On Dec. 19, 2024, the teaser trailer for the upcoming “Superman” (2025) movie was released. The trailer signaled the return of the “Man of Tomorrow” to the cinema in over a decade. The last Superman-centric movie was “Man of Steel” in 2013.
The teaser trailer was vastly praised by fans and critics alike, as it became the highest-viewed trailer for a Warner Brothers movie in the studio’s roughly 100-year history, accumulating 250 million views on its release day.
While the teaser trailer did not reveal much in terms of plot, the trailer did show something much more important: Superman’s never-ending optimism — a foundational character trait that defined Superman from his inception through the 21st century. The trailer was well-received for its portrayal of Superman’s heroics and vulnerability. In one scene, he saves a little girl from exploding debris, and in another, a young boy is seen chanting his name in a war-torn area. Then, there is a moment in which Superman is being dragged to safety by his pet dog Krypto after an intense fight, showing the humanity of the Man of Tomorrow.
Superman is more than just his powers; his very creation is an allegory of the immigrant experience and the belief that there is goodness within each of us. These principles have allowed the alien from Krypton to be a timeless character.
On April 18, 1938, “Action Comics #1,” created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, landed on comic book store shelves, marking the debut of Superman and Lois Lane, an investigative journalist who is his co-worker at The Daily Planet and eventual love interest/girlfriend/wife. Siegel and Shuster, both born to Jewish immigrants, decided to create the Man of Tomorrow to fight off the rising tide of Nazism in the late 1930s.
With Hitler’s power and antisemitic rhetoric towards Jewish people rising in Europe, Siegel and Shuster created a hero to represent the better of humanity prevailing during waning times. In Superman’s earliest adventures under the “Action Comics” title, he would often face and defeat Nazis to represent that even in trying times, hate can never win. Thus, Superman was appropriately named the “Champion of the Oppressed.”
In a 1981 BBC Documentary titled “The Comic Strip Hero,” Siegel reflected on the impact of his creation: “A clean-cut guy that could rule the world and is all powerful, but instead uses his power to aid the helpless and the deserving rather than exploit them.”
From the character’s inception, Superman has always represented optimism and pride in identity. As Siegel and Shuster are Jewish and the children of Jewish immigrants, they used the character of Superman as a form of self-expression, expressing their belief in the faith in humanity.
While Superman seems confident as he battles his rogue gallery and saves the world from impending doom, his alter ego is anything but that. When he is not saving the world, Superman can be found at The Daily Planet, the biggest newspaper publisher in Metropolis, as reporter Clark Kent.
Clark represents himself as the complete opposite of Superman: clumsy, shy and awkward. As Clark, he changes his appearance by donning thick-framed, rectangular glasses and changing both his posture and the way he speaks to throw people off his scent — especially Lois.
Clark’s code-switching is best portrayed by Christopher Reeve in “Superman” (1978), in a scene where Reeve’s Clark enters Lois’ apartment, played by Margot Kidder. As Lois exits the room, Reeve takes off his glasses and stands upright, transforming into the Man of Tomorrow in an instant.
The tagline of the film was “You’ll believe a man can fly,” a phrase that reflects the wonder and awe of the characters. The 1978 film was the first Superman movie and the catalyst for the growing popularity of the superhero genre today. The audience witnessed Reeve don the classic red and blue spandex with red underwear on the outside as he saved cats from trees, soared through the sky and helped those in need. This versatility made his depiction both believable and relatable when he was going up against notorious villains Lex Luthor and General Zod.
In 1978, director Richard Donner brilliantly captured the character’s essence, namely his kindness, courage and loyalty. However, the film was originally going to go in a drastically different direction. When Donner initially received the original script for the film, he felt it did not stay true to Superman’s core ideals, calling it “disparaging” to the hero. Thus, Donner accepted the directing job to save the movie from itself.
“I was brought up on Superman as a kid,” Donner said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, reflecting on the process of making the movie. “So when I was finished with [the original script], I was like, ‘Man, if they make this movie, they are destroying the legend of Superman.’ I wanted to do it just to defend him.”
What Donner and the film succeeded in was not capturing the mighty power of an alien, but rather the experiences of trying to fit into society and do right by others. Superman serves as an embodiment of the universal human experience in this depiction.
Fast forward to 2013, “Man of Steel” arrived in theaters with the hopes of starting a Detective Comics Cinematic Universe (compare to the Marvel Cinematic Universe). The film, directed by “Watchmen” and “300” filmmaker Zack Snyder, took the Man of Tomorrow and envisioned him in modern times. Snyder and actor Henry Cavill dared to ask the question: what would happen if an alien came to our planet and hid in plain sight? What’s more, what would the public’s reaction be to encountering an otherworldly being so powerful that he could destroy worlds?
The film took a more realistic approach in portraying Superman, tackling the issues of politics and fear mongering. Snyder, who is known for his stunning action sequences and cinematic visuals, leaned into Superman’s strength in this film as well as in the follow-up film “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” (2016). While Snyder did retain the hopeful and optimistic vision of Superman, it was overshadowed by the realism of the curiosity surrounding what mankind would do upon living with an alien being. Snyder proposes the complex question: would Superman choose his kind over mankind?
The straightforwardness and groundedness of Cavill’s Superman divided audiences and critics alike, with Tomatometer and Popcornmeter scores of 57% and 75% on Rotten Tomatoes, respectively. It became clear that Snyder’s vision for Superman was divisive. “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” fared worse, with a 29% critic score and a 63% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
In 2020, The CW attempted to modernize Superman in today’s society with “Superman and Lois” (2020-2024). The network is no stranger to Superman adaptation content with its show “Smallville” (2001-2010) that ran for 10 seasons, chronicling the origin stories of Superman, Lex and Lois.
“Superman and Lois” took a modern approach to the iconic characters, tackling the premise of Superman (Tyler Hoechlin) and Lois (Elizabeth Tulloch) being married with two teenage sons while navigating parenthood and careers. The show bridged the iconic Superman mythology with core aspects of the human experience. How does the most powerful man in the world make time for his wife, sons and duties as a hero?
“Superman and Lois” follows Clark and Lois making mistakes as parents, partners and as workers in their respective fields, creating connections with the audience. While viewers may not have superpowers or be raising superpowered teenagers, the ability to balance multiple responsibilities is a universal experience.
Superman does not need to be modernized; rather, entertainment studios should stick to the foundation established in the 1930s. Kindness, empathy and courage have been the cornerstones of his character in the comic books.
In “Action Comics #775,” writer Joe Kelly and artists Doug Mahnke and Lee Bermejo tackled the question of whether Superman was outdated as he confronted a violent vigilante superhero group willing to kill without any government influence. This put “Big Blue” in a moral dilemma of how justice should be achieved. In Metropolis’ Chinatown, Superman has fought Ku Klux Klan members in “Superman Smashes The Klan” (2019-2020) by comic writer Gene Luen Yang and artist team Gurihiru. Superman has tackled human-trafficking issues in Phillip Kennedy Johnson’s Warworld Saga (2021-2022), in which he liberates enslavement on an alien planet.
The motto “Truth, Justice and a Better Tomorrow” is at the heart of every Superman story, and director James Gunn appears to be returning to these themes.
The teaser trailer features actor David Corenswet playing Clark as both a mild-mannered, awkward Daily Planet reporter as he stumbles his way into work and his Kryptonian counterpart of Superman. He is donning the classic red and blue suit with the comic-accurate underwear, saving citizens and fighting off a monster in the middle of Metropolis.
A modern rock rendition of John Williams’ iconic Superman theme from “Superman” (1978) is accompanied by people chanting for the titular character, establishing in two minutes that Superman is not only an inspiration for those in trying times but a persistent representation of the importance of empathy. It also serves as a contemporary homage to “Superman” and shows the world why it still needs Superman.
Hopefully, Gunn’s “Superman” lives up to the potential of being a faithful representation of this iconic character and encompasses what he will always be: a symbol of hope in trying times. A divided world like ours needs a Superman.
