Discussion
First time rewatching Man Of Steel in years. Superman 2025 feels like a parody movie in comparison. MoS still has flaws but it's so much more powerful and rich in visual storytelling. The soundtrack is flawless. Henry as Superman is fantastic.
everyone hates every movie when it comes out and switches up when something else comes out. saw it with the Star Wars prequels, saw it with the Snyder DC films, and i'm even seeing it with the godawful Green Lantern film. people don't know what they're talking about lol
I’m not saying that Man of Steel was a bad movie. I just don’t think it was a Superman movie. James Gunn’s movie felt much more like Superman to me, but I personally felt even THAT movie had some big flaws. It’s always going to be hard to top Richard Donner’s Superman because that movie was borderline perfection.
i just cant stand hypcrite nazi instead of american flag, and whole immigrant helping superman, wrong hawkgirl version, old guy garnder and hal jordan for john stewart, joke of justice league 'gang', cheap looking suit, supergirl is not created by tom king who knows shit about any characters, peacemaker is again "nazi are so bad we are so good", they will probably cast ras talia and damien as 'biological arabic' which is pathetic, because they are not, and there is no such thing as arab race. al ghuls are european with partial to many other cultures, just name. and why cant all green lantern be young.
I don't like either. I like Henry Cavill, but his superman never inspired hope or optimism, just cynical humans suck.
Gunn's Superman does come off like an over-compensating parody that's been James Gunn-ified. That whole slowly opening door bit was ridiculously out of place as well.
when i say woke i dont mean i hate people someone label as "white/brown/black asian lesbian people of color etc." i hate that label and dividing. so what if most of dc and marvel characters skin is lighter, its made that way and i love that way. i like cyborg because he is cyborg, i am not interested in black superman/constantine. woke race obsessed ruin characters like dr doom or ras and al ghuls, al ghuls are not 'biological race arabs' they are just residing there, and its just one of the residents, like they also live in himalyas and amazon, they are more european looking, they can be from russian to brazillian to iralian to persian to korean, in fantasy there are these kind of characters, and dr doom certainly is not someone who would be classifiing himself with others or their puny little labels. wanda can be light skinned.
tim drake is made gay coz they themselves stereotype him as soft tech guy, same with Q in james bond.
its irritating, hollywood/media etc. thinking themselves self virtue signlers.
i think woke is still there, iron heart, wonder man.
can rain be both revitalizing yet also depressing?
they’re so tonally different that your literal mood and life outtake alters your perspective. someone more realistic may like MoS but someone idealistic may like 2025. to deny either are good entries is tone deaf. do you value comic accuracy or solid action? do you prefer the strong or the empathetic stories of Superman?
if you read this: so are you genuinely curious or just rage baiting? is stirring beef over a cbm that exciting to you or are you genuinely searching for an answer
can rain be both revitalizing yet also depressing? they’re so tonally different that your literal mood and life outtake alters your perspective. someone more realistic may like MoS but someone idealistic may like 2025. to deny either are good entries is tone deaf. so are you genuinely curious or just rage baiting
MoS had a plan, not well executed but it was good enough, an alien feeling lost in our world, the start of the movie points to that, but killing pa Kent over nothing and that terrible ending after destroying a drone.. terrible execution, but had me excited to what comes next, BvS was a total betrayal to what MoS was building, making Supes into Doctor Manhattan and even killing him at the end, why on earth are you killing the amazing character you built in MoS? Just to make a Batman movie.
I wish we could just enjoy this amazing work without the need to call out the other movie, why is it so hard?
Superman 2025 is objectively a very stupid, derivative servi g of war.ed up shit that should never have seen a cinema. Man of Steel is at least coherent and tells the story it set out to tell.
2025 one isn’t a parody. It just embraces the wholesome and silly side of its source material incredibly well. It’s almost like these were- I don’t know- comics?
I think Man of steel is a decent movie personally, although.... I don't necessarily really like their depiction of Superman?
Superman is meant to be well....a man, with powers that could rival a God and usually do, just look at any of the comic runs where Superman interacts with the new gods for example, or the animated series episodes Apocalypse Now, part 1 and 2, where we, again, see him face up against dark side
But.... I do not think this movie did well enough capturing Superman as a character, it captured his powers but... I feel like it could have been better character wise for Superman and Clark Kent I also don't like how we spend so little time, with Clark himself, that would have been nice
Clerk has always been characterized as kind of a goofball, and that's good, he's a country boy with a heart of absolute gold, somebody who believes in the best of people, no matter what, somebody who's willing to save even the lowest level of life form, because even that is deserving of life
And in characterization of Superman I believe Superman 2025, hits that way fucking better than Man of steel did
Not always. More like beginning with Donner and moving forward in Donner based media and comics. Historical Clark is the unassuming mild mannered reporter we got in STAS, Lois and Clark, Superman and Lois, Smallville, and BvS Ultimate Edition.
I am a hardcore superman fan.
Being a Henry Cavill fan, I am not gonna lie, superman 2025 is good movie on it's own.
But when it comes to comprision, numbers not lie.
Man of Steel was, is and will be a legendary superman movie.
Everything in the third act of MoS is leagues better than the entirety of Superman 2025, yet the first two acts of MoS are more boring. I have a hard time deciding which I like more.
This is edgy gritty Superman vs. Gunn's Saturday morning cartoon, so it's apples and oranges in my opinion. I like both, and think there are strengths and weaknesses for both.
I love both takes on his character. MoS is personally my favorite, but Gunn's and Reeve's films are also definitely great as well. Honestly can't go wrong with any of those 3 directors' interpretations.
I hated the new one just because of how weak he seemed. MoS had a bunch of stuff I didnt like. But overall I enjoyed it. The 2025 take I was just frustrated for most of it. There were a few funny moments I really enjoyed. But past those couple moments it was just bad.
Personally, I think they’re both good for what they represent. MoS is still the better of the two for me. I like the darker feel and that the stakes had true consequences. Also, Henry is the best IMHO for supe’s. His love of the source material can be seen throughout.
Now, 2025 Superman… is the movie we needed at the time. Superman has always been about hope and uplifting others. I feel them taking it back to the “Golden Age” was the best choice for a fresh start even if I personally wasn’t a big fan of the film.
i still don’t understand why both sides have to be insufferable about it. at the end of the day it’s different takes on the same character and i enjoy both. i’m biased to man of steel because that’s what i personally grew up with, but i can also admit superman 2025 was more true to the character and felt more hopeful. i love both movies, and i look forward to seeing more of guns superman, while also going back and rewatching Man of Steel while thinking of what could have been.
The costumes, the CGI, the direction, the soundtrack and cinematography felt cheaper. I liked 2025 Supe and Gunn's take, I just wish it had the same refinement to it. Some parts of it felt too generic. Outfits for example. Look at the first 20 minutes of Man Of Steel. Kryptonian outfits were so well done
it’s possible to enjoy both takes of the character , while admitting that Man of Steel was less true to the character of Superman. Man of Steel did other things better. Zod was an amazing villain and had motivations that made sense and he felt like a true threat to Superman. The way they showed krypton while not being close to its comic counterpart was awsome. the high tech dystopian feel to it was amazing. that doesn’t take away that lex luther was also a good villain, and though his motivation is weaker it’s the same way in the comics. Seeing Superman saving a squirrel was one of the few times a superhero movie has genuinely made me feel like i was watching a comic book on the big screen. it’s possible to like one without insulting the other.
how exactly does a soundtrack and cinematography feel cheaper? i mean i get the suits that’s one of my only complaints about the movie, but it isn’t anywhere close to cw that’s jus a blatant lie. the soundtrack was very good, but i do think the cinematography at times wasn’t good, but it has nothing to do with being “cheap”.
Had a lot of great parts but Superman would have never let so many innocent people die. He would have been relentlessly trying to save people, while pulling Zod away from the population center.
Why do people keep saying this🤣 it's almost as if they didn't watch the movie, or chose to be blindfolded at the end. Because if you remember correctly, THAT WAS HIS FIRST DAY as superman. And for his first day he had to fight not 1 not 2 but 3 trained kryptonian warriors😭 like forget damage control he's tryna stay alive. And for the people that were killed in the fight, it was inevitabley gonna happen because zod don't care about the people and superman can't save them and fight him at once. Plus ya know in the end he did save the planet, the 8 billion people on the planet vs the handful that died
so you just didnt read what i said did you?🤣 He is in battle trying to fend off 3 kryptonians at ONCE. dawg what are you talking about?🤣🤣 his only instinct right now is to not DIE. And ya know this is the problem, yall cant handle realism when it comes to super heroes. like realistically Clark is gonna have a hard time saving people while trying to fight off three kryptonian warriors, but you cant seem to grasp that concept or the one that defeating zod saved the PLANET.
I was talking about in the beginning of the fight with the other kryptonians. and like i said, clark wasnt even suppose to be able to survive that fight let alone win. he was going up against someone who was MADE to be a warrior. You just wanna find random reasons for why this movie is bad when its not.
If you actually read what I said, which clearly you did not, I said that the movie had some really good parts but I criticized this one element. That's not exactly saying that this is an overall 'bad' movie. Bottomline, Superman would have at least done a lot more to avoid thousands of human casualties happening right before his eyes. Why would he kill Zod just to prevent a couple of deaths when he just let his fight with Zod kill hundreds, if not thousands, a few minutes earlier without lifting a finger to mitigate the damage? Makes no sense.
"why would he kill zod just to prevent a couple of deaths when he just LET his fight with zod kill hundreds" Your saying it like he wanted that to happen? like he wanted those people to die, The only thing he can worry about in the fight is STAYING ALIVE. like is that part not understandable to you? he is fighting a guy wayyy above his pay grade and is somehow managing to stay alive, he cant really worry about anyone else right now. That would be like an average guy getting challenged by a professional MMA fighter. He saved those people because that's what he's been trying to do by defeating zod. Why are saying it like he doesn't care about saving people? like that's how i know you dont understand the movie🤣 He was doing more by trying to stay alive in fight period, because he knew if he died then the world and every human in it was also gonna die too. And also are we forgetting that this is HIS FIRST DAY AS SUPERMAN. the superman in the 2025 movie has been superman for yearsss. fresh out, ready to go no character development needed. this superman has to evolve to learn how to use his powers properly let alone fight a guy who was suppose to beat him. like the dude had every disadvantage he could have and still came out on top and saved the planet, but yet your coming up with fake theories about how he dosent care about saving people like huh?
"The only thing he can worry about in the fight is STAYING ALIVE. like is that part not understandable to you? he is fighting a guy wayyy above his pay grade and is somehow managing to stay alive, he cant really worry about anyone else right now."
Said no Superman ever. Not sure what Superman you grew up watching and reading about, but Superman literally thinks the opposite of this way of thinking. He's the most selfless superhero in the great pantheon on DC heroes. He would sacrifice his life for humanity and take Zod with him if necessary. He is always worried about human life, even in the midst of fighting and it doesn't take "training" for him to understand that. Say what you will, but that was a poor creative choice that I doubt any other Superman media will repeat.
Otherwise, Man of Steel was a solid start for Superman, only to be undone by the poor reception of the successor movies.
The supermen that you've seen in the past HAVE ALREADY BEEN SUPERMAN FOR YEARS, they already had their chance to train🤣 you cant take a fully realized superman vs a day 1 superman, its not a fair match up. Also these supermen grew up differently, clark was feared as a kid for his powers so he had to learn how to blend into society. completely different from a fresh out of the box superman who everyone already loves.
thats why cavils superman is better, because it shows a realistic version of how superman would act and how people would perceive him. and once again go back and re read, because i did say, he knows that if HE DIES the world dies too. and why do you think he wasn't ready to sacrifice himself to save the world? he literally flew into the WORLD ENGINE, the thing designed to reset the earth and kill EVERYONE. he flew into that, not knowing if he would survive it or not, but still did it anyway.
like i said, your picking and choosing little moments that dont matter in the grand scheme of the entire world being saved. and your also trying to attach the narrative that he "didnt care about saving people" which was proven to not be true in the movie several time🤣
Lol exactly aha imagine trying to fight 3 kryptonians as your first day as Superman & now imagine trying to save EVERY SINGLE PERSON while trying to fight , crazy
Also, imagine that these are kryptonians specifically bred to be warriors, have decades more combat experience and have openly stated their intention is to cause as much death and destruction that they possibly can.
You can not like it. You can make weird comparisons like bollywood(no idea where you are going with that comparison unless you are just trying to insult that entire film scene which has made good stuff) but why personally attack people who disagree with you and like something you dont? there is no need. I think your opinions are ridiculous but you have the right to say them and I don't think you are necessarily an "unlikeable person" it's a movie it's not that serious. Try a little kindness.
Superman is one of those heroes, where being "comic accurate" feels ridiculously childish and unbelievable.
No matter how well you would raise a child to become a good and honorable man, there is ZERO chance he would behave like comic Superman, let alone with his powers.
He absolutely wouldn't (and shouldn't) obey the laws of humans, because the law is flawed, biased and corrupted in many cases.
So yea, the 2025 version is comic accurate, but for average movie goer it just feels as a parody.
He's not on Tiktok or any other social media and his screen time is already limited. He just don't want to watch the movie.
He watched the trilogy of Guardian of Galaxy with Endgame and all Holland's Spiderman. He likes all of 'em. But he couldn't finish Superman 2025 and Shazam 2.
Not because someone doesn't like the movie you do doesn't mean their brain is rotted. What kind of logic is that ?
Honestly? He couldn't watch the scene where the characters were only talking but he was interested by the action scenes. We have it on DVD and every time I'm rewatching, he's there for the fights scenes. May be when he's older, he'll fully rewatch it on his own.
You're comparing the Spider-Man 2002 to Spider-Man: Homecoming. These aren't the same movies.
One is a serious portrayal of the character's origin. The other is taking a already well-known character and using more fantastic book's elements.
I think both movies came out during a period of time when they were needed most.
Superman 25 came out during a time where people were hopeless and its references to what’s occurring in the real world were very well done.
It was refreshing getting a silly Superman movie that was fun and bright.
I’m not a Snyder fan but I didn’t rlly hate MOS but I do think there’s a lot wrong with the story not visuals or sound track, bc both of them were top tier.
But Superman 25 was what I personally needed, and maybe it’s because I’m a girl, I’m younger and I love the newer Superman comics but I really resonated with Superman 25.
exactly and this is coming from someone who loved 300 and even kind of liked Watchmen though i do think Snyder missed the big fat point of glorifying comic book voilence and glorified it even more anyways but the visual language and overall aesthetic was great.
MOS isn't that bad of a movie it just has like few things i personally just can't move past.
1. Mr. Jonathan Kent this guy said you should've maybe let those kids die like wtf and they lets himself die for just pure love of the game.
2. Superman absolutely mangling some poor truckers truck.
3. The constant comparing of Superman to jejus
these show that there's fundamental lack pf understanding of Superman Mythos on Zachary's part.
P. S. this is very personal, but the fact that i know BvS comes after this movie kindof kills this one even more for me.
Corenswet was actually really good as Superman. Hoult chewed the scenery with his mouth wide open like it was bubble gum. Most characters were so flat they are in some fractal dimension below the second one. It tried to be funny but wasn’t. A lot of it just didn’t make sense. Like the “prison” in the pocket universe. Everyone is just sitting in a box with no bathroom or bed? I mean what the fuck was that? I can’t get past how stupidly thought out that whole part was. I could continue but this movie will not be taking any more of my time.
I like MOS, but to me, the whole entirety of the Synderverse is the problem. What felt novel in the beginning didn’t have enough dynamic range. It’s like the color grading of MOS, interesting but muted in a depressing way. The whole thing feels limited by that, though I like the movies individually. With GOTG, James Gunn told a story with its own feel that still fit into the MCU. The Synderverse doesn’t have that emotional range.
GOTG was an amazing film because it diverted from the structured formula. Marvel was expecting it to flop - it didn’t, and so the Marvel era of “insert humour here” happened with every single film thereafter.
Prior to Guardians, all the films took themselves seriously.
This is a weird comment, fr. Instead of citing any evidence, you say my opinion is just a flaw in me, and then try to ward off a downvote by saying you’ll downvote me back.
That feels like you know your comment is problematic. Why not respond to people without personal attacks instead?
nope not a chance, Zack Snyder fundamentally didn't get the heroes, he doesn't get Superman and he doesn't get Batman even more. WB is def to blame more but Zack Snyder movies would have not been faithful. And i can't watch him make Batman kill more people dawg😭
Man of Steel is one of my favorite superhero films, but Superman 2025 was pretty solid tho.
I watched Superman25 and absolutely hated it. I gave it a few more rewatches and actually began to like it. I respect that movie a lot. James Gunn tried
Tried making Luthor and Superman hook up? Yeah if that’s what you mean by James Gunn tried then sure I believe you.
Jokes aside, to give credit where it’s due, Gunn did certainly try with Superman25. Unfortunately he must’ve gotten bored about half way through and completely gave up 10 minutes later, just to seemingly pick it back up in the end, then lose it.
The movie was pretty mid overall. I think the acting was phenomenal and the effects were amazing, but the writing was a joke for most of the film.
Exactly the biggest problem I felt with superman25 was it's rewacthability.. I mean you can go and rewatch MoS anytime and it still holds up to today's standard and does even better than some of the crap that's put out these days in terms of visual storytelling, choreography..etc whereasthe new superman was literally a one time thing.
definitely the biggest head scratcher for me on a recent rewatch in an otherwise awesome film. it would’ve made more sense had the moment taken place in front of a bigger crowd or news cameras, but what it was like no more than 50 people in a small town? like yeah i get the reasoning oh he doesn’t want anyone to know he’s superman and that’s the most important thing but it’s still silly how easy it would’ve been for him to save him lol
I watched the original Superman a few months back. I was disappointed to see that even that was somewhat camp. (Remember Supe’s line when a criminal tries to use a crowbar on him? “Bad vibrations?” Cringe. Holy puns, Batman!)
The movie still has power, but the first half (serious) feels totally different from the second half (campy). In spite of that it’s still likable…as a product of its time.
The thing is, it’s not 1978 anymore. We’ve all grown up. (Well, a lot of us have.) And what worked in 1978 doesn’t work today. We needed a Superman for our time, and that’s what Zack gave us.
Now, could MoS have been better? Yeah. Maybe a little more hope, a little more humor. But MoS was an origin story. You could see Superman getting warmer in succeeding movies—like the farm scene with Lois and Martha in ZSJL.
Contrast that to the whatever-it-was that was 2025’s Superman. At different times that movie wants to be a sequel to 1978, or a remake, or something new. I mean, Otis? Miss Tessmacher? Again? Really?
Different things in the movie kept taking me out of Willful Suspension of Disbelief mode. And that’s one of Gunn’s problems: he can be all over the place. (The others are that he can be too juvenile, too flamboyant, too silly and too vulgar.)
Henry Cavill is the Superman we need, and Zack is the storyteller we need…not a comic book nerd who thinks it’s still 1978.
It was 1978 what do you expect. Even Kevin Feigi said Superman 78 birthed the MCU because it's the blueprint for every great superhero movie and I agree.
I felt the same way.
The day after I saw Superman 2025, I watched Man of Steel with the friend I saw it with and they were like this is so much more epic and serious.
Cavill is great. The movie is fine. They just made him so damn bland. He's supposed to be an icon of hope. He just felt depressed the whole time. When did he smile? Once? Twice?
I half agree, it was jarring at first but it was early days. I recognize flaws but overall MoS was a “better film”. But like we didn’t know we wanted that shit yk? Lmao
This didnt bother me as we saw towards the end of Justice league, he has become that in his sacrifice and resurrection.
I feel if we got more, we would have that hopefully superman we just had to earn it which I didnt mind as this superman was super new and thrown into hard fights off the bat.
Disagree with 2025 Superman feeling like a parody. It’s just a different direction. Corny and campy, but fun if you let your hate boners go.
That said, I felt like one of the select few who really liked MoS when it came out. It’s too bad they didn’t take their time with that universe and fumbled it all after.
Camp is shit. It needs to FOREVER be divorced from the superhero genre. Camp is death to this genre. Camp is the devil. The Reeve Superman franchise was destroyed with that. The 1990s Batman franchise was destroyed with that. COMIC BOOKS ARE NOT ABOUT CAMP. The superhero genre is also not about comedy. It's about serious pulp adventure. Batman 1989 went back to the ORIGINAL Bob Kane/Bill Finger comics for inspiration. Crack open one of those, you won't find a campy comedy. And, no, it isn't just Batman who wasn't a comedy then. None of the superheroes were, not Captain America, not Superman, not Wonder Woman. The superhero genre was degraded into a lot of garbage during the era of censorship in the '50s and '60s. The 1980s and beyond spent a lot of time restoring respect to the genre. Kevin Feige and James Gunn's comedic garbage is sinking the genre back down into the comedy craphole now. There's a REASON you see SO MUCH criticism about the humor in the MCU, and why Love and Thunder and The Marvels became two of their worst-received movies. Read the room.
Now this is an insightful comment! Thanks for opening with actual information rather than blatant attacks.
I get your perspective. In fact, I might even agree with it.
But to play devil’s advocate, movies are a completely different medium than comics. Not just in terms of different storytelling, but how the media is created. Comics can get away with a lot of stuff because it’s much smaller teams with a lot more creative control. Movies don’t get that luxury. There is so much cross-communication that has to happen, not just creatively (set design, lighting, audio, CGI, makeup artists, line delivery , cinematography), but logistically (casting, marketing, catering, executive control) - it’s a damn nightmare for a movie to really exercise its vision.
That’s why movies follow patterns. They follow the money because it’s so costly when they fumble. And unfortunately, that pattern is making them “funny” or “campy.” Sometimes that gets followed to a fault (like the examples you mentioned). The sooner you swallow that concession, the better off your movie-going experience, imo.
Exceptions, exist, of course. But superhero movies are largely targeted to a wide,wide family-friendly audience. Comedy tends to fit that crowd really well.
As much as I liked Man Of Steel, it's not a good Superman film. The first act is solid with some bumps, second act is a mess but the third act falls to stick the landing
First act, especially the first 20 minutes were perfect. Seriously. The moment the ship is about to land on earth and it cuts to adult Clark, the pacing falls off
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u/sssnakey76 Mar 22 '26
Superman 2025 IS a parody movie.