host said the movie is not woke or political. These rumors are just from people that haven't seen it and feel they need to make a huge stink because they think everything is "woke". I want go tell these people to just go see the movie and have a good time and quit causing trouble.

 

[Mudd]

On second viewing I noticed how adroitly the score evoked the dangers and weirdness of the pocket universe. The portals have their own scary theme.

I like the Justice Gang's, too.

 

[Mudd]

I just roll my eyes. Even the conservative radio show I occasionally listen to both hosts had no issues with the film.

Not everything is about politics.

Unless you're Ben Shapiro and scrambling for scraps in an overloaded conservative social media environment.

 

[the G-man]

Unless the Architect made some kind of error putting the message. I wouldn't object to the message turning out to be corrupted somehow, but for all intents and purposes everyone in the movie believes the message to be real. Clark didn't need to rely on a translation to understand the message, and Mr. Terrific did not doubt its legitimacy.

Based on the Supergirl cameo, if the message were true then that would mean that it is a truth that Kara has been hiding. It will be interesting to see if we learn more when her film comes out.

The whole "Kryptonians are basically viltrumites" thing was probably my least favorite part of the movie, along with Metamorpho's personality but neither was a big enough problem to damper my enjoyment of the movie

 

[Dick Whitman]

James Gunn discusses the music in an episode of a podcast I regularly listen. https://audioboom.com/posts/8748134-james-gunn-on-the-music-of-superman

The host reveals at end of episode that she also conducted separate interviews with the two composers for future episode(s). I am of particular interest in those. Lists of speculation elsewhere on the reason for two composers. It’s been noticed that the new themes are reoccurring in each of their own credited tracks on the album. Like they each focused on speedster characters or theme. Of course looking forward to detailed discussion on approach to use of Williams theme.

On first view/listen did not think much of the score. In fact surprised during end credits a very long list of individual musicians in the orchestra.

 

[Mudd]

I liked that the Williams theme was used most often throughout as a motif for Clark, rather than as the movie's main theme.

Then, of course, there's Clark's wonderful "diegetic" theme:

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[Nerys Myk]

One thing I didn’t get is how Superman knew it was Luthor that broke into his fortress. Luthor said they have not met until then.

Why would he have to meet Luthor first?

 

[valkyrie013]

Why did Supes go to Lex for the dog? Because Lex was on the TV Show , Showing the restored clip on the show. 2 +2 =4.

Was an article saying Rocket Racoon would return as Jor_El in a future movie. Maybe clear up why he sent him, or might be the "Zod" of this particular universe. Who knows.

Both sides have a "Outrage" Squad of people that if there is even a sniff of something they can benefit off of, they yell from the rafters. People need to start suing these people for defamation..

 

[Noname Given]

We did, in Man of Steel. But nobody showed up.

It made $670 million worldwide; and no I'm not bringing this up because it's my favorite Superman film, it's not - by a long shot. Until this one, my favorite was still Superman II, but yeah Gunn's Superman has surplanted it for me.

Both Supes and Lex were very well done and I actually liked Mr. Terriffic in this one; and he's a DC character I never really cared for until this version of him.

And (unfortunately) while James Gun's Superman did well domestically; currently it's not doing that well in foreign markets, so it may not even make what MoS did overall 12 years ago, (Which would probably be bad in WB's eyes).

Hell with its $874 million worldwide gross, to this day WB execs still feel Batman v. Superman underperformed.

 

[BillJ]

And (unfortunately) while James Gun's Superman did well domestically; currently it's not doing that well in foreign markets, so iot may not even make what MoS did overall 12 years ago, (Which would probably be bad in WB's eyes).

Hell with its $874 million worldwide gross, to this day WB execs still feel Batman v. Superman underperformed.

This is the third restart of the Superman franchise in a little over 20 years on the big screen. WB doesn’t really have a choice but to stay the course or get out of superhero movies.

 

[Mudd]

Major plot twist in Supergirl: Kara discovers that Argo City was never destroyed - she'd gotten to be so unbearable at home that her parents couldn't even, so they B-Arked her...and her little dog, too.