Superman (2025) (2025)

 

James Gunn’s Superman lands as a bright, hopeful reboot that mostly charms but never quite finds its center. Released widely on July 11, 2025, the film reintroduces the Man of Steel for a new DC era while clearly staking a claim for the larger DCU. The director is James Gunn, and the leads are David Corenswet as Clark Kent and Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, with Nicholas Hoult playing Lex Luthor.

On the acting front, well huh honestly, the movie largely succeeds. David Corenswet gives a surprisingly grounded Clark Kent, earnest and awkward in ways that feel true to the comics and refreshingly human next to the cape. Rachel Brosnahan’s Lois is smart, curious, and the film’s emotional anchor. Their chemistry is the clearest source of warmth and helps the movie land its quieter moments. Critics and audiences have similarly pointed to the performances as one of the film’s strengths.

But on the other side, where the film struggles is the weight of world building. Gunn clearly wants to kickstart a full DCU, and that impulse shows up as cameos, name checks, and subplots that compete for attention with Clark’s personal story. The movie moves quickly, and some set pieces thrill, but the narrative often feels overstuffed. If you came hoping for a focused Superman origin in the style of Christopher Reeve’s humane take or the grittier Man of Steel, you may find that this new Superman leans more toward franchise scaffolding than a single, self contained story. Visually the movie delivers. Early rescue sequences and a handful of intimate frames. Clark hovering in sunlight, small newsroom beats with Jimmy Olsen and Lois, captures sincerity and scale in a satisfying way. The action set pieces are polished, though the final act leans into digital spectacle until the geography and emotional stakes blur. 

And yes, Krypto the superdog is a real scene stealer, a genuinely funny and humane addition that director Gunn says was inspired by his own rescue dog.

Audience response and the numbers back up the mixed but generally positive reception. Websites sits in the low eighties for critics with strong audience approval, and the film grossed north of six hundred million worldwide, proving that the new Superman has box office legs even if it is imperfect. If you search for Superman 2025 review, James Gunn Superman review, or Superman Legacy cast and reactions, you will see those same patterns reflected across reviews and box office reports. 

Verdict: a 3 out of 5. James Gunn’s Superman is likable, frequently touching, and sometimes thrilling. It contains the bones of a great, more intimate Superman movie, but too often it gets pulled into franchise construction. For readers who loved Man of Steel or want to revisit Superman movies in order, this new Superman movie is worth seeing for the performances and a hopeful tone, even if it is not the definitive Man of Superman cinema. 

James Gunn’s Superman isn’t a bad movie. It’s a confused one. A bright, hopeful reboot weighed down by the very cinematic universe it’s trying to ignite. It so desperately wants to be the light that saves the DCU that it forgets to just be a movie. What we got instead was a film that’s brisk, likable, and strangely hollow, a hero running faster than his own shadow.

David Corenswet looks every bit the Superman the comics promised, clean-cut, genuine, and just earnest enough to make you forget about the cape for a second. His Clark Kent feels like an actual reporter: slightly awkward, often uncertain, but quietly noble. Rachel Brosnahan, as Lois, crackles with newsroom wit and real human curiosity. Their chemistry is the film’s best defense against its own narrative chaos. And yes, Krypto’s presence adds just enough warmth to remind you that Gunn still knows how to make you care about oddball sidekicks.

The movie tries way too hard to cram in too many characters, storylines, and universe setup all at once. Within thirty minutes, we’re juggling alien skirmishes, political crises, Justice League cameos, and a half-dozen name-drops. Gunn wants to create a living, breathing DC universe, but I don’t think he was able to achieve that. 

The geopolitical subplot should’ve given the story weight. Instead, it deflates it. Superman debates the meaning of power and hope, but the movie seems afraid to pick a side. What’s left feels like a presentation on heroism with beautiful cinematography.

Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor is another near-miss. He’s neither chilling nor charming, just oddly calibrated. You sense the film wants him to be unforgettable, but he mostly comes off as a villain.

Visually, Superman has moments of awe. The early rescue sequences, bridges, trains, and a brief shot of Clark hovering in the sunlight capture a sincerity that blockbuster cinema has almost forgotten. But as the action scales up, the emotion shrinks. By the finale, the usual digital storm takes over: glass, lightning, noise. The geography is lost, and with it, any sense of wonder.

There’s a genuinely good movie buried inside this one, quieter, smaller, more humane. It peeks through whenever Clark, Lois, and Jimmy share a frame. But just as it surfaces, another subplot barges in, waving a franchise flag.

Critics have been kinder than I am; Rotten Tomatoes has it floating above 80%, and audiences seem content. And I get it. It’s fun. It’s fine. But Superman should be more than fine. Gunn’s film feels like a rough draft of sincerity, a bright smile, a heavy head, and a heart that deserved more breathing room.

I’d give this a 3 on 5. It was a hopeful mess, charming in pieces, forgettable as a whole. The man of steel deserves a movie with more soul than scaffolding.