The year 2025 has (so far) been a return to form for Hollywood, after a somewhat sluggish start (a continuation of recent major Hollywood projects). Spring and Summer entries have brought in overwhelmingly positive reviews. From originals like Sinners, to F1: The Movie, to adaptations like How to Train Your Dragon, 2025 has been a good year for moviegoers.
Joining the long list of well-received summer entries is James Gunn’s reimagining of the most iconic hero, Superman. Since its release, the film has garnered a lot of attention, criticisms and praise for its retelling of Kal-El’s origins, the tonal shift and the not-so-subtle political commentary of the world's only popular illegal immigrant.
Big Blue Boy Scout and Not A God Among Men
David Corenswet’s Superman is a far cry from the dark and gritty interpretations of Zack Snyder, portrayed by Henry Cavill in 2013’s Man of Steel. The distinction in tone is quite literal between the films. The muted colors that defined the DCEU have been traded for a brighter and colourful environment. This difference is just in the film's visual experience, but it carries into the characters themselves.
Whilst Superman/Clark Kent retains his almost invincible nature in James Gunn’s version, he is a stark contrast to the version that preceded him a decade ago.
Corenswet's portrayal has an almost boyish charm sometimes dubbed “golden retriever energy”. Whilst Snyder’s Superman was portrayed and at times referred to and revered as a god among men, Gunn’s version is, put simply, a big blue boy scout. Where Cavill is stoic, mysterious and seemingly burdened in silence, Corenswet is humorous, expressive and hopeful; he is not alienated from the people around him, either as Kent or Superman.
This shift in tone is somewhat reflective of the time we live in and, in a way, of Gunn's own political views. Superman embodies good, while Cavill was almost paralysed as to what that would mean for those around him. Corenswet does what he thinks is good. He believes in redemption, throughout the film he aims to reason with the multiple villains as opposed to simply tearing them in half, and whilst it can be critiqued as being too idealistic, some might say that is the point.
Superman vs The Right
Right-wing commentators and conservatives have been heavily critical of what they have described as allegorical criticisms of several of Trump’s policies on immigration and the genocide in Palestine. Superman explicitly addresses himself as an immigrant, something that really cannot be contested, given that he is a refugee. He makes his stance an obvious one when he stops a conflict between the fictional countries of Boravia and Jarhanpur, the former an ally of the United States, which invades the latter.
It is clear that this Superman is beyond the idea of Truth, justice and the American way. A tag line used in comic iterations to describe the character. Instead, Superman is governed by what is right or good as opposed to agendas.
These parallels between the film and real life have been described as “woke”. Something that Gunn responded to by saying “Superman is the story of America" and "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." This received backlash from some supporters of Trump and members of the MAGA movement, with some pundits on Fox News calling the film "Superwoke", but Gunn responded that Superman was for "everyone", explaining that it was "about kindness and I think that's something everyone can relate to.”
Conclusion
Perhaps another under-reported allegory is within the lore of Superman's origin in his most recent adaptation. It's an overdone storyline that Superman’s (birth name Kal-El) home planet of Krypton is met by a planet-ending calamity. His parents send him as a refugee across the universe to Earth, another habitable planet, where he is to become invincible. In this version, however, Superman’s parents send him with a message that he is to serve as Earth's conqueror, for they/we are an uncivilized species compared to Krypton’s superior technology.
For many who have grown up in former European colonial territories this form or rhetoric is familiar. European colonialists and later American imperialists have used such ideals to justify their actions against critiques.
Superman's firm position against these ideas will undoubtedly draw strong reactions from those who agree with them, particularly in his adopted home of America, and thus the conflict of the world's most iconic hero and the Trump era politics. Superman doesn't position himself in any aisle, maintaining that he stands for good. Many others could argue that all things are political. However, I don't believe that it matters if Clark Kent is a blue card-carrying Democrat or not. Ultimately, heroes aren't heroes because of the ultimate power they possess, but what they do with it. What Superman 2025 clearly aims to and succeeds at doing is inspiring good in the people around him.
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