The DCU’s New ‘Superman’ Looks Great. Why Is Everyone Being So Weird About It?

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Superman is looking to be one of the biggest movies of the summer. Warner Bros. is taking a page from the marketing campaign for Barbie and is about to roll out a marketing storm that kicked off on Superman Day in April with a slew of comics for “The Summer of Superman,” and recently, a new theatrical trailer. It has been 12 years since the last solo Superman movie, Man of Steel, opened in theaters, and after years of Superman taking a backseat, he is finally in the spotlight. There is a general excitement in the air, for both the start of a new shared universe and the reimagining of a classic character for a new generation.

Yet with every new trailer or photo, a subset of fans wants to nitpick every aspect. There is nothing wrong with thinking critically about a movie or being a little skeptical, as it can sometimes be good to manage expectations. However, how some individuals talk about Superman goes beyond good-faith discussion. It is pedantic and downright weird to be this obsessed with something one claims to hate. It is as if, by spreading enough negative discourse, Superman will bomb, and Warner Bros. will magically restore some previous incarnation. Superman looks good, despite what some “fans” would lead you to believe.

A Superman Movie That Is Like the Comics

One thing that immediately stands out about Superman is how James Gunn looks to make a movie that feels like a Superman comic. Despite Superman having seven solo films and two DCEU crossover films, no live-action Superman project has tried to capture the colorful world of DC Comics. Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie committed to the idea of verisimilitude, which means the idea of appearing true or real. Superman in that film is the most outlandish element, so to sell the “you will believe a man can fly,” they put Superman in a world similar to the viewer’s.

The Metropolis in the original Superman films is just modern-day New York City. Even though Superman Returns has more of an art deco design, it is still in the same continuity as the first two Superman movies and remains a more relatable world. Man of Steel adopts the Batman Begins approach, looking to truly ground Superman in a “real” world, highlighting the more hard sci-fi alien elements of his mythology. None of the Superman movies have really committed to translating the unique world of DC Comics, particularly the iconic images fans associate with Superman on film, until now.

Superman‘s trailer showcases him fighting a giant kaiju, an image that sticks out in fans’ minds as something familiar to the Silver Age Superman stories. Featuring appearances from fellow DC heroes from across the company’s history, like Krypto, Hawkgirl, Mister Terrific, Metamorpho, Guy Gardner, and The Engineer, Superman feels like a lived-in world that captures the feeling of opening a random DC Comic. Even the movie’s costumes feature vibrant, saturated colors that jump out like comic art. It might not be Dick Tracy or Speed Racer, but it stands out in a superhero film landscape that has been shaped by Donner’s verisimilitude, one that influenced the likes of Christopher Nolan, Sam Raimi, and Kevin Feige.

This might be why some individuals react so negatively to Superman. Instead of drawing from the post-1980s era of DC Comics, the dark material that gets held up as the most important DC Comics, like The Dark Knight Returns, The Killing Joke, and Watchmen, James Gunn’s DCU influences are more Silver Age inspired. The film pulls from brighter, more optimistic post-1980s work like the Justice League International and All-Star Superman. Even though Marvel Studios has accustomed audiences to outlandish comic book elements, the DC Universe is a different fantastical flavor that will take some time to get used to. After so many years of Superman movies trying to be realistic, it is refreshing to see a film embrace the flights of fancy that have made him endure for years.

A Superman Movie That Has Something To Say

The Superman trailer has highlighted the character as a symbol of hope in a cynical world. This resembles Superman: The Movie, Superman Returns, and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. While this might seem like well-worn material, Superman looks to put a new spin on the proceedings. The trailer establishes that Superman faces backlash for breaking up a war and violating international laws. The movie looks to interrogate Superman’s former motto of “Truth, Justice, and the American Way” and dive into his new slogan, “Truth, Justice, and a Better Tomorrow.”

Like 1978’s Superman: The Movie, James Gunn’s Superman is coming at a turbulent time in American history. In 1978, America was still reeling from scandals like Watergate and the horrors of the Vietnam War, along with rising oil prices. In 2025, the American public wakes up to news stories about ICE agents conducting raids and deporting citizens, the slow dismantling of fundamental civil freedoms, economic anxieties brought on by trade wars, and continued bombings of Palestine, killing millions of innocent civilians and children. Superman cannot fix the world’s problems in real life like in a movie, but he can remind people that there is good in the world and that people can aspire to do good. Superman looks like a fun summer action blockbuster, but it is also the right movie at the right time.

The Unjustified ‘Superman’ “Backlash”

With every new trailer or photo for Superman, some people are outright hostile to the film. Every frame is picked over for flaws in visual effects (that look great), or any interview that director James Gunn or the cast gives is treated as some scandal. Much of the “backlash” to Superman comes from fans who were fully committed to Zack Snyder and Henry Cavill’s interpretation of the character. This version of the character meant something to them, but despite Cavill and Snyder having moved on, the fanbase that embraced the darker elements of the DCEU are not only against Gunn’s new Superman, but have seemingly made it their entire online brand identity, hating on every piece of new Superman promotional material, including a harmless Milkbone commercial for dog treats.

It is important to remember that this segment of the audience, while vocal, does not make up most of the movie-going public. They project themselves as having a greater number of the general audience on their side, but one look at the streaming metrics for Zack Snyder’s Justice League shows that they are a small part of the audience they need to win over. While the “fans” are a big part of a comic book movie’s success, they are not the only ones, and DCEU fans are only a fraction of the target demographic Superman aims for. Many fans are excited for Superman, as there is just as much positive reaction to the trailers as negative ones. Negative commentary gets more clicks.

Fandom has a long history of knee-jerk negative reactions. Michael Keaton’s casting as Batman, Heath Ledger as the Joker, and Daniel Craig as James Bond are just a few examples of fans who reacted so negatively to a franchise property, only to quickly change their tune once the movie came out. The idea of being upset about a blonde James Bond seems absurd, but in 2005, some people were furious about that. Yet now it is hard to find anyone who doesn’t love Daniel Craig as James Bond, but will admit to being against the casting decision, and was later proven wrong.

That might be the biggest thing Superman fans will have to accept. There is a good chance that, no matter how good the film is, some hardcore Snyder fans will not admit to it. Part of it could be genuinely not liking it; no law says one has to like everything, or you are wrong if you go against consensus. Yet part of it might be because the internet now makes it impossible for someone to change their mind or admit they were wrong. After all, the original record of what they said is written on the internet forever. A current opinion one has can be pulled up alongside one held three years ago. The fear of being wrong now is so great that some would rather dig their heels in no matter what.

Superman looks like a fun time at the movies, and one that truly will bring the comic book hero to the big screen like never before. This is a Superman film some audiences have been waiting their entire lives for. Even if some viewers don’t care and make very public displays about hating it before seeing the movie, don’t let them get in the way of a good time. Be excited for Superman because, at the end of the day, this is supposed to be fun. Superman soars into theaters on July 11, 2025.

“}]] Are Snyder Bros and DCEU loyalists really not looking forward to ‘Superman’?  Read More