Superman: Legacy

[CessnaDriver]

Definitely was a Gunn movie, perhaps too much a Gunn movie than a Superman movie.
But I've got super team fatigue.
It will never be 1978 for me again.

Spoiler: But....

I knew MY Superman was back on the big screen when he saved the squirrel. Now that he is back to being the big boy scout as he should have been , I'd like to see another outing and another director. But I'm sure it's all DCU teams forever now. And I don't think that second half of that message sticks.

 

[Cephus]

What I meant was that DC comic books have a lot of goofiness built in, not all comics. I suspect Cephus meant that too.

That's what I meant too. Clearly a lot of people haven't read much in the way of silver and bronze-age DC comics.

 

[Malibu139]

I saw it a second time last night.
I liked is as much the second time (maybe slightly more). I was worried about it feeling long or dragging but it didn't.
The only part that seemed off on the second viewing was the proton stream, but that's a minor nitpick.

Noticed the score with the OG Williams throwback a little more this time too.
Agree with most Lois is spot on casting.

The MOS Cavill suit is starting to look like the weird suit to me now.

I really really love the last scene with Supes kicking back and watching Ma and Pa raising him.
Such a feel good ending with a great song to tie into the Superman is punk theme from earlier in movie
IMO Gunn has such a knack for montages that tie things up and have an emotional impact.

 

[Spyhunter2k]

Comic-booky is the best way to describe the movie in a nutshell. Except for one scene of harsher violence, this would be perfectly appropriate and absolutely loved by my 10-year-old self. I was hoping for a bit more realism, though, since comic-booky-ness almost starts feeling campy after a while.

When MOS came out, I remember thinking it was a bit of an overcorrection of the romantic/nostalgic "Superman Returns," and that something in the middle of these two tones would have been best.

I left the theater feeling the same way on this one—that something in-between the over-serious Snyder version and the almost-campy Gunn version would have been great. To be honest, the MCU Captain America feels more like what Superman should be than Gunn's Supes characterization in this movie.

In the end, I was entertained. It was a great popcorn flick, but it wasn't a good Superman movie, not to me. I want my Supes to be hopeful and colorful, but also NOBLE, and have a sense of gravitas fitting his extreme power/responsibility. When you inject too much irreverance and borderline camp, it just doesn't feel right.

 

[NakedMoleRat]

He got his butt kicked a lot in this one.

 

[batguy]

To be honest, the MCU Captain America feels more like what Superman should be than Gunn's Supes characterization in this movie.

That has been the case for years. The Marvel CA has been a better Superman than anything DC has made.

IMO Supes might be the hardest major superhero to write a movie for. He's too powerful to be challenged by most problems. The bad guys mostly have to get him with moral dilemmas.

But the mood of the franchise leans against that. Moral dilemmas are about ambiguities. The main character spends half the movie failing & veering into bad decisions & wrestling with uncertainty. Etc. The public has very little tolerance for that from Supes. Supes is supposed to know what the right choice is and do it without doubts.


Compare this rigid set of rules to Batman. Bruce Wayne can have doubts. He can be young & reckless & angry before Batman is born. He can make mistakes and let bad guys go free. He can get old & bitter and veer off into being too brutal. He can get burned out and retire. He's a 'dark' hero so he gets a lot of leeway to be a flawed human.

 

[BROTHERFOSTER]

He got his butt kicked a lot in this one.

TOO much.

 

[NakedMoleRat]

I’ve got mixed feelings on this one.

It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad.

Better than the Henry movies (not his acting, just a horrible story and dark color palette), but not as good as Reeve’s.

I liked how he played Superman, the character was good.

I’m wondering if I like Returns better.

 

[NeoRutty]

He got his butt kicked a lot in this one.

By a clone of himself.

 

[Cephus]

By a clone of himself.

It actually makes complete sense. Here's a Superman that's only been active for 3 years, he's never met anyone on the same level as he is (barring his cousin, but they're not fighting) and the second he meets one that is as powerful, if not a little more powerful, he gets his ass handed to him. He wasn't getting beat up by street-level thugs. He was getting destroyed by essentially another Kryptonian.

 

[Astyanax]

It actually makes complete sense. Here's a Superman that's only been active for 3 years, he's never met anyone on the same level as he is (barring his cousin, but they're not fighting) and the second he meets one that is as powerful, if not a little more powerful, he gets his ass handed to him. He wasn't getting beat up by street-level thugs. He was getting destroyed by essentially another Kryptonian.

Yeah, he was getting beat up by a Kryptonian who essentially knew all his moves. It tracks.

 

[BROTHERFOSTER]

You know how there are scenes from the Superman movies that you could watch over and over again (the helicopter rescue from 1978 Superman, the airplane rescue from Superman Returns and the oil rig scene from Man of Steel), but I can't think of one from this 2025 Superman (excluding the Mr. Terrific battle scene).

 

[jakob2121]

I know you’re discussing action scenes, but for me the go-to Superman scene remains the bit where Clark is in Lois’ apartment and Reeve temporarily shifts mannerisms from Clark to Superman before shifting back.

Both the interview scene and the space imp scene are up there for me. The discussion during the space imp scene for me was prime Superman material.

 

[NakedMoleRat]

It was first and foremost, a James Gunn movie.

My wife absolutely hated it. We saw it last night, and she ranted about it this morning over how dumb it was.

I do have to agree with her that it did seem to be almost a nonstop fight scene.

We know that Superman is gonna get into a fight, but that’s what he was doing most of the movie.

They focused more on special effects than they did on the story.

I don’t believe that it was a bad movie by any means. It was enjoyable. But it was just missing a few things.

It didn’t seem believable that the world would turn against him because Lex was able to get the last of his parents message to him. If they had known that he was a hero, and that he had been saving people for these last few years, why would they suddenly believe that he was evil now? Sure, a certain percentage would, but I believe the majority of the people would continue to believe what they had.

It was just as dumb as how they all snapped back to team Superman once Luther’s crimes had been revealed.

And I believe that Kevin Spacey was the best Lex Luther to date.

 

[NeoRutty]

It was first and foremost, a James Gunn movie.

My wife absolutely hated it. We saw it last night, and she ranted about it this morning over how dumb it was.

I do have to agree with her that it did seem to be almost a nonstop fight scene.

We know that Superman is gonna get into a fight, but that’s what he was doing most of the movie.

They focused more on special effects than they did on the story.

I don’t believe that it was a bad movie by any means. It was enjoyable. But it was just missing a few things.

It didn’t seem believable that the world would turn against him because Lex was able to get the last of his parents message to him. If they had known that he was a hero, and that he had been saving people for these last few years, why would they suddenly believe that he was evil now? Sure, a certain percentage would, but I believe the majority of the people would continue to believe what they had.

It was just as dumb as how they all snapped back to team Superman once Luther’s crimes had been revealed.

And I believe that Kevin Spacey was the best Lex Luther to date.

I have a lot of thoughts, but haven't compiled them... Mostly I loved it... BUT

Yeah, Metropolis seems to be filled with residents of Springfield and Quahog the way they're so easily manipulated.

 

[NeoRutty]

I know you’re discussing action scenes, but for me the go-to Superman scene remains the bit where Clark is in Lois’ apartment and Reeve temporarily shifts mannerisms from Clark to Superman before shifting back.

Both the interview scene and the space imp scene are up there for me. The discussion during the space imp scene for me was prime Superman material.

"He's a dog!"

"Yeah. And he's not even a very good one. But he's out there alone... and probably scared"

 

[jakob2121]

Reads the day’s news…yes, it’s hard to believe people’s entire viewpoint can be so easily swayed by rage bait. The beauty of what Lex did was that he didn’t say Superman didn’t do good things…he said Superman did good things as part of his larger scam to rise to power.

It’s well documented that almost everything in modern society is ultimately a scam of some sort; it’s why redirection of people’s innate frustration and anger by claiming something is actually a conspiratorial scam is so effective. It gives the valid rage a focal point.

 

[NeoRutty]

A few people, sure... looking for it. But one giant TV in the square and everyone goes MYAD... and these are DIE HARD "We love Supes!" people.

If just left while everyone was confused, even calling BS, or hounding him (like in No Way Home with Peter being revealed) I'd have no problem.

Almost immediately after we see news footage of people's more thought out questions and THAT woulda made it all okay.

Just a TAD fast on the switch... even for as sometimes goofy that movie could be.

And I'm currently giving it a solid 8.8/10

 

[Astyanax]

Just to repeat something said earlier... This movie is not really going for realism. This movie is bringing a comic book to life. So an entire population flip-flopping its opinion about Superman is perfectly plausible under those circumstances.

 

[masterjedi322]

The family and I saw this opening weekend, and I was pleasantly surprised. Given all the trailers and clips that been released ahead of time, I wasn't really liking Corenswet's performance - IMO, Superman was coming off cocky, entitled, and arrogant - the complete opposite of what I feel Superman should be. And as I posted earlier, I hated the Krypto bits in the trailers.

But I can admit when I was wrong. As a dog-lover, I really enjoyed Krypto, and most of the Superman scenes that I had heartburn with prior to the release made complete sense in the context of the movie. I thought Corenswet did a pretty good job, although I would have liked to see more of a balance between Superman and Clark screen time.

Hoult absolutely killed it as Luthor. Brosnahan makes a great Lois. I found some of the secondary characters out of place, although I'd venture to guess they are setting up for future movies, like they did with Supergirl's brief appearance.

While I went in with low expectations, I found this to be an enjoyable, feel-good summer movie. Looking forward to seeing where they take the franchise from here!

Sean