The internet and superhero fans everywhere are talking about the trailer for Superman, the first standalone movie for the character since Man of Steel in 2013. The lack of Superman in movies has been egregious, especially in the era of superhero movies, and it's about time the Man of Tomorrow comes back to the big screen. Although I’m not a fan of the costumes for the most part, which I wrote about here so I won't talk about it much in this article, there’s still many great aspects to it. The trailer doesn’t reveal much, but there’s five awesome takeaways from it.
The Existence of Other Heroes
There is no lack of DC characters in this trailer. Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, and Mister Terrific all make appearances. Their appearances are brief, but they’re there. Giving them only a few seconds each in a trailer that’s a bit less than two and a half minutes in length, indicates they’ll have a real presence in the movie. Seeing a live action Green Lantern in any capacity speaks to my inner child that watched Justice League Unlimited religiously then rewatched it as an adult multiple times. Hawkgirl dons her classic mace and helmet too, ready to dive into action. Lastly, Mister Terrific creates a shield around himself with his ever powerful T Spheres. As long as Superman himself isn't sidelined for other heroes, including others is great and will help the new DCU grow. There’s also a singular shot of a man with no hair and an unnaturally wrinkled face that, it turns out, is Metamorpho. That’s all we get of him, but I’m excited to see more.
Lex Luthor
Nicholas Hoult makes his debut as the evil Lex Luthor and boy does he look great. He's completely bald, unlike his last theatrical appearance, and looks completely unhinged. There’s not a single moment where he doesn’t look like he is completely obsessed with taking down Superman. He’s always in business attire, but his face screams crazy. I hope we get to see him go full villain, maybe even in his classic LexCorp mech suit.
Krypto The Superdog
I don’t love the inspiration for Krypto, but I definitely love his presence in the trailer and likely in the film. Superman after crash landing somewhere cold and snowy, calls in his best friend for help. Like dogs are man’s best friend, the super dog is the super man’s best friend. The only other live action appearance of Krypto, that I know of, is in the streaming series Titans which had its ups and downs. The show didn’t have the biggest budget, so Krypto looked a bit cheesy. Obviously, Superman has a massive budget, so it shouldn’t suffer from this problem.
Not Everyone Loves Superman
There is a shot in the trailer that shows Superman walking with a black grime on his suit indicating some sort of battle, maybe with that big fire breathing monster, when someone throws a can at his head. Superman is walking through a crowd of people that all seem to be mad at him for some reason. It is quite probable that the theme of this movie is Superman existing in a world that, at least partially, rejects him. That’s a very similar theme to Man of Steel, but this movie will likely juxtapose it with more hope as well as a brighter color palette to match the hope. This leads me to my last takeaway.
A Tone of Hope Amongst Struggle
It looks like James Gunn’s Superman is looking to combat against the biggest complaint moviegoers had towards Man of Steel and the Snyderverse as a whole: it was often hopeless. Like I said above, the color palette of this movie is much brighter than Man of Steel which is reflected in certain moments of the trailer. There’s a child in some sort of trouble who holds a flag with Superman’s symbol into the air and calls for Superman to save him. Through the rest of the trailer, you can hear people in the background chanting “Superman!” It’s very much full of hope, but that hope does not come without struggle. The trailer starts with Superman already beaten down, and he gets smacked around a few other times in the trailer, but the hope is still there. It characterizes Superman as a character very well: he never loses or stops symbolizing hope.
Overall, this trailer was great and alleviated a lot of concerns I had about the movie. Other than the costumes, I was concerned it was going to have a silly tone like most of Gunn’s other work, but, if this trailer is truly reflective of the movie as a whole, it seems like it will be serious and hopeful. I’m excited for the movie and can’t wait to learn more about the plot and how it’ll affect the DCU moving forward.