“The Man of Steel” takes on headlines again over the premiere of Director James Gunn’s Superman in the summer of July 2025. It isn’t just the promising start of a new film or even the first in a potential series of films. In fact, it marks the beginning of DC’s freshest cinematic universe. It was the early 1930’s when Jewish pair Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster invented the caped crusader on a mission to fight corruption. The Man of Steel, the Man of Tomorrow, the last son of Krypton was first published 87 years ago, and recently had his motto shift towards “Truth, Justice and A Better Tomorrow” versus the former “American Way” towards the end point. Change represents future, as much as it does the present and past, whether it be making the jump from a comic book strip to the large 45-to-60-foot-wide screen or depicting an “old” character with the casting of a “newer” actor to become their “leading face”. Fans of Snyder and Gunn would have to sit through this one a bit longer.
Perfection is subjective to the viewer’s eye. With a leading man that’s been depicted across multiple instances within the superhero franchise; take for example Marvel’s Captain America. A penchant for justice, a strong love for the nation he grew up in and in Superman’s case, adoration for the people that resided within it as well. Yet, it didn’t just mean humble America, no, our Supes carried care for the whole globe and if not, the entire world as we know it. As cheesy as it sounds.
So, what makes ‘him’ different?
“Krypto. Home. Take me home.”
Superman (2025)
Enters the opening of the film, shot at a depressingly high angle that suggests Superman’s vulnerability right off the bat. What is home to an estranged alien cast away from his own birth parents? What is “home” to someone who never had the opportunity to grow up on his birth planet? Yes, the most that freedom of the oppressed will ever be depicted in popular culture is through the art of cinema, such as the emergence of Italian neorealism approximately 73 to 80 years ago.
As filmmaker James Gunn had put it, Superman was and always will be an allegory for immigration. There isn’t subtext to be included, rather, it was text itself. Bold, italicised, font size 40 and above. Superman’s creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, were born as children of Jewish immigrants and would have understood displacement immediately. The superhero genre itself wouldn’t have existed without Superman, without the inclusion of “politics” that many struggle to comprehend.
Simply put, Superman is “woke”. That said, should all movies follow Gunn’s example of commentating on real world issues?
Fahim Fazli in Superman (2025)
The director’s message is always encoded into the message told through the media, which would be decoded by viewers themselves. There is no “fixed” answer to art, but there is a multitude of interpretations one can make about the information given to them. Superman (2025) gave us a story about humanity and the reversibility of responsibility given by the corrupt to their own people. The film emphasises on the politics of positivity; creating a safe space for imagination, “What-If” scenarios for stories that reflect everyday life as a human being.
“Your Choices, Clark. Your Actions. That’s What Makes You Who You Are.”
Interestingly, the film shifts focus toward the ‘man’ within ‘Superman,’ more so than earlier works in the screen arts industry. It showcases a new era of superheroes, wherein they could be depicted similarly to just people versus Gods. The choice to make Kal-el’s birth parents as “bad” while Ma and Pa Kent were the ones to guide young Clark’s moral compass was a strikingly one, even going as far as to suggest that parents are not one for telling who their children should be but instead, help them become who they choose to be. Choice becomes liberty, choice becomes a right, even for an otherworldly being like Superman.
“I think this movie is about kindness, which everyone can relate to.”
James Gunner, film director for Superman (2025) from Variety.
Superman resists. He declares action to be taken when the government forbids it, saying “Innocent people will die.” and it is as close of a take to former iterations of the comic book character, between pacing and shifting tones from one scene to another. Superman becomes a symbol for moral clarity. In different ages, different people, different cultures, the moral consciousness to protect innocence plays a key role in the construction of human life. Is there no cure to corruption, reality or fiction, except when bartering a life for a life?
Hollywood may romanticise the idea of salvation with “the good guys”, but it is the viewers who dictate the narrative with their own backgrounds. Maybe, instead of shouting to the left or the right, we must first recall our own voices; do not betray the legacy Superman had paved for us. For a better tomorrow, this movie practically demands an optimistic afterglow.
Caitlin 
Clara 
Kath Smart