What's a true superman vibe exactly?
Film Superman (2025)
- Thread starter Salt Bailly
- Start date
With all the repetitive superhero tat that keeps getting made this comes as no surprise.
I thought the first Cristopher Reeve film was ok. Since then all SM films have been rubbish.
Tbf the vibe of this was a lot closer to Man of Steel than I expected (just without the god awful desaturation, and with a superdog). Was also hoping for a more retro-futurist design, though the 50s style robot was cool.
An aura of invincibility and a huge physical presence. Also, a bit of mystery. I didn’t really get any of those from the trailer. It looks like a standard James Gunn fare.
Great, I love Travel Man. Wonder who his guest is in metropolis?
He's had stories where hes lost his powers and hes still Superman. He's also revealed his identity before so that takes away from the mystery.
Superman is more a story of an alien, who through being raised by good humans is able to represent the best of humanity with his actions. He inspires hope due to his combination of humanity, morality and the powers he has that allow him to survive where others might be a martyr.
This is what the Reeve movie portrayals had that the recent DC movies did not. The uplifting message of hope.
Its about his character as a person, beyond his powers. Not just his powers. Because if you just look at his powers and the action thats where it does become boring. If you take away elements of his personality and make him an edgy destroyer like some previous movies you lose who he is as a person and you infringe onto other characters who are already like that such as Black Adam.
His villains are also good at bringing out different aspects of his personality. Unfortunately we tend to get the same ones or some of the more boring ones in most movies. Zod at least highlights how his found family has nurtured him and that he isnt the same just because hes Kryptonian. Lex at least shows his humanity, despite not being the human of the two. Doomsday is a bit boring because it focuses on matching physicality and powers, but it does show what he's willing to do to protect his new planet.
Superman Vs. The Elite is one of my favourite stories and the animated movie version is really good. It shows why its important for him to be who he is and do things the way he does them, despite some people (and fans) wanting him to be more vigilante "justice" and doing what the criminals would do to him, back at them.
Having seen some other people's theories now, they speculate on some characters I have mentioned and something different about the green and purple thing in the sky so I wouldnt worry too much. Theres a good chance I didnt identify a character for the final fight and got some of the other parts wrong
My theory on the story. I’m not going to spoil this as it’s all purely speculative (anything that involves something potentially spoiler-y, things from set pics etc, I’ll blur out).
- Guy Gardner, Mr Fantastic & Hawkgirl all work for a ‘conglomerate’ let’s say Stagg Industries, and works with Maxwell Lord (hence the uniforms)
- They’ve effectively sold their souls to become corporate assets. They are directed where to act, similar to Vought in The Boys
- They constantly try to both recruit Superman and belittle him because he’s trying to save EVERYONE, whereas they are ‘Metroplis First’ (or whatever)
- Superman saves the boy from the trailer whilst the Kaiju attacks Metropolis with only the corporate heroes to defend Metropolis. Superman is either late or unwilling to kill it, resulting in the mass damage
- It turns out both Stagg and Lord work under Luthor who is doing this deliberately, trying to turn the people against Superman. He’s got, essentially, a super hero army. Perhaps in saving the child with the flag Superman stops a coup or change or regime etc, that would have netted LuthorCorp a massive payout or contract.
- Superman firstly ‘turns’ Mr Terrific and potentially then the remaining others, removing the support that Luthor has
- He goes to the fortress, finds some tech to
create or bring Ultraman from another universe. Perhaps all of this is with the help of The Engineer
- He then confronts Superman and, as Superman won’t kill, he gets battered from pillar to post
Smells like a timeline right there...
Man who wears his underpants on the outside
The catchphrase made famous by Superman's arch nemesis SuperLa
This popped up on my YouTube algorithm with all of the trailer reaction videos, and it reminded me of a scene I’d love to see. Superman is all about hope and so we see a scene of him saving someone, perhaps about to end their life.
I’m sure I saw a comic panel similar, where someone is about to jump from a building and Superman flies up. The person asks if he’s just going to catch him, and Superman says ‘No, I mean I could. But I’d rather figure out why you’re here and look to help’ and then hover over to the person and talk it out.
I’d then have the camera pan behind them as they talk with a quiet, piano rendition of the classic theme playing. I think it could be a beautiful moment to show how he saves people from things other than Keiju or clones.
The trailer didn't make me want to see the film.
same tbh
@0le and @afrocentricity just out of curiosity, what kind of trailer would have made you interested?
Any particular tone / mood for the movie? Specific visual style?
Any particular tone / mood for the movie? Specific visual style?
They're clearly Snyderverse acolytes.
Anybody else think David Corenswet looks crap as superman? I don’t know if it’s the dated looking suit or the actor but I’m just not getting it…
I don't like how it's called a teaser trailer when it's over two minutes long. Seems a bit daft. As for the trailer itself, it looks alright. I'm not really feeling any of it yet, but I do like the casting of Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor. I'm just wondering if that's come slightly too early into his career, only for the reason that he still looks quite young to me facially. I've no doubt that he'll pull off the role well.
Just wonder if this movie will end up being too stuffed full of side characters that it loses the message somewhat. It risks becoming a 'Superman & friends' sort of affair...but that may be what they're going for. Not in a desperate rush to see this and may just wait for it come out on streaming, unless it gets really top reviews. On the other hand, the thought of having to get re-invested again in another batch of superhero films just doesn't really excite me.
Just wonder if this movie will end up being too stuffed full of side characters that it loses the message somewhat. It risks becoming a 'Superman & friends' sort of affair...but that may be what they're going for. Not in a desperate rush to see this and may just wait for it come out on streaming, unless it gets really top reviews. On the other hand, the thought of having to get re-invested again in another batch of superhero films just doesn't really excite me.
Ummmmmm..... I would take something like that but really I don't care, just want something fun and classic. This looks like a very Gunn film, which is not necessarily a good thing for me nowadays.
The content seemed similar to Man of Steel or BvS, except for the dog. The "world hates superman" story or "aliens attack Earth". I also didn't really feel there was much chemistry between Lois and Clark either. I also disliked the trailer music. Just found it annoying tbh.
Fair enough.
I’m (clearly
) very into this and from what I’ve seen it’s not going to be so much that the world hates Superman, more that Superman can’t help but try to save everyone that Lex (and/or others) use that along the lines of ‘Metropolic First’ suggesting that Superman should prioritise them over anyone else.This lines up with the likes of GG, Hawkgirl, Mr Terrific almost being ‘corporate’ superheroes.
Extended look at what appears to be the start of the film.
I think it looks awesome, like a comic book brought to life, exactly what a Superman movie should be like. James Gunn is probably the only filmmaker around at the moment who can reliably make good, big budget comic book movies.
I’m arriving late to this conversation, but if I may respond. My gripe with this trailer is it looks like Superman has no unique identity as a franchise. This looks like an orgy of side characters, instead of driving at the core of what is great about Superman. We live in a post-Marvel reality, and this looks like a weak imitation. The idea would be to breathe new life into this IP and save Warner Bros., while also offering something not just different from the Marvel sausage, but better. That’s the mission, and if this story isn’t doing that then they really should have waited until they had a script that worked.
With Superhero fatigue being a real problem, this has no identity. It looks like a ComicCon bukkake session created it.
What Superman has/had over other superheroes is he was an avatar of how America would be in its finest hour — plus he couldn’t quite get the girl. That put a lot of emotion into the character. The Christopher Reeves version was romantic and had a sense of purpose. This looks like more invincible people punching other invincible people.
This trailer looks like Superman is a minor character in his own film, and looks to be substituting a glut of VFX over story. Superhero movies are always the best when it’s the first iteration of the character, the audience learns along with the character what the powers are and what the world is like. This one looks like episode 48 of the Superman saga.
Plus Supermutt is cringe.
I would argue that Superman wearing his pants on the outside is far more cringe than a super dog.
Actually, it's all embarrassing really.
Actually, it's all embarrassing really.
Im trying my best to keep an open mind for this one, as James Gunn usually hits the mark most of the time.. But ill not lie.. the trailer didnt impress me at all. Looked more along the lines of a cheesey tv show more than a big movie.
I also dont like the idea of loads of people with super powers being in it.. It kind of takes away from what makes him.. you know.. 'Super'!
.
We have seen it will multiple past franchises.. overload them with too many characters and it just gets diluted down a CGI sh*tshow
Id rather they just focused on Kal El. and give him one proper villain he has his hands full with
I also dont like the idea of loads of people with super powers being in it.. It kind of takes away from what makes him.. you know.. 'Super'!
. We have seen it will multiple past franchises.. overload them with too many characters and it just gets diluted down a CGI sh*tshow
Id rather they just focused on Kal El. and give him one proper villain he has his hands full with
Superdog doesn’t even wear pants and you can see his balls from space.
Im trying my best to keep an open mind for this one, as James Gunn usually hits the mark most of the time.. But ill not lie.. the trailer didnt impress me at all. Looked more along the lines of a cheesey tv show more than a big movie.
I also dont like the idea of loads of people with super powers being in it.. It kind of takes away from what makes him.. you know.. 'Super'!
We have seen it will multiple past franchises.. overload them with too many characters and it just gets diluted down a CGI sh*tshow
Id rather they just focused on Kal El. and give him one proper villain he has his hands full with
I think there are only so many reboots of the same, rehashed stories the public are willing to tolerate. Its one thing for Nolan to write a Superman movie with Cavill in it, which worked immaculately well. Its another to needlessly sack Cavill for some new guy and expect the public to have the same reaction.
I understand your concerns about the characters. My only retort for that is that Gunn has said several times that this is ‘absolutely a Superman movie’ and that the other ones are simply supporting-characters to him, in the same way a movie about a cop would have other cops, a superintendent, police commissioner etc.
I like how Corenswet argued for this. His debate was that, as an alien who can fly etc he wanted Superman in-movie to appear approachable to children in Metropolis by deliberately wearing something a bit daft.
Again, Gunn has mentioned this repeatedly that it’s not building a universe and is very singularly a Superman movie. He’s noted how all the other heroes serve his story (the gist seeming to be that they almost look down on him because of how he tries to save everyone all of the time). I’d personally love to see it start like that and have him inspire them to do better.Im trying my best to keep an open mind for this one, as James Gunn usually hits the mark most of the time.. But ill not lie.. the trailer didnt impress me at all. Looked more along the lines of a cheesey tv show more than a big movie.
I also dont like the idea of loads of people with super powers being in it.. It kind of takes away from what makes him.. you know.. 'Super'!
We have seen it will multiple past franchises.. overload them with too many characters and it just gets diluted down a CGI sh*tshow
Id rather they just focused on Kal El. and give him one proper villain he has his hands full with
But we’ll have to wait and see how it turns out. I’ll openly admit I’m massively fanboying as I’ve been ‘chasing’ a Superman movie that makes me feel like I did when my dad first showed me the Christopher Reeve original.
That would be ideal. I think they needed to simplify things: one hero (Supe), one villain (Lex), one girl (Lois), zero super dogs.
We definitely don't need an origin movie for superman or batman (or extending outside of DC - Spiderman)...
We don’t, maybe, but Warner Bros. does, though. Every 10 years or so they aim to start over to bring in the next generation of kids. Especially when they can’t build their IP. The fans of Zack Snyder’s work are not who they are aiming to please.