By: “DragonKingKarl” Karl Stern (Patreon / Facebook / Email)
Webmaster & Writer - When It Was Cool
Podcast Host - Wrestling Observer, When It Was Cool
Superman (2025)… Is This the Superman We Have Been Waiting For?
I still believe in Superman. Despite the fact his character has been beaten down, misinterpreted, and dulled down over the last 30 years it still has not destroyed my love for the first and greatest of the superheroes: Superman.
So, imagine my initial horror in seeing the new Superman (2025) movie trailer as a beaten and bloody Superman came crashing down onto a snow-covered landscape. I sighed, ‘Oh, no’, another dark and sad Superman movie…
I was never a fan of the Snyderverse series of DC movies. I know by even admitting that the Snyderverse Troll Army will probably be out in full force, but I don’t care. I personally found the majority of those movies to be dreary, dark, depressing, overrun with forgettable characters, and absolutely no fun. I still think my least favorite movie of all time may be Batman - Superman: Dawn of Justice, just a horrendous movie. However, Man of Steel starring Henry Cavill probably ranked as my favorite of Snyderverse movies. I thought then, and still do, that Henry Cavill made a great Superman.
You know who else made a great Superman? Kirk Alyn from the 1948 movie serial, George Reeves from the 1950s television show, Christopher Reeve from the 1970s Superman movies, Dean Cain, Brandon Routh, Tyler Hoechlin, and possibly David Corenswet (to be determined). Every generation has an actor they associate with Superman, and I take nothing away from the Henry Cavill Superman aside from the fact he could have been given better material to work with. That aside, what’s up with new sad Superman in 2025.
Ok, ok, not so fast… the scene pictured above is fantastic. Superman being a hero. Superman saving people. More of that please.
Superman (2025) director James Gunn recently said that Superman, in this film, represents America. As soon as I read that I remembered the scene in the trailer where a man beans Superman upside the back of the head with a can… yeah, I can see the America comparison considering the hellscape we’ve seen over the last decade. It’s a complicated place, America. Can this film build… dare I say it? Hope?
Superman as depicted in DC Comics over the last 15 years has been just as bad off. At one point, he basically quit being Superman and started walking… for some reason. He’s had every woke stereotype applied to him as the comic book writing universe descended about as far left as possible. It hasn’t been good times nor inspirational for Superman for a long-long time.
But Superman has always reflected the changing political climate in America. Truth, Justice, and the American way (at least until recently when they took ‘America’ out of the slogan… I kid you not.) Yes, Superman has always represented America, even when it seemed cool to hate America. Superman was literally created by the Jewish team of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster to inspire the immigrants as hate rose in Europe and then the world.
So, Superman (2025) what we need now is an inspirational, hope-filled Superman. A child raising a flag with the Superman logo on it is inspirational, and, of course, Krypto the Super Dog perhaps fills me with the most hope of all… Krypto, take us all home.
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