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Ask any Superman fan what their favorite moment is with the Man of Steel in DC Comics, and I guarantee you at least a quarter of them will point to a single page in Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's All-Star Superman #10. It's one where a teenage girl teeters on the edge of a rooftop, clearly on the verge of taking her own life, when Superman pops in behind her and puts his hands on her shoulders. The girl's face lights up with unexpected joy. "It's never as bad as it seems," he says, "You're much stronger than you think you are. Trust me." The two hug each other. 

It's no surprise, then, that this sentiment from All-Star Superman radiates across James Gunn's Superman film starring David Corenswet. Gunn's story goes to great lengths to show what makes Superman unique among all of the superpowered individuals on Earth. Within the first act of the film, Superman has an outburst in an interview with Lois Lane, saying, "PEOPLE WERE GOING TO DIE!" while justifying why he crossed international borders to thwart the invasion of the fictional country of Jarhanpur. The film gives this rare moment of Superman raising his voice a dramatic beat, letting us internalize this simple fact about the character's moral code. It isn't "because it was the right thing to do," or "because I could." In fact, for Corenswet's Superman, it has nothing to do with "I" at all. People were going to die. 

Spoilers ahead for the 2025 Superman movie.

DC Studios's Superman film brings the character back to his roots as a refugee and survivor

The Superman in James Gunn's film knows a thing or two about losing people. He openly speaks about how he's an alien whose cultural heritage was destroyed alongside his parents and homeworld across the universe. In his Fortress of Solitude, he watches the video recording his parents sent in the escape pod he traveled in as an infant to remind himself of his family's values: survival in the face of catastrophe. It only makes sense that he'd value all life as one of the last surviving Kryptonians in the universe. 

Superman's philosophy is far-reaching within Gunn's film. Alongside ordinary people, the Man of Steel swoops in to spirit a tiny squirrel away from becoming collateral damage when an enormous creature rampages downtown Metropolis. We also learn that he doesn't want to kill creatures that attack Metropolis. Rather, he wants to rehome them in zoos somewhere in space where they can get the proper care they need. And without spoiling anything too much, Superman also ends up saving his universe's version of angry social media trolls, regardless of the anti-alien hate they've spread about him. 

And yet, James Gunn is the first filmmaker, within the 21st century at least, to center this element of Superman's character. It couldn't come at a more urgent time, something that Gunn is well aware of. Without directly stating Superman's role as the "champion of the oppressed" from his very first appearance in 1938's Action Comics #1, Gunn carves out the specific place that Superman's ideals have within today's geopolitical landscape, albeit through a conflict between two fictional nations, Barovia and Jarhanpur. By the time the narcissistic, blubbering tyrant leader of Barovia commands his troops not to stop their assault on a ragtag group of civilians until their path is "dripping with the blood of every Jarhanpurian," we don't need to be told twice why this type of story matters today. 

Superman in James Gunn's film is a far cry from Zack Snyder's baffling take on the character

There is a lot of pain in the world, but we at least now live in a time where a movie version of Superman cares with every fiber of his very being for the lives of all creatures around him. You might think that I need to get a grip on myself for saying this, but I mean it. 12 years ago, Zack Snyder's Man of Steel film culminated in Henry Cavill's Superman snapping the neck of his uncle, General Zod, killing him. It's a move that sent acclaimed Superman writer, Mark Waid, into a frenzy when he saw the film in theaters ("...some crazy guy in front of us was muttering 'Don’t do it…don’t do it…DON’T DO IT…' and then Superman snapped Zod’s neck and that guy stood up and said in a very loud voice, 'THAT’S IT, YOU LOST ME, I’M OUT,' and his girlfriend had to literally pull him back into his seat and keep him from walking out and that crazy guy was me." Waid wrote on this blog.) Whatever way you cut it, Man of Steel's Superman killing someone was a betrayal of the character's values. And don't get me started on how in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Cavill's Superman had no reaction when one of his closest friends, Jimmy Olsen, was murdered execution style. The very last thing the world has ever needed was a Superman who didn't value the lives of others.  

Gone are the days of a stoic, impassive Superman onscreen. Corenswet's portrayal of Superman makes him passionate, caring, outspoken, and imperfect, just like the best of us. He offers a solid model for how suffering immense loss and grief can drive us to help others, not just "our own," and how sorely needed that type of selfless compassion is. The Superman in James Gunn's film is powerful, but also sensitive to the fragility of life in all of its forms. 

Superman first swooped into the world in 1938, when life on Earth was threatened by fascists with hateful ideologies. James Gunn's film makes it clear that in 2025, Superman is still here to carry his original banner as the champion of the oppressed. It's up to the rest of us to live more like him. 

James Gunn's Superman movie is out now - and we have a lot to say about it. You can also read about Superman's S-Shield through the ages, how Superman and Clark Kent keep their secret identity secret, our recs for best Superman comics, and how to watch all his TV series and movies in order.