"Superman" (2025)

James Gunn’s Superman doesn’t aim to tell the story a god or a messiah. (Despite the overarching theme of “Gods and Monsters” for this chapter of the DCU.) Superman is usually accused of being boring because of his god-like powers. Instead, Gunn offers something far more grounded and, in many ways, more compelling: a deeply human Superman. He is still strong, still virtuous, but here he bleeds, he doubts, and he chooses. This is not a symbol of perfection sent from the stars to rescue us. This is someone who can be hurt, who is misunderstood, and who chooses to help anyway. Instead of a comic book Jesus, we get a picture that we can identify with.

This story is also very 2025ish. This Superman is clearly an immigrant. He is not simply from another planet. He is alienated, watched, distrusted, and eventually slandered. The world is quick to turn on him. One online smear campaign paints him as a global threat. The mob follows, not facts but momentum. Superman is not canceled for what he does, but for what he represents. In this world, as in our world, image trumps integrity. And Gunn leans into that tension.

Lex Luthor stands in as the architect of the narrative collapse. He’s not just the villain of the story; he’s the manipulator of public perception. He frames Superman as dangerous precisely because he is different. Luthor’s hatred isn’t just for the man’s strength; it’s for his identity. That Superman refuses to serve national interests, that he stands apart, makes him the perfect target for fear-based propaganda.

And yet, the film doesn’t retreat into cynicism. In fact, its entire point is to reject it. “Superman” is about choices. Clark chooses compassion. He chooses restraint. He chooses to help, even when it costs him. Others in the story face the same sorts of crossroads. Lois Lane takes on personal risk and tries to influence events, rather than just report the story. Mister Terrific risks confrontation with the powers that be, and the political world that has decided Superman is guilty. Metamorpho risks his child’s life rather than participate in the evil he sees before him.

That’s the film’s quiet brilliance. In a world of manipulation, coercion, and suspicion, Superman isn’t fighting back with brute force. He’s not interested in power for power’s sake. He’s offering something different. He models integrity, not invincibility. He shows that doing good isn’t about popularity or protection. It’s about personal decision. That is precisely what Christians are called to do. Choose the right path regardless of safety, comfort, happiness, or acceptance.

From a Christian point of view, this isn’t a messianic story. It is a discipleship story. What will we choose to do? It affirms the moral weight of our decisions. It insists that character matters more than control. And it suggests that truth, even when drowned out by noise, still has power.

In the end, Superman (2025) is a story about staying true when the world turns against you. And in our own age of suspicion and spectacle, that’s more than enough to make this a super story worth telling.