Superman (July 11th, 2025)

[chrisstbh]

It definitely has, especially for DC/Warner Bros. Six straight flops in a row now, and very likely two more incoming with Aquabro 2 and Bluebeetle. They need to go full damage control and let theses properties “rest” for a while. I’ll be genuinely shocked if Gunns Superman movie fixes everything. The general audience doesn’t seem to care.

Yes but there is no superhero movie fatigue, only bad movie fatigue.

 

[snoop101]

Yes but there is no superhero movie fatigue, only bad movie fatigue.

It just so happens that all the bad movies are superhero films.

 

[TheeWanderer]

It definitely has, especially for DC/Warner Bros. Six straight flops in a row now, and very likely two more incoming with Aquabro 2 and Bluebeetle. They need to go full damage control and let theses properties “rest” for a while. I’ll be genuinely shocked if Gunns Superman movie fixes everything. The general audience doesn’t seem to care.

The DCEU being comprised of mostly flops isn't a new thing though lol.

 

[snoop101]

The DCEU being comprised of mostly flops isn't a new thing though lol.

Just more so recently.

 

[ironwez20]

I remember when the Batman and Robin ruined Batman’s reputation. Maybe Superman can save it? Idk. I love dc. Don’t want to see it fail. But everything WB has done and how they handle everything is a huge reason why nobody likes them . Even Sony has been given more trust then them recently

 

[davejames]

If Gunn makes a great, optimistic Superman movie that gets good reviews and looks very different in style from the dreary Snyder movies, I think audiences will come out for it.

But whether he can deliver something like that, and stay away from his usual jokey Guardians style, I don't know. Think I'd be feeling a lot more confident if this was being directed by someone else.

 

[batfan08]

There’s one area where I feel like Gunn needs to really tap into on his Superman movie and, in my mind, that’s making it feel like an event and also really driving home it’s crossover potential with non-superhero movie fans. Which is a lot harder to do when you’re creating a new universe/franchise while also developing a superhero property in a post-MCU world. But in all his interviews, he keeps driving home how much he loved the Reeve/Donner film and how great it was and I think he really needs to take his time and evaluate exactly why that was.

Because Reeve Superman is transcendental, in my mind. It’s not just one of the greatest superhero movies of all time, it’s one of the greatest movies. It’s one of the last true blue Hollywood epics and it’s left an indelible mark on pop culture. I could put a Reeve Superman statue next to Keaton Batman and Carter Wonder Woman and with all kinds of other DC and Marvel Superheroes across the board…but I could also just as easily put him on a shelf with Brandi’s Godfather, Indiana Jones, Dirty Harry, Darth Vader, and Rick Blaine without so much as raising an eyebrow.

It wasn’t just comic book fans that went to see that movie, it was everybody and their Grandma. Literally. Whole families went, and Warner and the Salkind’s delivered something with an incredible pedigree. You had Dick Donner in the director’s chair working from a script by The Godfather’s Mario Puzo, you had two of the biggest stars in the world at the time, Brando and Hackman, supporting and opposing Reeve in what was really his breakthrough role and it was just…magic. I don’t give a damn about making things “new and fresh.” Sometimes, I feel like the only surefire way to do that is to go backwards. I don’t need skintight, chiseled muscle suits with overdesigned alien fabrics because that’s not anything new, anyway. That just lets Superman get lost amidst the muddled plethora of comic book flicks as they already exist today. And while I absolutely see the value in putting CG into a giant fight sequence between super beings, I feel like restraint is the name of the game. I would say the impact when kids in 1978 got to see Reeve fly across their screens for the first time with that ****-eating grin infinitely surpassed watching a featureless, baby smooth avatar of Henry Cavill create a CGI sonic boom behind him as he lifted off into the digital sky.

You take something like Jurassic Park and compare it to Jurassic World and there’s a certain magic at watching something real and practical and physical lurch across your screen vs. something that could just as well be found in any AAA video game. To my mind, there’s a visual aesthetic to Superman that needs to be honored as much as any character or physical traits and that is Americana. I feel like every image of Superman and every image of Smallville should feel like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting. People might say it’s antiquated and they might say it’s out of touch with the modern world, but I would argue that it should be because that’s what Superman would be.

Snyder once got pissy in an interview and said “you’re living in a ****ing dream world if you think your heroes don’t kill people or embezzle from their companies” and I would say that interview exemplifies why he was the wrong choice for Superman. I feel like, when I look at Superman, I should look at him the same way I do a 90-year old World War II vet in a PBS documentary or at the end of Band of Brothers. There’s a sort of understanding that the past and the present are rife with moral conflict and ugliness, but, no matter the external circumstances, certain people, certain human experiences, and certain beliefs are unsullied by it. And that, for me, is Superman.

 

[Prime Clone]

 

[davejames]

If nothing else, I hope Gunn brings back those really graceful takeoffs and landings of the Reeve films. As I'm so damn tired of those instantaneous CG takeoffs where you can tell the actor never even left the ground. It might be more "realistic" but it's nowhere near as inspiring or magical to watch.

 

[lordnastrond]

David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan are your new Clark and Lois.
View attachment 647044
https://variety.com/2023/film/news/...el-brosnahan-clark-kent-lois-lane-1235656106/

 

[Sidewinder]

At least they haven't taken forever to announce who they have casted. Unlike F4, where there still is no announcement on who the cast will be. How long does it take?

 

[Mondragon]

David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan are your new Clark and Lois.

View attachment 647044
https://variety.com/2023/film/news/...el-brosnahan-clark-kent-lois-lane-1235656106/

Well out the gate, they look the part, and perusing what's out there, seems they can act too.

Never heard of them.

And I actually prefer it that way.

So who is the villain for this? Hopefully not Zod and Lex is not the main, but is just being set up here, and the main villain is finally Brainiac in some form, preferably tied to destruction of Krypton AI and "collection" )ie breaking down mater as information, at the expense of humanity.
Maybe something Lex thinks he can use or control, till it turns against.

 

[ironwez20]

Anybody but zod. Please don’t do zod. But I’m hearing the authority is the villain? Never heard of him or them

 

[T8OO]

If nothing else, I hope Gunn brings back those really graceful takeoffs and landings of the Reeve films. As I'm so damn tired of those instantaneous CG takeoffs where you can tell the actor never even left the ground. It might be more "realistic" but it's nowhere near as inspiring or magical to watch.

MoS and BvS both had some graceful take-offs and landings at different times. One advantage of the sudden take-off and landing is it hides wire work. Very few slow take-off and landing scenes are done seamlessly with wires. Shazam, Black Adam and The Flash weren't very good at this

 

[T8OO]

Rachel Brosnahan is a great actress. I think she could be extremely grating with some material though. The sort of material I expect from Gunn too.

 

[Sidewinder]

I would have expected them to go younger for Superman. This guy is about to turn 30. I expected 25 max.

I'm not really that interested in another reboot. Obviously they don't want to shelve it because Marvel is still going to be steaming ahead with X-Men and F4 in the future. However, I think a lot of interest in superhero films is waning. They should shelve it for 5 years and then restart.

 

[karamazov80]

You take something like Jurassic Park and compare it to Jurassic World and there’s a certain magic at watching something real and practical and physical lurch across your screen vs. something that could just as well be found in any AAA video game.

Though I don't hold the original Superman in the high regard that you do (I still really like it and have a soft spot for it nostalgically), I agree with pretty much everything else you say here and hope that is the way they go.

On the topic of Jurassic Park specifically, I let my daughters watch it for the first time last week through Netflix. They did a pseudo 4K conversion that removed all the film qualities that were, apparently, an important part of what makes that film great. It looked really weird and was so much less dramatic and effective. A slow pan to reveal a character or reaction didn't have weight, and felt like borderline satire. It was like someone shot the movie on a high quality video tape. The John Williams score saved some scenes, because without it the reactions would have seemed really cheesy and unbelievable.

We were in Canada, so maybe this was a regional thing that isn't reflective of how things are handled all over, but visually it didn't feel much more gratifying than watching some modern, overwrought CG fest in many scenes.

Bringing this slightly back on topic, it made me wonder about how digital filmmaking must require a totally different approach to lighting, coloring, and cinematography generally to make things feel "real" to the viewer. In some ways, using film may have been a lot easier because it naturally gave recorded scenes gravity.

 

[Snake Plissken]

James Gunn is a pedophile.

 

[KitbashOfficer]

I remember when the Batman and Robin ruined Batman’s reputation. Maybe Superman can save it? Idk. I love dc. Don’t want to see it fail. But everything WB has done and how they handle everything is a huge reason why nobody likes them . Even Sony has been given more trust then them recently

It's their own fault. No sense of a good plan, bad writing, actors that have off screen problems (yeah you, Ezra), bad studio exec. decisions, wonky CGI (everyone is dealing with that though), confusion over which universe-is-what-who, late-to-the-party Multiverse even though DC did it first in the comics.

Just put me in charge already WB, I'll get it turned around (cheaper and simpler I may add) without Gunn who still ain't getting it done.

 

[Dave_W]

It just so happens that all the bad movies are superhero films.

All the bad ones...that you know about. There aare plenty of bad films coming out in other genres, but the cape films get more coverage.