James Gunn's Superman improves on the visuals, spirit, and vibe compared to Snyder's version, and it could have been decent if it took itself more seriously. The silliness of his ensemble characters may work in Guardians of the Galaxy, Suicide Squad, or even Peacemaker, but not with Superman.
David Corenswet feels more like Superman than Henry Cavill. Cavill makes a great Superman but a terrible Clark Kent and you need both halves.
In Man of Steel, one of the silliest scenes is a tiny guy bullying Cavill—a tank of a man—something that wouldn’t happen even if he weren’t Superman. Watching Corenswet get bullied at the Daily Planet actually seems rational and fits Clark’s demeanor.
While it would be nice to see a continuation of Gunn's interpretation without the flaws, it may not be possible to fix. So where do we go from here?
Corenswet’s Superman is too weak, emotional, and whiny, and is constantly getting beaten. Gunn wanted him more human, but someone with the power to destroy a city must be composed and confident, something his parents would have instilled from a young age, because a simple emotional outburst could cause mass destruction or death. Being more human doesn’t mean being weak or emotional.
This composure would extend to Krypto: Superman would take every effort to ensure a dog with that level of power is well trained and controlled. That not being the case doesn’t make sense for a conscientious hero like Superman, especially seeing what happened with Lex and Krypto.
The exposed message, which makes his Kryptonian parents militant, is also a major flaw. Most people who found the alien child would call for help, leading to government custody where they would definitely decrypt the message. Others who took in the child would investigate the child’s history or alien technology, which would lead to the message being discovered long before the child was of age. The most empathetic group, like the Kents, would ignore the ship but raise a child who would reject world domination anyway, as the movie shows. It’s dumb luck the message was damaged, saving Clark from potentially being thrown in a prison like his cousin.
All scenarios negate the parents’ plan in its entirety, and its inclusion in the film simply makes all Kryptonians villains and/or foolish, lumping in the scientist with Zod and the council, because any rational parent who simply wants to save their child—the sole survivor of an entire planet—couldn’t possibly know who would decipher the message first, making such an act foolhardy and extremely dangerous for their infant son.
If moving forward they make the movie more serious, remove the silly world-domination angle (criminals will lie about authenticity regardless of Mr. Terrific’s thoughts), replace the emotional and whiny Superman who can’t win a fight with a composed and confident one, and ensure Krypto is properly trained, the series could still work. But that’s a lot to fix, so I wonder where we go from here.
David Corenswet feels more like Superman than Henry Cavill. Cavill makes a great Superman but a terrible Clark Kent and you need both halves.
In Man of Steel, one of the silliest scenes is a tiny guy bullying Cavill—a tank of a man—something that wouldn’t happen even if he weren’t Superman. Watching Corenswet get bullied at the Daily Planet actually seems rational and fits Clark’s demeanor.
While it would be nice to see a continuation of Gunn's interpretation without the flaws, it may not be possible to fix. So where do we go from here?
Corenswet’s Superman is too weak, emotional, and whiny, and is constantly getting beaten. Gunn wanted him more human, but someone with the power to destroy a city must be composed and confident, something his parents would have instilled from a young age, because a simple emotional outburst could cause mass destruction or death. Being more human doesn’t mean being weak or emotional.
This composure would extend to Krypto: Superman would take every effort to ensure a dog with that level of power is well trained and controlled. That not being the case doesn’t make sense for a conscientious hero like Superman, especially seeing what happened with Lex and Krypto.
The exposed message, which makes his Kryptonian parents militant, is also a major flaw. Most people who found the alien child would call for help, leading to government custody where they would definitely decrypt the message. Others who took in the child would investigate the child’s history or alien technology, which would lead to the message being discovered long before the child was of age. The most empathetic group, like the Kents, would ignore the ship but raise a child who would reject world domination anyway, as the movie shows. It’s dumb luck the message was damaged, saving Clark from potentially being thrown in a prison like his cousin.
All scenarios negate the parents’ plan in its entirety, and its inclusion in the film simply makes all Kryptonians villains and/or foolish, lumping in the scientist with Zod and the council, because any rational parent who simply wants to save their child—the sole survivor of an entire planet—couldn’t possibly know who would decipher the message first, making such an act foolhardy and extremely dangerous for their infant son.
If moving forward they make the movie more serious, remove the silly world-domination angle (criminals will lie about authenticity regardless of Mr. Terrific’s thoughts), replace the emotional and whiny Superman who can’t win a fight with a composed and confident one, and ensure Krypto is properly trained, the series could still work. But that’s a lot to fix, so I wonder where we go from here.
