Can Superman Still Fly in 2025?
In a world cynical of saviours, the Man of Steel returns. But does he have a home here anymore?
Today, Superman returns. After years of darker, more brooding interpretations, James Gunn’s Superman is rumoured to be a return to the primary colours and soaring optimism that once defined the character. But just as the Man of Steel prepares to take flight, the kryptonite of modern cynicism has already been deployed.
Shattering the sacred convention of the embargo, the Daily Beast's review landed early and was scathing. Critic Nick Schager wrote that the film ‘lacks emotional depth and feels superficial and silly.’
This pre-emptive strike raises an essential question: what do we even want from a Superman film in 2025? Are we looking for the tortured introspection of Hamlet? Or do we misunderstand the archetype entirely?
The Ghost of a God
Let's not pretend Superman needs to be gritty and realistic. He is the original, the blueprint upon which all other capes were cut. As the philosopher A.C. Grayling has noted, the Christological parallels in recent superhero films have been less than subtle. Man of Steel (2013) leaned into this heavily: a 33-year-old sent by his father to save humanity through sacrifice. Before we had superheroes, we looked to scripture and mythology to find our saviours. Then, we needed capes.
The new film, by all accounts, is pulling away from the dystopian gloom. The hope is for something sunnier, more earnest. But this is where the modern world presents a problem.
Truth, Justice, and a Messy World
The FT's Stephen Bush recently argued that our world is ‘crying out for a saviour,’ but is paradoxically too messy for one like Superman. He writes: ‘More than any other superhero, Superman needs a brighter, less fraught world to fly in... the question is whether that glaring absence makes it easier, or harder, for the cinematic one to soar.’
The argument seems to be that Superman's foundational virtues: famously ‘truth, justice, and the American way’ can no longer shine on such complicated uplands. Tellingly, ‘the American way’ has recently been replaced in the comics with ‘a better tomorrow,’ a nod to a world where America's role as the global policeman is no longer a given. It's a stark contrast to the Cold War era that cemented much of his popularity.
The Escapism We Need
But we don't need Superman to be completely relatable; that's what the charmingly clumsy Clark Kent is for. Superman himself is meant to be an ideal, an escape. He is best paired with popcorn and a two-hour reprieve from the endless scroll of bad news.
We cannot ask the character to solve the intractable problems of our reality. He is the representation of a desire, not the fulfilment of it. We don't get to choose the world we live in, and we don't get to choose the cut of a saviour to match. If we can't be saved from our actual circumstances, what good is a fictional saviour?
Perhaps that’s the point. When we are all battling a kind of kryptonite, both outside and within us, the answer we crave might just have to be from out of this world.
What do you think? Is there a place for a hopeful Superman today, or does the character need a darker edge to feel relevant? Let me know in the comments.