It’s July 11, 2025 and that means that James Gunn’s highly anticipated Superman film starring David Corenswet as Clark/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor is now here! Being unable to wait for Friday, I was one of the many fans who purchased an early Tuesday preview night ticket through Amazon and Fandango, but it’s taken me this long to post a review. Why?

For starters, when I left the movie, I admit I didn’t know what to think. I do believe I need to see the movie a second time to take everything in. So, keep in mind these are the initial thoughts of someone who would say “oh, that happened” before really thinking deep. To make things easier for myself (and you, the readers), I’ve split this review into two parts: “The Good” and “The Not-So-Good.” Let’s start with the good… oh, and there are explicit SPOILERS in the review, so please do not read this if you haven’t seen the film yet.

The Good: This is a Superman who cares about people. He loves his dog. He loves his family. He loves Lois. The amount of positivity and kindness from this character gets to the core of what I always felt Superman should be. Prioritizing the saving of lives over political consequences… that just seems right, especially in this day and age. David Corenswet displays an earnestness as the character while at the same time showing that Superman can get angry or frustrated just like any of the rest of us. I liked that a lot.

Corenswet’s chemistry with Rachel Brosnahan as Lois was also a good selling point here. You can believe those two are deeply into each other, even if sometimes they frustrate the heck out of one another. While I do miss the “glasses fool everybody” bit, I do like that the movie still had a little bit of fun with it. I also liked that Lois had the agency as a character to question Superman’s actions and challenge them. That, to me, is Lois Lane: ballsy, bold and always after the truth… but also able to separate herself from the story enough to ask the hard questions to get the answers that everyone else might seek. Honestly, Brosnahan might have been my favorite of the Daily Planet gang in this one, and it was fun also seeing her playing such an active role in the storyline.

Krypto… much was made of Krypto in the pre-movie publicity, and I think his presence might be one of the most unique parts of this movie. Krypto the Super-Dog has been a part of Superman mythology since decades before I was born, but despite being a dog lover, I never quite cared about the character much before now. He’s fun. Sometimes a naughty dog, but fun.

I thought Pruitt Taylor Vince and Neva Howell were a lot of fun as what might be the most “country” version of the Kents we’ve had to date. Adding to the human nature of the film, I loved hearing about them talking about random things going on in their lives much like older people tend to do. It’s a swerve from the more youthful versions of the Kents we’ve gotten from such folks as Annette O’Toole, John Schneider, Kevin Costner, and Diane Lane, but it was a great one. A sequence where Clark is brought back to the Kent home to recover is among my favorites of the whole film, especially as it gives Lois a chance to be introduced to that part of Clark’s world.

I liked the Daily Planet and the people we met there, but with the exception of Clark, Lois and Skyler Gisondo’s Jimmy, we didn’t get to see enough of them. Did Ron Troupe even have any lines? Cat Grant really wasn’t going to try to get as much scoop as possible about Superman? Steve Lombard seemed to have more to do than Perry White, which is a shame because Wendell Pierce is just so good and made the most of his scenes. I loved a quip Perry makes near the very end of the movie when Superman and Lois go off into a corner… let’s see more of that!

I’ll talk more about the Justice Gang in the “not so good” section (sorry), but I will say Edi Gathegi as Mr. Terrific was just that – terrific. I’d be okay with it if that character was the tech-savvy Batman type with the gadgets in the Justice League from here on out, and if Batman didn’t exist in this universe at all. The costume design was pretty perfect, and I loved his ship. I was glad he had a decently sized role in this movie.

There’s some inherent political commentary in this film, more than just the “Superman’s kindness” stuff that the Fox News crowd is whining about. Your mileage will vary on what you see Ghurkos and his military invasion of a territory to represent, but it’s incredibly timely for those of us who have seen the images on the news. Lex Luthor’s role in this plot is interesting because it goes back to an aspect of Lex that we’ve seen in at least two movies so far — Lex Luthor’s quest for land. It’s certainly more realistic than building a Kryptonite island in the middle of the sea. It’s still dastardly and evil, though.

I know some people will complain about Jor-El’s “you’re here to conquer” message but having seen multiple seasons of Smallville with a morally dubious Jor-El who at some point or another said pretty much the same thing, it didn’t bother me. If anything, it solidified one of my favorite parts of the film which I’ll mention at the end of this review.

David Corenswet’s Superman costume is great – I LOVE the “S” design, and while I think the suit could have done with a different collar and maybe not so many lines, I loved that we get a big, bright, hopeful look for Superman in this film.

The score from David Fleming was great, especially when it was evocative of the classic John Williams Superman music… but I do admit, hearing some of the same sound beats over and over did get a little old at a certain point by the end of the two hours. There are other verses I’d love to hear, and maybe they’re on the official soundtrack.

There are some fun cameos. I know I said there might be spoilers in this review, but they’re better to just see when they happen.

Finally, I feel like this movie evoked the Silver Age of Superman – the one with super-dogs and super-cousins and super-robots – very well. In that aspect, it certainly succeeded.

The Not-So-Good: I hate to sound like an edgelord, but Superman gets his ass kicked way too much in this film. If he’s getting beaten up this much, what would it be like when he meets Doomsday someday? Maybe it could be argued that he’s still learning how to handle all new kinds of challenges, but it did get a bit old.

I didn’t care much for the opening of the movie for two reasons – one, I hate when we need a few paragraphs of text recap to know what came before, unless it’s Star Wars. Two, almost all of the scenes at the very beginning of the movie were ones we’ve already seen in preview clips or trailers — meaning, it was nothing new.

We’ve seen Superman vs. a double so many times in the past that I was a bit disappointed to see that trope being used again, though I was at least relieved that a rumor that I had read online – that Bradley Cooper’s Jor-El was the man behind Ultraman – was not the truth. Maybe in some draft the Super-guy was Apollo of the Authority, a team that – aside from the Engineer – did not appear in this film after all. 

While I loved the way Lois was portrayed, sadly, this film was not free of misogyny. I know Eve Teschmacher was always treated poorly by Lex, but the way both Lex and Jimmy treat her in this particular movie was incredibly demeaning. The Engineer’s arc, where she changed herself to help a man more or less, also felt like a misogynistic trope that I didn’t care for. Both deserved better.

Unfortunately though possibly by design, the “Justice Gang” felt like fodder and aside from Mr. Terrific, the characters were largely forgettable. In a way, that’s good; it doesn’t feel like a lame attempt to set up spinoff movies the way Batman v Superman did, but at the same time, there is the question of “were they really necessary?” Maybe seeing Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner in the Green Lantern show will make him a bit more impactful…. and hey, at least this was a better role for Isabela Merced than the last superheroine she played. (Look it up!) Speaking of which… I almost wish that this, like The Batman, had been its own universe and thing before trying to set us through some world-building.

Nicholas Hoult is a fantastic actor, and anyone who’s ever seen his early work on Skins knows how masterfully he can play a character with a dark side. With that said, I didn’t find this Lex to be that scary compared to what I would want from a strong villain like this, but also, I didn’t find him sympathetic, either. Rich billionaires going after their own interests is a real-life thing now, but I think they could have played a lot more with his dark side to fully flesh out the character. He was better than Jesse Eisenberg or Kevin Spacey in the role, but he was nowhere near, to me, what people like Michael Rosenbaum, Jon Cryer, or Michael Cudlitz brought to the part. Speaking of Rosenbaum, you mean to tell me they had the GOAT of all Lex Luthor actors in the movie and he voiced… a Raptor?!?!? Not even a robot, or a voice on the TV? That was a bummer.

The humor in the movie was hit or miss. While the post-credits scene is one of my favorite bits of humor that landed, there were several parts of the movie where I think the audience was supposed to laugh, and they just… didn’t. Maybe the funny was drowned by earnestness, or something.

They got better as the movie went on, and I don’t know if it was just the way it looked on an IMAX screen, but there were several moments where the VFX were very, very dodgy. I get that they have to meet a set day for release, but I think some of that could have been smoothed out.

I didn’t feel it was necessary for a sympathetic character to get shot just to make Metamorpho realize that what Lex is doing is wrong. I don’t know how I would have handled it differently, but it did seem needlessly cruel.

There are aspects of the movie that I think they just expect people to just “know,” but for those not familiar with the lore: Where did Krypto and Supergirl come from? Is Clark not the “last” son of Krypton? If no, why not? How did they get here? Who is this Metamorpho guy, and why does his kid look like an alien? Heck, there are even some simpler questions I have: Where does Clark live? Is that place from later in the movie, that was in the costume reveal photo, his place or where Lois lives? If it is Lois’ place, why does it look so different in those scenes than it did earlier in the movie? At least this time Lois doesn’t have a big rooftop terrace on a reporter’s salary which would be unheard of in the year 2025.

One last big flaw I found with the film was that, to me, it wasn’t epic. It was a Superman movie, and that’s great, but I didn’t feel like I was watching an event anymore. Maybe it’s because we’ve had a half dozen takes on the story already, but that doesn’t totally match, because we’ve accepted multiple film versions of Batman before. Maybe they needed a full bombastic fanfare like the Reeve films or Superman Returns. Hans Zimmer’s Man of Steel themes also gave that movie an epic feel. Maybe I think a Superman movie needs to be an event, and Warner Bros. surely hopes that this is an event. But I’m not sure seeing a man who can fly is that new anymore. I could also fully chalk this up to the “superhero fatigue” that DC and Marvel have both put us through in recent years. Part of this makes me think it might have been more fun to start this new universe with Supergirl, a story that – aside from the 1984 movie and the six-season CW series, and definitely not with a Supergirl like Milly Alcock will be playing – hasn’t been told as many times.

The Final Verdict: James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy movies were among the best that Marvel had to offer and I could certainly feel his love for the Superman lore throughout this film. However, that also means that I set the bar that I would rate this by to be super high, with very high expectations. As such, it might not have hit every mark I had hoped for it to… but I know I am a very demanding viewer when it comes to a Superman movie. When I left Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice a decade ago I left with a feeling of disgust and quoted Randal from the end of Jay & Silent Bob Strikes Back. With this? It was fine, and I’m glad I saw it, but as I mentioned earlier in the review, I was unsure what I thought at first.

If you’re on the fence to watch and ignored my warnings of spoilers, good for you! But seriously, I do recommend checking it out and forming your own opinion.

A friend pointed out to me that characters like Superman might work best on television because then there’s time to flesh out that world, and I’ve certainly found myself drawn to Superman TV shows in my lifetime. (I mean, you’re on this site, right?) I feel that may fall into the “it would be nothing new” category to do all over again, especially so soon after Superman & Lois, but I do miss the opportunity to get to know characters in more than just 2-hour chunks every 3 years or so.

And one last thought: “The second half of the video” might have originally stood for Jor-El’s message to conquer, but the message I got by the end is that the second half of the lessons Clark needed came from the Kents. That’s his humanity. That might separate him from a conqueror. And that’s our Superman. If that’s what James Gunn wanted us to walk away with, he certainly succeeded.

Last summer at the Comic-Con International in San Diego, it was hinted that some surprise guests would be showing up in the series finale of Superman & Lois which airs tonight (December 2) on The CW. While this post isn’t meant to confirm or deny any fan speculation, there has been a lot of it in the past week, and this post is a way in which we can share what’s been talked about… you know, in case one of these actually does happen.

We can tell you that almost all of the former series regulars for Superman & Lois are confirmed to return — a list that includes Emmanuelle Chriqui as Lana, Erik Valdez as Kyle, Inde Navarrette as Sarah, Wolé Parks as John Henry, Tayler Buck as Nat, Sofia Hasmik as Chrissy, and possibly more.

For what it’s worth, though, here’s some of the speculation, in no particular order, plus a few extras we threw in for this post. Enjoy:

Barry Allen/The Flash (Grant Gustin) or Oliver Queen/Green Arrow (Stephen Amell): Since the finale of Superman & Lois is the effective end of the Arrowverse (even if it’s not on Earth-Prime), what if the show revisits one or both of the heroes who started it all? Barry could surely find a way to travel Earths and Oliver is still the Spectre last we checked, so… maybe? Though they might not be as likely as….

Kara Danvers/Supergirl (Melissa Benoist): It was her show that first introduced us to Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman. Is there a Supergirl on this show’s Earth? Now is as good of a time as any to find out.

John Diggle (David Ramsey): He was there at the start of the Arrowverse ever since the first episode of Arrow, and unlike those folks up above, he has appeared on Superman & Lois. If he does show up, though, he better have a green ring!

The Justice League: Peacemaker ended with a Justice League we’ve had to say goodbye to; what if Superman & Lois does the same thing, either with established characters, or folks just cast as a special one-shot treat?

Bruce Wayne (David Giuntoli?): Bitsie Tulloch has hinted that Grimm fans should be sure to tune in, so we’re assuming a Grimm cast member, most likely her real-life husband David Giuntoli might be appearing in the finale. Popular speculation has him playing Bruce Wayne if he was to show up.

Lucy Lane (Jenna Dewan): Jenna Dewan is super busy with The Rookie but since she missed Sam’s funeral, maybe she’ll be back for the show’s last hurrah at least?

Tom Welling: Because why not.

Jon-El (Jordan Elsass?): The Bizarro World version of Jonathan Kent is still out there, as far as we know, and that storyline was revisited as recently as the penultimate episode. What if this other Jonathan still looks like the first actor to play this role, Jordan Elsass? Or could we see Michael Bishop donning the 1990s-inspired suit and red pants?

Tom Cavanagh (Again): We saw Tom Cavanagh as recently as episode 7 this season, playing Gordon Godfrey, but considering how many characters he played on The Flash, surely there’s one more in the tank before all is said and done? A Wells, a Thawne, a Pariah…. there are lots of possibilities out there.

What do you think? Are any of these speculations correct or are we BS-ing you this whole time? Leave your speculation in the comments below and ENJOY THE FINALE tonight at 8PM ET/PT on The CW!

Several weeks ago, Smallville stars Michael Rosenbaum and Tom Welling took their “TalkVille” podcast and made it a live performance combined with their exclusive “Smallville Nights” that they’ve had on the convention circuit. Their first stop — extended to two shows after the first sold out — was at the Bourbon Room in Hollywood.

I’ve long said that for fans of the show, it’s costly but you need to do “Smallville Nights” at least once. It’s an interactive thing where fans get to re-enact scenes with the actors themselves, and all get the chance to offer the perfect delivery for “I am the villain of the story!” At the live TalkVille event, this was especially cool because each and every attendee got the chance to do the thing.

The “TalkVille” element of the show was different from I at least hda originally expected — it was more of a freeform discussion between Rosenbaum and Welling, discussing some of their favorite memories of the show, and answering questions from the audience. It would have been fun to see them do an actual show from the podcast in front of the audience, but realistically, that could be a recipe for disaster in case any cuts are needed or anything like that.

One strong thing I felt when watching Tom and Michael on stage is that the source of one of the criticisms of the podcast seems to be identified: Sometimes it has been noted that Michael would interrupt or speak over Tom, when it appears the actual problem is that when recording the podcast, there’s a slight video delay so Michael might not even realize he is talking. So, it’s not a matter of being rude, but perhaps a technical difficulty that might be solved in a future show or two where Tom actually recorded in person at the studio. Both guys (and Ryan!) got time to talk at this event, and there wasn’t any such interruption.

There were some stories told at the event that I didn’t even know or realize — for example, how Kristin Kreuk helped Tom with his audition. Both had a gratitude for the show and I think events like these really make them see it first hand. Tom joked more than once that he tried to cancel the event, but he seemed to do really well with it when it happened. I was touched and surprised that I got a few shoutouts in person… and even hugs when the guys realized I was there! Sadly, there weren’t any individual photo ops or anything, but the memories will remain very strong, and there was a very cool “poster” given to all attendees with awesome artwork by Mickael Journou (MikePosters on Instgram). You can see that artwork up above; hopefully it’s okay that it was used for this post. Apparently, this art was also being sold on a T-shirt, but I didn’t see one!

Beyond getting to see two of the leads of Smallville, a great part of the night was a 45 minute to an hour intermission between Smallville Nights and the TalkVille presentation, and that was also a lot of fun because it gave the opportunity to meet other fans and talk. So many of us started watching the show at different times and it was so much fun to share those experiences with one another. After all, we were all there because of loving Smallville! It was just a lot of positivity and fun, and I met some cool people and hopefully made some cool new friends.

As someone who has covered the show since the beginning, it is also really fun to see Tom being joyful about talking about the show. It really highlights how overwhelmed he must have been when the show was on the air. I still can tell when fans are recreating scenes from Smallville that he still thinks like a director, which is so cool. He’s also such a dad now. His shoes were sticky so he took them off to reveal neon socks, which were actually not as uncool as he thought because…. maybe it was kryptonite. Haha. Still, all in all a good time!

Any negative feedback? A venue with easier parking and a less expensive menu would be nice, but as for the show itself, it was a great time. If and when the TalkVille guys do this again, I highly recommend that you check it out.