 By Jacob Jones Intro James Gunn’s Superman has already taken the world at large by storm (or, at least, most of twitter – no I’m still not calling it X), with thousands of fans offering their takes, takedowns, praises, musings, and everything in between. From David Corenswet’s casting to Nicholas Hoult’s ultimate hater energy to a few key plot choices Gunn made for the film that are sure to shake up the very core of who we’ve understood Superman to be since 1938, its very existence has set the internet ablaze with largely positive (but also some negative) discourse surrounding its ideas, its direction, its themes, and the essence of the titular character himself. If you’re especially internet savvy, you’ll also see a ton of people dressing up the opening weekend (including me). For those of you who wish to know my spoiler-free thoughts on the film, you can find my original review here. But, for those aching to discuss more specific thoughts, stick around as The Friendly Film Fan covers Superman in completely open, spoiler-y fashion, from small saves to major backstory alterations. We won’t necessarily go over every single story beat, line read, or character choice, but there’s still plenty to cover in just the major leagues. With this being your only full SPOILER WARNING, let’s dig in…or take off…you know what I mean.  And so it begins… When Superman begins, the first thing we see is an opening text which counts us down from three centuries ago (first metahumans on Earth) to three years ago (Superman becomes a public figure) to three minutes ago, when Superman loses a battle to the Hammer of Boravia, the first time that he’s been beaten. During the course of this text – and due to it being in the marketing – we learn that the whole reason the Hammer is there in the first place is because Superman stopped an invasion by the Boravian military into its neighbor nation, Jarhanpur, a pair of deeply unsubtle stand-ins for Israel and Palestine, respectively. (We never get to actually see this happen, unfortunately, nor are we permitted a view at that fight Superman lost – hardly film-breaking omissions, but it’s hard not to feel like we missed out on some key bits of character growth here.) This is the only introductory text the film includes before beginning in earnest. Having been bloodied and bruised, Superman crash lands in the Antarctic, and we see David Corenswet in the red and blue for the first time, beaten and bloodied as he calls Krypto the Super Dog to take him “home,” (a.k.a. the Fortress of Solitude). Once Krypto shows up at the emerging fortress with Kal-El in tow, the Superman robots quickly get to work restoring him back to health with the help of concentrated yellow sun radiation and a soothing message from his Kryptonian parents. It’s here, of course, that who of all actors would show up but Bradley Cooper as Jor-El (careful, Matt Damon, Cooper’s coming for your cameo crown), in hologram form alongside Kal-El’s mother Lara (Angela Sarafyan) as they impart a final message to their son, which was damaged in transit to Earth, leaving it unable to be played in full. The first part of the message, still intact, states that Kal-El’s parents love him more than anything, and he is being sent somewhere where he can do the most good, that place being Earth (more on that in a bit). Not content to stand by while his city is still under the Hammer’s threat, Superman elects to fly back to Metropolis to continue his fight, although he’s not fully healed, and as the camera moves underneath him, the S logo jumps out, and we get our title card: Superman. (Style-wise, it’s more or less the same as the original Superman and Superman Returns title texts.) This leads straight into a second clash between the Big Blue Boy Scout and the Hammer, quickly revealed to be Ultraman immediately after round two wraps up – almost as soon as it began. Superman gets handily beaten again, courtesy of Nicholas Hoult’s all-time-hater performance as Lex Luthor giving him combo instructions from behind a series of office desks. It’s a solid fight sequence, especially in the way Hoult engages with it, and the editing for it is just as frenetic as it would feel to actually witness Superman lose a fight like this. Once this fight is over, we get our first true glimpse at the kind of world this Superman inhabits, courtesy of an ordinary, falafel-stand-owning civilian named Mali, who rushes across traffic – nearly getting hit – to help Superman out of the hole his body made when it hit the ground (and remind us that he gave the Man of Steel free falafel one time). The image of a Metropolis citizen making the first save of the film is not a coincidence; it signals to us that Superman has already inspired a number of people as a symbol of hope, sincerity, and a helping hand. So much so that when he gets knocked down, the people of Metropolis help him get back up. In just a few short minutes, we know who Superman is, we know how much Lex Luthor hates him, and we know how Metropolis feels about him…or at least we know how Mali feels about him. But there’s no time to waste, and the film knows that.  Welcome to the Planet We’re then introduced to the Daily Planet crew as they all weigh in on the front-page article Clark’s written; some find it dry or lackluster (Steve Lombard and Lois Lane), whereas others celebrate the occasion (Cat Grant and Jimmy Olsen, an apparent hunk around the office according to Gunn’s interpretation). This is all happening as Clark is on the phone with Ma and Pa Kent, who are checking in from Smallville to say congrats and see how things are going in what turns out to be the film’s only extended pure comedy bit (some extended bits that come later offer a more multi-tonal emotional pallet). This is also likely where some people may begin to see cracks in the armor of Gunn’s film. The Kents more like technologically-challenged boomer parents with good hearts than as chosen noble stewards of a great Kryptonian’s rise to adulthood. For my part, the bit works for this version of Superman’s world, but does exist just on the cusp of becoming too silly before thankfully not overstaying its welcome, so if it doesn’t work for you the first time, it’s unlikely to work for you on any repeat viewings either. Following a back-and-forth between Lois, Clark, and Jimmy about Superman’s involvement in the Boravian conflict as their President denies having any connection to the Hammer, the next major plot point sees Lex Luthor pitching his new metahuman police – a.k.a. Planet Watch (Ultraman, the Engineer, and a fleet of Raptor Guards) – to the U.S. defense department before jetting off to the Fortress of Solitude location in search of answers about Superman. Meanwhile, Lois interviews Clark as Superman in her apartment; it doesn’t go well (though the scene itself is great).  Jor-El and Lara’s Mission It’s at this point, as the the villains enter the fortress and the Engineer quickly dispatches with the Superman robots before being attacked by Krypto (subsequently torturing him), that the big spoiler of Superman – the one that’s bound to have audiences debating for months regarding its validity – is unveiled. Up to this point, audiences have been used to Jor-El and Lara – Superman’s Kryptonian parents – as upstanding citizens of Krypton, vessels for the inherent good that Clark embodies in the suit and cape; not so with James Gunn’s version. Following an epic fight with an exponentially growing Kaiju during which Superman saves a dog, a woman, and a tiny little squirrel (the Justice Gang swoops in for an assist, our first glimpse at a wider world of heroes), it is revealed that the second half of the message Clark’s parents sent with him contained directions to rule over humanity as a god, destroying those who refused to bend to his will. The nature of how this other half of the message is acquired – through the Engineer plugging in to the fortress console – may lead one to believe the message has been manipulated by Luthor’s team and thus walked back by the end of the film. But there is no reversal, no revelation of manipulation or mistranslation. The message is as-is: Jor-El and Lara really do want Kal-El to be dictator over the entire planet. It’s a revelation that shakes Clark to his core, having never heard the rest of the message until now, as he races back to the fortress to find the robots destroyed and Krypto gone. At first, I was unsure how to feel about this revelation of Jor-El and Lara’s true intentions in sending their son to Earth. Was James Gunn really insinuating that a truth about Superman’s parents we’d all known as long as we’d known them wasn’t actually true? Wouldn’t this ruin those characters, thus infecting the entire idea of Superman’s core values being selflessness and helping people? After further reflection, however, I began to think about choice; it’s why heroes are heroes, and it’s why Pa Kent’s later wisdom-nugget when Clark is dropped off at the farm resonates so deeply with this version of Superman – he is a hero because he chooses to do heroic things, not because he carries those traits genetically. Because he chooses to be a good man every day, he is one, not due to some pre-determined outline of saviorism or even because of his Earth parents’ advice. “Parents aren’t for telling their children who they’re supposed to be,” Pa muses as he sits on the farm’s porch swing with Clark. “We’re supposed to give you the tools to let you make fools of yourselves all on your own.” Pa emphasizes in this scene that Clark’s actions make him who he is; that line appears in the film’s official trailer as well, but in context it takes on a much greater potency. It appears that the message Gunn is attempting to impart with this changing of Superman lore is that it doesn’t matter what sort of world one’s parents or previous generations made, or how they may have failed to protect it properly, how they may want their children to live their lives, or whether they continue to hold beliefs we collectively now know to be wrong. One can always choose a better path forward, make choices rooted in hope and sincerity, and build a new world based on simply doing the right thing, rather than having to compromise rightness for the sake of figuring out how to live in a world that left the ideas of unauthorized heroism and doing good for goodness’ sake behind a long time ago. The same idea comes back around when Superman confronts Lex Luthor at the end of the film, advocating for his humanity and – in true Superman fashion – advocating for Lex’s as well, despite the latter’s refusal to embrace it.  Pocket Universe And that’s not the only time Superman’s goodness shines through despite what people do to him; after Lois goes to see the Justice Gang to find out where Planet Watch took Superman following his turning himself into the DOJ (which comes immediately after another great Clark and Lois scene in Clark’s apartment), and following the revelation from Jimmy Olsen’s source (who turns out to be his overly attached situationship Eve Tessmacher) of Clark’s location in a pocket universe, she and Mr. Terrific go there to rescue him, unaware that he’s already broken out to save Metamorpho’s kidnapped baby but is currently fighting an anti-proton river and some Raptor Guards. The pocket universe sections of the film do run a little on the long side, especially after the film cuts back and forth between Clark’s interrogation in which Lex Luthor murders Mali the Falafel stand owner in cold blood, and the Justice Gang’s initial refusal to help him. It’s also in this pocket universe that – just after Superman turns himself in to the DOJ – the audience confirms what’s been suspected, that Lex Luthor and Boravian President Vasil Ghurkos were conspiring together to take Superman out of the picture, with the help of some literal online monkey trolls farming outrage against the man of steel. Why exactly Lex is so desperate for the invasion of Jarhanpur to proceed isn’t revealed until later.  Boravia, Jarhanpur, and Lex Luthor’s Plan And this is where we come to the film’s biggest tonal clash, the one thing that – for me – keeps it from being a near-perfect film despite how perfectly it understands Superman himself. Lex Luthor decides unilaterally to open a dimensional rift in order to draw Superman out of hiding, which begins heading towards Metropolis at an exponential rate just as the Boravian troops are preparing to finally begin their full scale invasion of Jarhanpur. The single image that nearly brought me to tears in this film is handled beautifully as a group of children raise a makeshift flag with Superman’s crest on it, shouting “Superman” as the John Williams theme (on which the score relies just a little too heavily) kicks in, and Clark sees it happening on Ma and Pa Kent’s television. However, before Clark can go to Jarhanpur to help, Mr. Terrific informs him of the dimensional rift, saying he can’t stop it and if Superman can’t help, there won’t be a Jarhanpur to defend. Superman elects to try to help fix the rift, arriving just in time to save a woman in her car from being crushed by a falling skyscraper, while sending the Justice Gang (and Metamorpho) to deal with the Bovarian army. To me, those two things should have been reversed; for almost the film’s entire length, we’ve heard about how Superman’s involvement in Jarhanpur caused all the problems he’s been dealing with, but in finding out that wasn’t true – and that Lex had conspired with Vasil Ghurkos to give him half of Jarhanpur following a successful invasion – it would make sense for the man of steel to return to the nation’s defense (hell, even if it was true, Superman returning to Jarhanpur would be a sensible story beat). Instead, because Superman has to fight Ultraman, we have the slightly sillier characters (the Justice Gang) dealing with the more serious real-world threat, while the more serious real-world hero (Superman) deals with the sillier, more comic-y threat. And this is all before it’s revealed that Lex Luthor manufactured the whole overseas conflict just to have an excuse to kill Superman; Hoult is excellent in the scene despite how much motivation exposition is dumped on him, but to insinuate that the clearly middle eastern conflict the film is paralleling could be construed as a trivial matter borne of the petty jealousy of one man with something to prove rather than growing out of an organic and fully funded evil supported by millions is not a message I feel Gunn thought all the way through, even if it easily and largely could be (and probably is) wise to ascribe that blame to bald billionaires whose selfishness costs actual human lives. (It also clashes against the near one-to-one metaphor the film acts as regarding Gunn’s firing from Disney due to people who hate him in particular using online trolls to resurface old – and objectively very bad – tweets for which Gunn had previously apologized, which is what led him to work with DC on The Suicide Squad in the first place before being re-hired by Disney to finish Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3).  Ultraman Reveal Before Lex confesses his ultimate intentions though, the film has one more major reveal left to unleash; after Superman and Ultraman trade blows once more in a stadium before Superman nose-dives towards the Earth with Ultraman and the Engineer in tow, the two crash land underground, damaging Ultraman’s mask (the Engineer is knocked unconscious) and revealing him to be…a clone of Superman, made from a strand of his hair that Lex found on the ground after one of Superman’s battles. Now, this is hardly surprising, since – at least in the comics – Ultraman is usually a clone of someone; in most cases, it’s a Lex clone, but a Clark clone is not unheard of, and the movie does enough to make it work. However, making the third act power fight once more between two different versions of the same person a) is an MCU staple that Gunn sort of excelled at subverting, rendering this idea somewhat regressive and b) somewhat deflates the excitement of watching the two powers duke it out since we already know all the moves they’ll each have in their repertoire. Lex is controlling Ultraman, yes, but it’s still the same power set as the guy we’re rooting for, meaning neither really has to adjust their fighting style or learn any new skills. Again, it's not a film-breaking reveal, but it’s not as interesting as it could have been otherwise. The film still manages to pull of some true cheer-worthy moments, such as when Superman and Krypto work together to defeat Ultraman and the score swells once more as Superman flies up into the sky to deliver a knockout power set show-off moment against an army of Raptors, so there’s some give and take. The confrontation where Superman advocates for Lex’s humanity after Mr. Terrific closes the rift from Luthorcorp might be worth that whole fight by itself; it’s a moment that should go straight to the character’s all-time highlight reel. Also, I couldn’t figure out where else to work this in, but since we’re talking about character reveals, the Milly Alcock cameo as Supergirl once Superman gets back to the fortress under the care of the restored Superman robots is supremely fun, and the revelation that Krypto is in fact her dog has had every audience I’ve watched this with go “oh, yeah, that makes more sense.” Alcock is very fun in the scene despite barely a minute of screen time, and it’s an inspired move to make both the film’s mid-and-post-credits gags – both of which are great – have nothing to do with the setup for the next film (the mid-credits panel is straight out of “All-Star Superman”).  Closing Thoughts Overall, even as an imperfect project that doesn’t quite nail everything it sets out to do, I still think this is a really great Superman movie and a terrific start to the new DCU (though it’s hardly the “best” one amongst its namesakes, even if it does outclass nearly the entire DCEU by a pretty wide margin). The future of these heroes is finally back in hands that actually seem to know what to do with them, and with Supergirl less than a year away now (plus HBO Max’s Lanterns show coming early next year), I’m more than ready to jump back into Gunn and Safran’s sandbox to play with some new toys. (But first, I think I’m gonna watch Superman a whole bunch more times.)  - The Friendly Film Fan
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