Superman Reimagined: Trailer Teases Identity, Legacy, and Hope

DC Studios has been emboldened by recent successes, including the chart-topping Batman, and is pushing into a very new era with Superman, its rebooted version of the Man of Steel, penned and directed by writer James Gunn. The film, expected to hit theaters in July, has been the subject of much speculation in the past few months, with Gunn, stars David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, and Nicholas Hoult, among others, teasing the details, all while building toward this first full trailer.

Does it deliver? Buckle up, because this thing has a lot going on. The first thing we’ll say is that there’s plenty to be excited about. This is a new Superman, with a new Clark Kent and a new Lois Lane to go with him. There are a lot of familiar faces from the DC Universe, too, both as heroes and villains. And then there’s that one superdog. Oh man, you’re going to love Krypto.

Focus on the Man, the Myth, the Character

Superman isn’t an origin story. Gunn has said this is a rare adjustment for the character, who, over the decades, has had an origin story so well-known and so frequently revisited in various permutations that the phrase “It’s Superman’s first day on the job” is almost a mythic comic book incantation unto itself. Instead, Gunn and the film appear to be taking a broader look at Superman’s life in general, specifically Clark Kent’s internal conflict with being both a son of the late Kryptonian royalty and a Kansas-born farm boy from Smallville. Gunn has even referred to the new film as Superman’s “interior odyssey” in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

The big hurdle is that Superman has played all of these characters a million times over. Sure, he’s jumped between animated incarnations, TV reboots, cinematic universes, and even had his origin recast from comics hero to DC Comics villain and back again with John Byrne’s 1986 The Man of Steel. But all of those stories boil down to the same things, the same themes. The question becomes: How is Gunn’s reboot of Superman different?

The answer is right there in the trailer, in the performances, and in the themes that Gunn has been seeding in his interviews. To be specific: focus. This Superman is Clark Kent, and Clark Kent is Superman. David Corenswet, who has appeared in the film Pearl and the Ryan Murphy series Hollywood, is 25 years old and plays the character as no longer green and dewy-eyed, but with a sense of having seen a thing or two, especially in his interactions with Lois Lane.

Lois Lane is played by Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) with just enough edge to make her both insufferable and empathetic, and the trailer puts her in the position of first lead: She opens it with a voiceover and a run-through a sit-down interview for an unspecified story that Superman is a key figure in, she’s played as both attracted to and on the warpath against Clark Kent in a scene that cuts to them meeting in person not long after, and it’s unclear, based on the dialogue between them at least, whether or not she knows that Superman and Kent are one in the same. That said, we argue you can tell based on their performances that she does not yet know his secret. If it’s the case that she does, this could very well be the engine that drives the film, but either way, she’s right at the center of it.

As for Lex Luthor, a role that should not need much introduction. Nicholas Hoult, who has received a fair bit of hype since he first signed onto the role, looks the part and sets the table as well, being introduced in what is easily his usual goddamned menace. He also shares the screen with what appears to be two more returning characters: Sara Sampaio as Eve Teschmacher, and Terence Rosemore as Otis, both of whom appear to be in on his larger plan.

In terms of more character additions to the DC lexicon, we’ve been teased one in particular, and that’s Superman’s dog. While he first made a cameo in last December’s teaser trailer, the dramatic scene where Krypto pulls a near-death Superman out of the street and drags him to the Fortress of Solitude is one of the most badass parts of this trailer. The dog, affectionately known by fans as Krypto, isn’t above it all. He chews up and destroys Lex Luthor’s necktie at one point. Lex will never forgive him for this.

Krypto is just one of several Kaiju—in this case, superpowered giant monsters—that make an appearance, a standout being the high-flying Angela Spica, aka The Engineer, played by Maria Gabriela de Faria. She’s another fun addition to the list of competitors for Superman’s new world, and her character is immediately set apart not just by her black spandex ensemble and futuristic weaponry, but also by the multilingual digital augmentations to her eyes. And what a costume she has, too. Black leather spandex with dangerously sharp rotating blades for arms, and neon yellow accents. Yes please.

Speaking of superheroes, there are plenty of these, too, some more obscure than others. Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner, a Green Lantern with a bowl cut, or Anthony Carrigan, who’s Rex Mason/Metamorpho, a DC character who, as the trailer describes it, can control and shift the elements of the earth through his body. Rounding out the selection of new, or lesser-known, DC characters are Isabela Merced, who plays the winged warrior Hawkgirl, and Edi Gathegi, who plays the brilliant Michael Holt/Mister Terrific, a crimefighter in a mask. A not-insubstantial addition to this list is the character of Kara Zor-El, or, as she’s better known, Supergirl, played by newcomer Milly Alcock. Supergirl is a cousin to Superman, which bodes well for DC’s larger Kryptonian arc.

On the human side of things, Pruitt Taylor Vince and Neva Howell fill in the role of Clark’s Kansas parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent. In terms of crossovers for DC Comics fans, we’ve also spotted Frank Grillo, who will reprise his role as Rick Flag Sr. from the animated series Creature Commandos. Sean Gunn, who has been on a bit of a superhero run in recent years, is in as Maxwell Lord, too.

Heroism and Humanity

If there’s anything to be taken away from this trailer, it’s that we’re in for some serious heroism, but that it will have at least an equal amount of humanity on the other end. At one point, Lois has Clark’s heroism in question, and Clark questions Lois on this in return. Lois asks where he thought things like what Superman had just done to stop an enemy would go from there.

When Clark looks her square in the eye to respond, he says, “People were going to die!” and for a moment, the sky looks like it might open up and destroy them all. It’s at this moment that we’re able to see both the two opposing sides of the argument as well as the way Superman has chosen to step back and observe it all.

Lois has a point. Clark has a point, too. But this exchange of mutual ideals is likely going to be what holds this entire film together. There is some humor to it all. The last frame of this trailer is Superman on his bed, Krypto the White Kryptonian Superdog on top of him, both utterly satisfied in a rare moment of Superman peace and quiet. It’s touching. It also just might be the moment that captures perfectly what DC Studios is now betting on for the DCU: that it’s going to make an epic story human.

With this trailer alone, Superman is shaping up to be so much more than a reboot. It’s going to be a reset.