Published: September 22, 2025
If you were to ask my friends, family, coworkers, or even my cat, they would say that my obsession of the summer was the new Superman film. I saw the film more than once and every time I have finished watching it I am left with a certain feeling. Something that I can only describe as an over abundance of hope mixed with sadness. I felt this feeling for the first time when I watched it with my younger cousin. I felt it a little less and instead was feeling annoyed when I forced my dad and younger brother to watch it with me. However, I felt it the most when I was watching just a few rows ahead of my friend and their hinge date that was unaware I was chaperoning the date.
Superman has always been a symbol of hope. Although David Corenswet’s portrayal of Superman seemed to be the most inspiring and optimistic one that I have seen. As someone who has been a Superman fan for a long time, and someone who has appreciated Corenswet’s acting since he played River Barkley in Ryan Murphy’s The Politician in 2019, it was rather comforting to see this movie. James Gunn was not afraid to let Clark Kent/Superman be vulnerable. Very rarely did he get angry outside of fighting Ultraman or the Raptors, besides when Luthor took the dog. But Gunn also allowed Lois to be, in my opinion, the hero of the film.
I could go deeper into the fact that Superman is apparently “woke”, however why should it matter? In my viewpoint, what really matters is how the film made you feel while watching it. Corenswet’s acting and Gunn’s directing made me feel like the world could be peaceful and that there could be good outcomes after bad events. I was hoping that my brother and cousin saw that just because they are male they can show emotions like Clark Kent. It made me sad at the same time knowing that society isn’t like that in real life, but it brought me around to being happy again because it could always get better.
