The trailer for Superman is finally here! After weeks of rumors about a release date for the trailer, then a final confirmation and teaser from James Gunn, the trailer is finally upon us. There is certainly a lot to love in this trailer, the overall heroic theme, the score, the existence of Krypto, but there is one thing that stood out to me: the costumes.
If you’ve read my articles before, you’ll probably know I’m not the biggest fan of James Gunn. I know I’m very much in the minority here, but I don’t love any of his superhero projects. I like some of them, but I don’t love any of them. For the most part, I dislike them. I prefer movies and shows with a more serious tone, and that is definitely not what Gunn is known for. Regardless of my feelings towards Gunn, I want DC to succeed in building a cinematic universe. I’ve loved DC characters since I was a small child watching Batman: The Animated Series. For decades, I’ve wanted to see all my heroes on the screen together. Ultimately, that’s what I want. So, while I don’t like Gunn, I love DC and, of course, Superman. I don’t want to bash DC, but I want to give honest opinions more.
My honest opinion is that these costumes do not look good.
In the trailer, we see many characters: Superman, Clark Kent, Krypto, Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, and Mr. Terrific are all present. Some of their costumes are better than others, but almost none of them are great.
Already, I see people criticizing Guy Gardner’s haircut. Yes, it’s goofy and awkward looking, but that’s exactly what it’s supposed to be. Gunn certainly didn’t have to make it that goofy and awkward, but I like it. However, Green Lantern’s costume has a lot of white for a Green Lantern. Guy Gardner’s comic book appearance has a little bit of white in it, usually in the collar or gloves, but this costume is more white than anything else. I was hoping we’d see the costume that has a huge collar, but it seems like they went with a leather jacket that isn’t made of leather kind of look.
Hawkgirl’s costume looks significantly better than Green Lantern’s, but there’s still a lot of white where you don’t expect it to be. I very much like that there’s lots of gold, but it seems like the green in her usual comic book costume has been replaced by black. She looks more like a wannabe biker than a superhero, similar to Green Lantern.
On the upside, Mister Terrific’s costume looks perfect. It’s pretty much exactly the same as his comic book counterpart. While they’re pretty hard to make out, the T spheres also look great, and I can’t wait to see more of them in action. Mister Terrific’s costume has a similar appearance to Hawkgirl and Green Lantern, almost as if they’re made out of the same material, but they all resemble something you’d see on the CW just a bit too much. Of course, it could be that the similar color schemes in all of them is hinting at the three of them being part of a group, potentially the JLA or even JSA. That would help me get on board, but, other than Terrific, they still don’t look the best.
I love that Krypto is in this movie at all, but why is he so raggedy? In the comics, Krypto is a larger dog that resembles a labrador more closely than whatever kind of dog that is. It’s a strange change, but, after thinking about it more, I remembered something: Gunn chose to model Krypto after his own dog. Of course. Next thing you know, Sean Gunn will be voicing Darkseid, Brother Eye, and Braniac all in the same movie, and Gunn will cast himself as Doctor Manhattan. Ever the narcissist.
Clark Kent’s new haircut resembles a certain internet personality from 2019 that I can’t fully type out called the f*** boy haircut. Short on the sides, enormously poofy in the front. I am certainly not a fan of the haircut, but everything else we’ve seen about Kent looks great. He’s very tall, moves awkwardly, and seems to be unsure of every step. Lois looks great too, but her costume is fairly easy to design. The same goes for Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor. He looks perfect as the villain. Thank heaven he’s bald and we didn’t get another weird Jesse Eisenberg Lex Luthor.
Finally, we’re on to Superman. I still feel conflicted about his outfit. I love the collar, I love the trunks, and I love the symbol, but the whole thing looks like it doesn’t fit him. I think the problem I have with it is the same I have with the other heroes: it looks like the CW. Maybe it looks so much like it’s made out of plain fabric because it is made out of plain fabric in the movie. Maybe Clark makes it himself or Martha Kent makes it, but that would take the opportunity to have it be part of his Kryptonian heritage.
Overall, the costumes in the trailer don’t look great. Of course, final judgement should be saved for the full movie, but if not to give audiences an impression, or to cause them to create a judgement, what are trailers for? These costumes could end up looking much better in the final product, but they look mostly bad in the trailer.
What do you think about the costumes? Let me know in the comments!