Superman (2025) (Movie)

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    How ‘Superman’ Star David Corenswet Won the Role

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    Even before he became the linchpin of a new superhero universe, David Corenswet took great pride in being reliable.“I don’t know whether I’m a good actor in the sense that I see people onscreen and think, that’s a good actor,” he said. But what he does know, and what he aspires to, is that people can count on him. It’s a reputation Corenswet has cultivated since he was a child actor, when he once delivered his lines so efficiently during a commercial shoot that the crew got to go home early.“I want people to feel that every day that my name is on the call sheet is going to be a better day — a little bit of an easier day, and maybe a more fulfilling day,” he said.Now, Corenswet’s reliability will be put to its ultimate test. The 32-year-old is playing the iconic title character in James Gunn’s “Superman” reboot, which arrives in theaters this weekend burdened by big expectations. It’s the first feature from the newly rebranded DC Studios, which previously managed some successes (“Wonder Woman,” “Man of Steel”) and a passel of bruising bombs (“Justice League,” “The Flash,” “Shazam: Fury of the Gods”) in its efforts to keep pace with Marvel’s highly lucrative cinematic universe.David Corenswet wasn’t immediately sold on the role of Superman: “When the easy conversation is so exciting, I want to have the hard conversation: Let’s talk about what could go wrong.”These days, though, even Marvel is facing headwinds: In a market saturated with comic-book content, audiences don’t always show up for cape-and-tights spectaculars the way they used to. Warner Bros. is betting that Gunn, who was hired to co-lead DC Studios after directing Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” trilogy, can restore the luster to its superhero shingle. But the future of the DC slate, including next year’s “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow,” hinges largely on just how high “Superman” can soar.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Can ‘Superman’ Fly Above Today’s Polarized Politics?

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      The director of the reboot, James Gunn, called the superhero from the planet Krypton “an immigrant,” thrusting the summer popcorn movie into an Earthbound culture war.He may be faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. But can he transcend our polarized politics?This, it turns out, may be too big a job even for Superman.The reboot of “Superman” that was released in theaters on Friday is already sparking intense discussions — and a fair bit of criticism — from right-leaning media figures, even before many have had a chance to see the film.Much of the commentary has centered around an interview that the movie’s director, James Gunn, gave to The Times of London in which he spoke about the hero’s journey from Krypton to Kansas to Metropolis.“I mean, Superman is the story of America,” Gunn said. “An immigrant that came from other places and populated the country, but for me it is mostly a story that says basic human kindness is a value and is something we have lost.”America? Great. Kindness? Awesome. Those are points on which fans of the world’s most recognizable superhero seem to agree.But an immigrant? That characterization — of a guy who, yes, was born on another planet and then traveled to Earth — has entangled the new “Superman” in the very Earthbound culture wars of 2025, amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      How James Gunn Modeled Superman’s Dog Krypto After His Own Pet

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      For the furry sidekick, Krypto, in “Superman,” the director James Gunn found inspiration — and a physical model — in his own unruly pet.About three years ago, the director James Gunn was trying to figure out the arc of what would become his new blockbuster “Superman.” Then he adopted a dog.He named the scruffy rescue Ozu, after the Japanese filmmaker known for his serene works. At about 8 months old, Ozu the dog was not at all peaceful. After surviving a hoarding situation, Ozu was fearful of humans and intensely destructive. He chewed up furniture, shoes and even a $10,000 computer. He also ate one of Gunn’s wife’s tampons out of a wastebasket, necessitating a trip to the vet. Gunn realized that if Ozu had been superpowered, the damage would have been even worse.“It was where the movie came together for me,” he said in a video call.Gunn decided that his version of Superman would have not just a dog, but a bad dog who could fly. He wrote the opening sequence in which Superman (David Corenswet), defeated for the first time ever, calls out to the canine Krypto to help drag him to the Fortress of Solitude. Krypto — who, like Ozu, is poorly behaved — jumps all over his master, seemingly causing more pain before doing his duty.“The universe we normally see Superman living in in movies is usually this lone, serious superhero and then people and then that’s it,” Gunn said. “This Superman exists in a different sort of universe where there are flying dogs.”While Krypto has a long history in the comic books, he has never been featured in any of the live-action Superman movies.Jessica Miglio/DC and Warner Bros. But Ozu served as more than just inspiration. Gunn’s pup also became the physical model for Krypto, who is computer-generated so he can do things like soar through the sky and attack villains. Krypto is a little bigger than Ozu and has white fur instead of gray, but otherwise he’s a dead ringer.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘Superman’ Review: It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s a Reboot!

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      Beginning again with the Man of Steel, this time in the hands of James Gunn.In one sense I can’t really spoil “Superman.” Even comic book agnostics already know the basic idea: A Kryptonian baby with incredible powers, sent to Earth by his parents ahead of his planet’s destruction, is raised by a pair of American farmers. By day, he’s the bespectacled journalist Clark Kent; by night, he’s — well, you know. That’s been the story since Action Comics No. 1 was published in 1938.On the other hand, the ubiquity of those bare facts makes it extra easy to spoil this newest movie, a hard reboot for the character and his universe, because you’re probably going to the movies to see what they’ve done to the guy now, and the discovery is the fun part. “Superman” is the first film for DC Studios, of which Peter Safran and James Gunn are the chief executives. Elaborate histories of the byzantine path that got us here are available to you, should you be interested, but if you’re just a normie like me, the most important thing to recall is this: Gunn is probably best known for directing the three “Guardians of the Galaxy” films for Marvel and the 2021 DC film “The Suicide Squad” (not to be confused with the 2016 movie “Suicide Squad” — you see what I mean about byzantine).Gunn tends to nail the right tone with superhero material: He mixes big-hearted themes with a dash of real-world allusions and a good-natured understanding that all of this should be treated as if it’s a bit silly because, let’s face it, it is. Guys in capes zooming around, humans with magical powers that let them make big punching fists out of matter and energy, tech billionaires consumed by envy who hang out in shadowy lairs trying to control the universe, I mean, come on.Well, OK, maybe that last bit. And maybe a little more. Let’s not forget that Superman was created by two Jewish men, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who were keenly aware of rising antisemitism and Nazi oppression, as well as the despair of a people saddled with economic depression, looking for someone to save them. Superman took on corrupt politicians, unscrupulous businessmen and substandard housing conditions. And he was staunchly antifascist: In a noncanonical 1940 story titled “How Superman Would End the War,” Superman brought Hitler himself to justice.So while staying true to Superman requires trotting out certain familiar plot elements — his birth parents, his adoptive parents, his susceptibility to Kryptonite, his big old crush on the scrappy lady reporter Lois Lane — it also means tapping into those ideological roots. He’s a metahuman, but he’s also a man who’s almost guilelessly attached to truth, justice and something called “the American way”: protecting the little guy, pummeling the baddies. Set that guy down in the 21st century, and things get complicated.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More