Superman 2025 film - Gunn, Corenswet, Brosnahan and Hoult

I hadn’t read much nor seen much about the new Superman film before I sat down in the cinema. Released on 11 July 2025, directed by James Gunn, starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent (Superman), Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult stepping in as Lex Luthor — I went in with low expectations but hoping for a solid experience.

Highlights

James Gunn’s Superman flies with a brilliant villain, a fresh take on Clark, and a bigger DC world — Hoult’s Lex Luthor is worth the ticket alone.

From the opening scenes, it’s clear this is a different Superman than the one we got with Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel. This version is younger, a bit more earnest, and a lot less about slow-motion shirtless flexing — something Cavill’s Superman practically trademarked. You won’t find any gratuitous topless moments here, at least none that I recall. Instead, we get a Superman who is firmly embedded in the world, already established and trying to figure out where he really belongs.

One of the biggest strengths of Gunn’s direction is that he doesn’t waste time rehashing the same Krypton-origin beats we’ve seen a hundred times. The film jumps straight into the meat of the story — Superman is well known, the Daily Planet is humming, and other DC heroes exist alongside him. I really liked this choice. It trusts the audience to know enough about who Superman is without spoon-feeding us the basics again.

We even get some nice cameos from the wider DC world: Nathan Fillion makes an appearance as Green Lantern, Isabela Merced pops in as Hawkgirl, and Edi Gathegi shows up as Mister Terrific. They don’t overstay their welcome, but they help flesh out the sense that this is a bigger world, not just Clark Kent’s playground.

What stood out most for me was how the film handled Superman’s internal conflict — the tension between being humanity’s greatest hope and forever an alien outsider. Corenswet’s Superman genuinely wants to be loved and trusted by the people he protects, but Lex Luthor makes sure that hope is relentlessly tested. Luthor’s war isn’t just brute force — it’s psychological, a smear campaign of hashtags and headlines. His army of trained monkeys flooding social media with tags like #SuperShit is so absurd that it actually feels perfectly in tune with the modern age.

And Lex. What a Lex Luthor. Nicolas Hoult completely steals the show. Every scene he’s in pulses with that manic, obsessive hatred that defines Luthor at his best. He’s not just another evil tech billionaire — he’s someone who seethes with jealousy and spite because no matter how smart, rich, or powerful he becomes, he will never be Superman. Hoult brings this out brilliantly, from the cold, calculated plotting to the unhinged outbursts. He’s the highlight of this whole film and makes every previous version of Lex look mild by comparison.

Of course, a proper Superman film needs big action, and it delivers. Luthor’s plan involves genetically engineering henchmen strong enough to put Superman through the wringer. I won’t spoil who or how, but the face-offs pack a punch and feel satisfyingly high-stakes.

If there’s any part of the film that left me a bit cold, it was how Clark Kent’s parents were handled — they felt more like an afterthought than the moral bedrock they’ve always been. And while I liked seeing Supergirl and her dog, their presence felt a bit tacked on, like an idea that needed more breathing room than this script could afford.

In the end, though, those quibbles don’t take away from what this film gets right. Gunn’s Superman feels like a confident reset — not a grim retread but not campy either. It balances earnestness with just enough grit to make the conflicts feel real. The casting is solid, the action is fun, the villain is brilliant, and the world feels bigger than just Metropolis for once.

Overall, I walked out glad to see Superman soaring again in a film that doesn’t try too hard to be edgy or brooding, but also doesn’t shy away from giving our hero real problems to solve. If this is the start of a fresh chapter for the DC Universe, I’m here for it.

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