Superman (July 11th, 2025)

Nick D said:

Perhaps view it from the father’s perspective.

He knew what would happen to his son had his abilities been unearthed at a premature moment in time, or even at all. As a parent, it’s genuine to behave like that, to be selfish.

I see it as the father wanting his son to have a normal life for as long as he can until his son is able to make that decision for himself.

Had the world found out about his powers as a kid, he’d be sheltered from any and everyone, having tests performed on him day in, day out. The military trying to weaponize him. You name it.

Which would ultimately have the same effect on his psyche as if he were born and raised on Krypton his entire life unable to form any empathy for Earth and its inhabitants, basically, he’d be another Zod.

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You mentioned earlier you haven't seen The Flash. In that movie, the government have Supergirl and have done all the work, tests, etc. to her. Pretty much what would have happened if Jonothan hadn't sheltered him.

ZE_501 said:

100%. Of course there's a narrative device/precedent for divesting with parents/mentors of heroes, but how it's done matters and in the case of small town, apple pie Clark Kent you could argue it's not necessary.

Sticking a nice guy with godlike powers and a hero complex in the complicated and often violent modern world, one guy in a sea of 8 billion angry mortals ... there's plenty of fodder for conflict and tough choices right there.

Dead or not, what we didn't need (in my opinion) is Pa Kent telling him not to save a bus full of kids or telling him "No son, watch me die on the chance you get outed as a Super".

It was small town USA -- he could have said Jesus saved him and it likely would have flown (no pun intended).

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The events of BvS pretty much showed what his father was afraid of, except he's a grown man, not a young teen.

I'm selfish. I would choose my own child life.

T8OO said:

The events of BvS pretty much showed what his father was afraid of, except he's a grown man, not a young teen.

I'm selfish. I would choose my own child life.

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So there was continuity. My issue is the decision to write it that way in the first place. I can see how people may find it interesting though.

The Buffinator said:

I'm laughing at everyone ragging on this suit. There's obviously a recency bias at play here, as everyone is comparing it to the Cavill suits. It seems that people are ignoring that Cavill in a skintight muscle suit is the outlier when it comes to Superman - George Reeves, Christopher Reeve, Dean Cain, Brandon Routh, etc., none of them looked like they were competing with Arnold for the Mr. Universe title. And there's absolutely no correlation between Superman's powers and the amount of time he spends pumping iron at the gym.

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The Reeve suit looked better too.

The new suit looks baggy in all the wrong places, like some kind of uniform from GOTG.

Nick D said:

To put it into perspective, say Hot Toys put a figure with this suit up for PO, before any trailer, before any news about what the new Superman would ultimately look like. It would sit on Sideshow forever.

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Nah, you'd buy it if it had rooted hair, then pay a million dollars for a custom suit.

Nick D said:

Perhaps view it from the father’s perspective.

He knew what would happen to his son had his abilities been unearthed at a premature moment in time, or even at all. As a parent, it’s genuine to behave like that, to be selfish.

I see it as the father wanting his son to have a normal life for as long as he can until his son is able to make that decision for himself.

Had the world found out about his powers as a kid, he’d be sheltered from any and everyone, having tests performed on him day in, day out. The military trying to weaponize him. You name it.

Which would ultimately have the same effect on his psyche as if he were born and raised on Krypton his entire life unable to form any empathy for Earth and its inhabitants, basically, he’d be another Zod.

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That was the more realistic approach, no doubt. But I don't want realism. I want to stay true to the character. And Jonathan Kent wouldn't say '**** dem kids!' He's part of Superman's moral compass, do the right thing no matter what.

For me, a scene that does not correspond to Superman's personality is the destruction of the truck, he is supposed to be better than humans, and he destroys the truck because he was humiliated in the bar and he is angry? Besides, as Lois says, he tries not to leave any traces behind him, but a truck that ends up in a tree just after the altercation is not really discreet...

The Clown Prince of Crime said:

Nah, you'd buy it had rooted hair, then pay a million dollars for a custom suit.

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Haha. Nope!

I’ve never owned anything Superman related,
not now, not even as a kid.

The character is too perfect for me to take interest in regarding a cohesive memorable story. The lack of trials and tribulations that mean anything in the grand scheme of things is a problem for me.

How many times does one need to view Superman facing conflict only to come out completely unscathed?

It’s to where the character could genuinely fast forward through any conflict he faces in his sleep and he’d still be around to watch the seasons change. How do you write a compelling story around a character like that? You attempt to humanize him, you make him develop real raw emotion for people he knows he’s going to outlive.

T8OO said:

You mentioned earlier you haven't seen The Flash. In that movie, the government have Supergirl and have done all the work, tests, etc. to her. Pretty much what would have happened if Jonothan hadn't sheltered him.

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Yep, never seen it.
Not even a trailer.

That’s the only logical way for something like this to go. So it’s no surprise that very thing happened.

New leaks

They had a different suit originally, but they lost it right before filming began so they went and grabbed one from Party City.

Dave_W said:

That was the more realistic approach, no doubt. But I don't want realism. I want to stay true to the character. And Jonathan Kent wouldn't say '**** dem kids!' He's part of Superman's moral compass, do the right thing no matter what.

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I mean I don’t think Snyder fleshed it out properly, which is why I’m here talking about it in an attempt to explain what it was he was trying to convey.

He’s not a great storyteller by any stretch, but he attempted to ground the character in a natural way to be more relatable in the eyes of the audience as to not just completely side with Bruce.

It’s an extremely difficult character to write for. What makes Superman, Superman, isn’t his abilities, it’s the characters in and around his life that ground him, Clark.

The comics have difficulty because they typically aren’t about the people in his life, but more so about him being Superman.

There needs to be a balance, make him powerful, but also make him vulnerable, or, at the very least make him insecure in what he’s capable of to some extent.

He needs characters to come back down to earth to, hard to do that if your story isn’t meant to be somewhat real world realistic, but rather a comic book come to life.

Why’s he need the dog to take him home?
Why’s he got internal bleeding?
That’s a bit too realistic for a character that won’t cease to exist, but also a bit of a crutch for an alien God to rely on a dog to bring him home.

What measures Clark’s stamina and strength? Is it just kryptonite that draws him weak? If so, your story has already failed.

Picking and choosing what realism to add just because you like the tone and whether something is or isn’t comic accurate doesn’t make sense from a storytelling perspective.

Fantastical elements to such degree work best in comics or animation.

Here in the real world where this film was shot, it’s going to have natural limitations, limitations that do not exist in the other platforms. Attempting to mitigate those limitations will only increase CGI usage and alienate your audience from the story at play by not having a level character to connect to.

An adaptation needs heart and soul for those who don’t understand comics and can’t get into them because they’re so far removed (this happens to be the majority of the movie going audience by the way).

A happy go lucky story about an all powerful being doesn’t resonate with anyone here on earth. You make him suffer to a point, that makes people believe in him, for people to see that he’s giving everything he’s got. That inspires hope.

I get where you guys are coming from with the tornado suicide, but he took a risk because it could’ve also had the opposite outcome that he intended.

Clark could’ve become super bitter and angry and felt that if he couldn’t have a father then no one else could and then proceeded to kill every human on earth lol

T8OO said:

Yes he heard her pounding on some concrete whilst underwater IN THE SAME area. Not anywhere within two cities.
He was very constant with the powers. This is just the usual pick at Snyder's movies without thinking.

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And if I was petty I would say that you are resorting to your usual defense of Snyder without thinking. I get that you’re a Snyder fan but he’s still human. I just think this scene was written & shot without thinking. IN THE SAME AREA was still at least a football field in length away from where Superman was, and the sound level produced by a 100 lb. woman feebly hitting a slab of concrete while underwater inside a building would be on par with a feather landing at his feet - i.e., the noise produced given what else was happening around him would be negligible. Plus the conditions of her predicament were simply not conducive to the propagation of sound. If she was She-Hulk I could buy it, otherwise no.

jye4ever said:

Clark could’ve become super bitter and angry and felt that if he couldn’t have a father then no one else could and then proceeded to kill every human on earth lol

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Perhaps if he didn’t raise the boy.

He saw that Clark was level headed to understand what he was doing. He didn’t go back for the dog, that was his excuse.

jye4ever said:

I get where you guys are coming from with the tornado suicide, but he took a risk because it could’ve also had the opposite outcome that he intended.

Clark could’ve become super bitter and angry and felt that if he couldn’t have a father then no one else could and then proceeded to kill every human on earth lol

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He finds out that the tornado was a result of climate change so he makes it his mission to "reduce carbon".

Nick D said:

Firstly,
I’ve never seen The Flash, nor would I ever.

So that is lost on me. Who is Sasha Celle?
A character or actress? Unfamiliar.

I’m not speaking solely on his physique underneath the suit. Clearly in this interpretation, we’re not going to see it as it’s completely hidden from view.

Superman should not be in loose clothing.
That’s what the Clark Kent character is for, to separate himself from the hero.

You need to see muscles or some kind of mass present. Reeve didn’t look like a bodybuilder but his stature and face made up for which he lacked, on top of being an actor with more on his mind and plate than just being Superman.

Can this kid act? Balance genuine human emotion and his alien being counterpart?

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Come on Nick, I don’t believe for a second that you didn’t follow my Supergirl question. You’re smart enough to understand the analogy without having seen The Flash, plus if you’re unfamiliar with any names I think by now you’re also aware of something called Google lol.

Again , YOU may need to see muscles to be convinced of his powers but not everyone does. And Reeve’s stature wasn’t all that impressive - back in 1978 he was a tall, trim, relatively unknown actor in a silly costume, very much like this guy.

SpiderBat said:

Ma and Pa Kent were both alive during the Post Crisis era and in the '90s animated series, both of which are probably two of the most well known and beloved iterations of the character. In those, Clark becomes Superman because he's a good guy who wants to do the right thing and use his powers to help people. Not every superhero needs to be driven by the death of a family member they're trying to make up for or avenge.

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I agree. I actually find one of the more humanizing things about iterations that have both parents still alive is that he still comes home to visit them, get their advice on these larger than life problems from time to time, as well as just to catch up and have dinner with them. I personally don't care for him and Ma Kent having the shadow of his dead father hanging over him/them.

Gipetto0812 said:

I actually find one of the more humanizing things about iterations that have both parents still alive is that he still comes home to visit them, get their advice on these larger than life problems from time to time, as well as just to catch up and have dinner with them.

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Snyder ma Kent will just say to Clark that he doesn't owe the world anything.

The puzzling thing to me is that Snyder and Gunn seem to have a generally friendly, amicable relationship with each other. I don’t get the impression that they’re best buds, but there’s no ill will between them at all, as far as I’ve ever heard. And yet, the fans from their respective camps seem to feel like supporting their movies is some binary choice. Like it’s either you’re a Gunn fan or you’re a Snyder fan. I don’t feel that way at all. I like many of the films from both directors, and feel no need to root against either one.