Superman Is Super good!

This has been such a good summer for movies so far! From Jurassic World Rebirth, to F1, and now the cream of the Crop. James Gunn’s Superman.

I would like to time travel back to August 2014 for a few moments. A younger dumber Steviepoooooo and his little brother, who we will refer to as “Toolbox”, embarked on a journey to see a film known as Guardians of the Galaxy.

Steviepooooo and Toolbox truly did not know what to expect. Steviepoooooo with his vast comic book knowledge, did not know virtually anything about these obscure characters. Toolbox was straight up resentful about his weird older brother dragging him to a movie featuring a talking raccoon and tree person. Toolbox and Steviepooooo both left the theater having one of the best times they ever had in a movie theater. All credit to the greatness of that film goes to the director, now the head of DC Studios and director of Superman, Mr. James Gunn.

James Gunn might honestly be a modern genius. Since his success with Guardians of the Galaxy he has gone on to make two more Guardians movies, The Suicide Squad, and two seasons of a tv show Peacemaker, and now Superman. Every single comic book property that he has released so far has been either extremely entertaining, or borderline great. Superman is no exception.

Your boy Steviepoooooo has a very complicated relationship with the character of Superman. I am such a huge Batman fan that I have felt some natural resentment towards the character of Superman. Batman is not the biggest fan of Superman so neither is your boy Steviepoooooo. I personally thought that he was always kind of boring and his stories were not that interesting when I read the books.

I also did not enjoy 2006’s Superman Returns at all. I saw that film when I was a young teenager. It was very formative towards my opinion about the character.

2013’s Man of Steel was definitely better than Superman Returns. However, it was still far from your boy’s favorite comic book movie.

2025’s Superman is a true testament to how important the creative team behind a huge Hollywood blockbuster really is. James Gunn not only wrote and directed a fantastic film, but his casting decisions were excellent.

First and foremost, we were only about fifteen minutes into the film when I leaned over to Mrs. Steviepoooooo and stated that David Corenswet was running circles around Henry Cavil in terms of his portrayal of the character. Mrs. Steviepooooo looked at me excitedly and vehemently nodded in agreement.

This movie did a great job of the seemingly impossible task of humanizing the character of Superman. Superman historically has been very hard for audiences and Steviepooooos to relate to. He is an all powerful character from another planet. In this film Superman and Clark Kent finally felt like a human being that I could relate to. I would go so far as to say that I would be willing to hang out with this version of Superman. The same could not be said for previous iterations of the character.

The scene that stood out to me that humanized the character was how furious Superman got with Lex Luthor when Lex took his dog, the beloved Krypto. Superman completely lost his composure for the first and only time in the movie. He smashed Lex Luthor’s office and threatened him on global television. Any dog owner knows that if anyone threatens or God forbid, harms our beloved furry friends all bets are off in terms of our behavior towards those terrible people. If anyone threatens or hurts any of my pets I will kill them. I guarantee it.

The adorable Krypto was the unquestioned MVP of the film. He was the aspect of the film that the Steviepooooo’s were most excited about going into the film. He somehow exceeded our lofty expectations.

The decision to have Krypto be a naughty dog was pure GENIUS! He reminded my wife and I so much of our Naughty little Napoleon that we were smirking the entire movie. Krypto is such a good bad boy! I cannot wait to see him again next summer in Supergirl!

Every single performance and portrayal of key Superman characters were a vast improvement over the Zack Snyder iterations of the characters. Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor and Rachel Brosnahan’s Lois Lane were particular standouts.

Hoult provided the most comic accurate portrayal of Lex Luthor that I have ever seen. He was both dashing and sinister in the same moments. That is the true core of the character. The character of Lex Luthor has honestly been my favorite Superman character. To see him finally be done properly on the big screen was very satisfying for me.

Brosnahan’s Lois Lane was the first captivating portrayal of Lois Lane the that I can recall. She added so much to the plot of the film. In past versions Lois just felt like an unnecessary addition. For the first time that I can remember, I was excited to see Lois when she was on screen. The scenes between Clark Kent and Lois were also very steamy and got the juices flowing.

Another standout of the film was Edi Gathegi’s Mr. Terrific. He was…..Terrific! 😉

I do have some history with the character. I honestly was never the biggest fan. This character was in Arrow tv show and was so lame.

Gathegi’s portrayal was the best surprise to me. James Gunn and Gathegi were able to take a character that Steviepoooooo and fellow nerds couldn’t care less about and make him one of the best things in the movie. When Mr. Terrific landed in Lex Luthor’s encampment and single handedly defeated all of them, it brought a tear to my eyes. It was so beautiful. Best action scene in the movie hands down.

I could not recommend this film enough. I hope all of my fellow comic book movie enthusiasts get off their butts and go see this movie on the big screen. The visuals are stunning, and you would be doing yourself a disservice to not see it on the biggest screen possible.

I cannot wait for Superman 2. That is a sentence I never imagined myself saying.

A bientot!

Stephen Benet (@benetstephen) • Instagram photos and videos