Superman Review

This is a DynaMic Network Podcast. 

Hi and welcome to the Dynamic Duel Podcast, a weekly show where we review superhero films and debate the superiority between Marvel and DC by comparing their characters in stat-based battle simulations. I'm Marvelous Joe and I'm his twin brother Johnny DC. 

And in this episode we are going to review the very first DC Universe film, Superman. Hell yeah we are, heck yeah we are. Calm down, calm down. Right off the bat Jonathan, you're gonna fucking annoy me this whole episode I already know I just want to let you know that you need to just be normal. I mean if we were reviewing Iron Man for the first time would you be calm? I would not but how dare you compare this movie to Iron Man. 

Oh I'll compare it to Endgame. What did I just say about annoying me? What did I just say? We're gonna review the movie and talk all about spoilers so hopefully you've seen the movie. Before we do that we're gonna break down the latest comic book movie news that came up this past week which there was none. So really we're just gonna do the upfront stuff and then get right into the review. 

As always we list our segment times in our episode description so feel free to check out the show notes if you want to skip ahead to a particular topic. Guys our artificially intelligent dual simulator AJ9K has a quick message for our listeners so listen up. 

Thanks AJ9K and thanks to everyone who supports the podcast. Be sure to tune into the other shows in the DynaMic Podcast Network this week including the Konsole Kombat podcast where hosts John and Dean simulate battles between popular video game characters. In yesterday's episode they determined who would win between Banjo Kazooie and Yuka Laylee. Over on the Max Destruction podcast hosts Scotty and Gilly pit your favorite action heroes from film and television against each other. This week they'll be finding out who would win between Alice from Resident Evil and Selene from Underworld. And on the Senjoh World podcast hosts Zachary Hepburn speculates on fights between fan favorite anime and manga characters. In his next episode Zach's going to reveal who would win between Sasuke Ichihara from Naruto and Uryuu Ishida from Bleach. 

Visit dynamicpodcasts.com or click the link in our show notes to listen to all of the shows in the DynaMic Podcast Network. But with that out of the way, quick to the no prize. A no prize is an award that Marvel used to give out to fans. Our version, the Dynamic Dual No Prize is a digital award that we've put on Instagram for the person that we feel gave the best answer to our question of the week. Last week we asked, for those of you who have seen Superman in its opening weekend, what did you think? Hey we got a few answers so let's go ahead and run down our honorable mentions as well as the no prize winner. Our first honorable mention goes to Brandon Estergard who said. 

Hey guys just wanted to say congratulations to Team Marvel. You guys really nailed it as the Reddit posting monkeys in the movie. Roll Oscar worthy stuff. Great job guys. 

Oh man you would not believe the casting process I had to undergo for the role of the Reddit posting monkeys. Man, I went full method with it and was just hoping that that's what they would want from a performance and luckily everything came through and I got the role. I was the one that was posting super shit in the movie. Let me guess you flung your poo at the casting director. That's how I got the role actually. Yeah, for those who are missing context on what we're talking about in the Superman movie this isn't too much of a spoiler. Lex Luthor trained a bunch of monkeys to talk shit about Superman on the internet. 

Which is basically my full time job on our Discord server. There were a lot of funny scenes in the Superman movie and that has to be in the top five. I was cracking up at the monkey scene. Thanks for the answer Brandon. Our next honorable mention goes to Alex Albro. Who said? 

Hey guys, I thought it was great. Rated at 9.5. My wife rated at 8. Just really good Superman show. I'm excited to see where they go with the Hall of Justice and the Justice Gang or Justice League or whatever they end up being. We really liked them. Mr. Terrific was great. I think Nicholas Holt really stole the show. It was Lex Luthor for me and I'm just excited to see where it goes. It was a nice surprise to see Millie Alcock as Supergirl at the end and Crypto was great and overall just a good way to end the weekend. Thanks guys. 

Okay, that is actually a spoiler but if you're on social media it's already been spoiled for you. There's been news articles about Supergirl showing up and yeah, her cameo did not disappoint. I totally agree with Alex, Lex Luthor, Mr. 

Terrific, the Justice Gang. All of it was great as I will expand upon in our review. Let's see, Alex gave it a 9.5 out of 10 which on a five star scale equates to four and three quarter stars. Let's see what Matt from Texas rated it. 

Hey guys, Matt from Texas here. Superman 4 out of 5 was a great film. It had a little bit of issues, camera angles, some pacing, stuff like that, mostly minor but all the actors did really well. David Cornswet as Superman was fantastic. This is what Superman is. Colorful, helps everybody, you know, does the right thing. He is a Boy Scout and that's exactly what he portrayed in this film. 

Yeah, Superman needs to be redefined for a new generation every once in a while. I'm not quite sure that Henry Cavill find the character of Superman back in the 20's in the same way that Cornswet has now defined the character for modern times. Yeah, he did a fantastic job. 

Although as Matt says the movie's not perfect, there are issues but they are minor, I would agree. So great answer Matt. We want to give a quick shout out to CJ Kraft for taking the time to visit our website and record an answer but the winner of this week's No Price is Scott Camacho and his daughter Rena. Who said? 

Hi, I'm Scotty Macho. Hi, I'm Rena Macho. And we are? The Machos. We just watched the Superman movie. That's how you do a Superman movie. That was awesome. I don't care about his outfit though, I still don't like his outfit but that is how you do a Superman movie. Rena, what did Supergirl say? Thanks for watching my dog bitch. Oh my gosh. 

Yeah, again that Supergirl scene was great. I've seen a lot of flak for it online because I think a lot of people haven't read Supergirl Woman of Tomorrow but it was straight from that comic. Yeah, it's definitely a unique take on the character who's typically portrayed as similar to her cousin in terms of demeanor and stuff like that. So yeah, Millie Alcock's Supergirl is probably at a left field for a lot of people. 

Honestly, the whole reason we gave this no prize win to Scott and Rena is because it was hilarious. Jonathan, how old were your daughters when you heard them say their first curse word? I think my younger daughter Faith once said piss not realizing it was a bad word. I can't remember how old she was though. Is piss a bad word? 

I think so. I told her not to say it again. I'm horrified that my two-year-old any day now is going to start saying fuck out of the blue because I say it way too much in front of her. 

Yeah, you have this podcast running in the background and all of a sudden fuck DC. I'd be so proud. I'd be so proud. For a great answer, Scotty and Rena, you guys win this week's no prize. If you, the listener, want to shout out winning your own no prize, stay tuned to later on this episode when we'll be asking another question of the week. 

And now that that's done, onto the question of the week. What the high praises that most audience members seem to be giving Superman, the odds of it getting a sequel are really high. So with that in mind, what do you want the sequel to the Superman movie to be about? Yeah, what do you want the story to be about? What characters do you want to see in it? 

Who do you want the villain to be? Let us know. Record your answer at dynamicduel.com by clicking on the red microphone button in the bottom right hand corner of the screen, which will prompt you to leave us a voicemail. Your message could be up to 30 seconds long and don't forget to leave your name in case we include you on the podcast. We'll pick our favorite answer and award that person a dynamic duel no prize that will pose to Instagram. 

Be sure to answer before July 18th. But let's go ahead and get into the main event of this episode where we reviewed DC Studios first feature length film, Superman. OK, Superman, written and directed by DC Studios head James Gunn, is the first theatrical film to be released under the DC Studios banner, as well as the first film to be set in DC's new cinematic universe known as the DCU. Gunn was hired by Warner Brothers to launch a new DC cinematic universe after the prior one established in 2013's Man of Steel failed to match the box office success of the rival Marvel Studios. 

Despite Gunn's prior success writing and directing Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, as well as DC's The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker Projects, I was initially conflicted when I learned that he was writing and directing the first film in DC's new cinematic universe because I wasn't sure his raunchy yet heartfelt comedic style of filmmaking would work for a character like Superman. A notoriously raunchy character. What? 

No. Now, with each new trailer that was released for this film, my expectations grew to the point where I was actually a little depressed that Superman wasn't going to be able to live up to my expectations. But to my surprise, the film hit my expectations dead center. 

And I'm actually proud of this new start to DC's cinematic universe. I'm still thinking about the film days after seeing it. And for anyone interested in seeing the movie that hasn't already, be aware that this is a spoiler review. So you should stop listening now so you could go into the movie fresh. Yeah, I feel like there's too many people out there who are willing to spoil themselves, just claiming that it doesn't affect them. 

But you are doing yourself a disservice, whether you admit to it or not. Seeing something unfold on the big screen for the first time without prior knowledge is absolutely the best way to experience these stories. Yes, totally an experience, especially this film on the IMAX screen. It was incredible. I saw it on a really big screen on a RPX theater. And I wasn't aware at the time that I had actually purchased RPX tickets. So I walk into the auditorium and I'm sitting way too fucking close to the screen. 

That's all I thought. I was like, goddamn, this screen is too big. I'm going to have to like lean back in my chair to really enjoy this. But did you enjoy it? The movie overall? Yeah, I did. Yeah, I think I have a few gripes with it, but they are largely nitpicky bullshit that had more to do with my own subjective feelings about world building and traditional story structures and anything really substantial. 

OK, I could see that and we'll get into that later. But I actually think that this is James Gunn's best superhero film yet, or at least his most mature, because here he wasn't focused on reimagining characters through his usual quirky lens. He instead set out to show how radical true righteousness and unconditional kindness can be in a world of moral relativism. The film's whole thesis is that in a cynical, distrustful society, simply choosing to trust and see the good in others becomes the ultimate act of rebellion. And with that simple, yet profound idea, Gunn somehow made Superman cooler than he's been in maybe a century. And it just transformed him for this film into a countercultural icon while staying true to his spirit. It turns out that you don't need to reinvent a classic character to fit the current zeitgeist. 

You just need society to shift enough that the forgotten philosophies of the past feel bold and new again, no neck snapping required. I agree with you partly in that, yeah, being kind is cool, but I'm not going to say that Superman is countercultural. I wouldn't go that far. 

I would say more so in this film than he has maybe ever been. Because you think society at the current moment is so cynical that this type of thinking is radical. I think radical is a strong word. I'm sorry, are you not on social media? 

Do you not look at comments? I think it's radical. I think it's more appreciated now, more than ever. I think this was a better way to adapt the character for modern times than the whole dark and serious approach that Zack Snyder took. That's totally valid. 

Yeah. Now, I loved Man of Steel and I've been a staunch defender of its sci-fi approach to the Superman lore. But if I'm being honest, after seeing Superman and its more faithful interpretation of the character, it makes Man of Steel feel somewhat like an Elseworlds tale, like still interesting. But definitely a departure from who the character actually is. And that's not to say that this depiction of Superman was perfect. He's much more pouty and easily agitated in this film than he is in, say, the comics. 

But the fact that he would go out of his way to save babies and dogs and even squirrels is in sharp contrast to the criticisms of apathy leveled at the Zack Snyder's take on the character. Right. Apathy, because we saw Metropolis essentially destroyed at the nuclear level in the Man of Steel movie without seeing Superman handle a lot of the civilian saving duties of his role. Right. The Man of Steel version of Superman is very much an objectivist take, which focuses on the self and selfishness, which is why you had, you know, Pa Kent say, OK, maybe you don't save those kids. 

And while you had Ma Kent saying, you don't owe anyone anything. This take on Superman is very much at odds with that. And it was pretty refreshing. Now, where I work, we have a saying that we shouldn't make perfect the enemy of good. And I largely feel that way about James Gunn's approach to Superman, which was a really good interpretation. What was perfect, however, in my opinion, were his takes on Superman's supporting cast, particularly Lex Luthor. Now, Lex has never been done right on film. He was always supposed to be a mad scientist type character that could invent challenges for Superman that were essentially unfathomable for anyone else. Portrayals from Gene Hackman or Kevin Spacey lacked the scientist aspect of the character, while Jesse Eisenberg's was a little too mad, even getting comparisons to the Joker. But Gunn's version not only involved a real estate scheme, but also incorporated nanites, cloning, international politics and even a freaking pocket universe. 

There is so much Silver Age ask shenanigans going on here. And it was really cool to see how unapologetically Gunn showcased his love for that era of comics. Yeah, the film's plot at times got a little bit bonkers. And a lot of that has to do with Lex's pocket dimension shenanigans. They took the story places that I didn't think they were going to go literally. Oh, yeah. Like, for example, the trash talking monkeys that we talked about earlier. 

Yeah, once you go to trash talking monkeys online, you could go literally anywhere. There were just these really idiosyncratic ideas that are a trademark of James Gunn's that I wasn't quite sure fit in the realm of Superman as much as, like, say, Guardians of the Galaxy or something like that. But it was nice that Gunn was able to put his stamp on the project in that way, because it did feel very Silver Age and therefore did communicate a love for the very comic booky version of Superman, which is something that we haven't really seen from the character on the big screen. And it's pretty fun. There's a lot of fun to be had with Superman that we haven't gotten in a long time. I was actually surprised by how much fun I had actually, because typically I like a serious approach to my superhero films. I don't like it when it gets goofball. And while this went interesting places like you mentioned bonkers, it never felt goofy to me. 

You know, between— It felt at times a little bit goofy. What? When? With Krypto? Oh, I'm sorry. What do you have against Krypto? I'm going to state right off the bat. 

I don't like Krypto. I thought he was annoying in this movie. Every time he was not on the screen, I was relieved. Krypto was a total scene stealer that everyone loved. You are on the wrong side of history. 

Bow your head in shame. I think Krypto is a scene stealer, but in the wrong way. No, dude, I loved Krypto. 

Like, I actually have no notes on Krypto in my review. I just loved him. He was too chaotic. And every time he was brought into the story yet, it kind of detracted, I think, from the plot. No, there were times where he felt a little bit deus ex machina-y. And overall, the concept was just goofy. I think actually the film would have been better if he wasn't included. I don't think he was entirely necessary. 

I think he was included just for merchandising or something. I don't know to add a cute element to the movie. I could actually see that, especially with the mid credit scene how it left off with like this super, super cute moment between Superman and Krypto, just having probably a majority of audiences leave with that final moment, I think was perhaps a little manipulative. And maybe his appearance in the film overall is a little manipulative. But I was totally sold on it. Krypto was one of my favorite aspects of this movie. And I totally couldn't see it being as successful without him. I definitely could. Well, you don't know what the hell you're talking about, you dog hater. I love dogs. I have a dog. I love my dog. 

This guy hates dogs. Fuck this guy. 

But I don't love Krypto. He's kind of a dickhead and I'm not ashamed to say it. Hey, bad dogs deserve love, too, bro. Not bad dogs who are also just made out of pixels. 

I don't care about them. No, Krypto felt real to me. I didn't feel like he was made of pixels. I thought they did a really good job with this CG. And actually, the CG throughout the whole film, I thought, was a lot better than I've seen in a lot of films as of late. Every time those Krypto pixels appeared on the screen, I just wanted to kick them right out of the movie. 

The hell is wrong with you? Now, between Lex Luthor's hijinks and the powers of Mr. Terrific Guy Gardner and Metamorpho and I guess Krypto, there are some deep cuts in this film that we've never seen on the big screen before. And the fact that Gunn wasted no time explaining any of it, literally starting this universe three years into Superman's career, but still having audiences be on board with the film, I think is a testament not only to how strong of a filmmaker James Gunn is and to his level of respect for the audience, but also to how much of a cultural icon Superman is still to this day. 

Absolutely, yeah. I mean, Superman needs no introduction. Everybody already knows him, which is probably why James Gunn was able to put audiences in the deep end in this new DC universe that he created. It's one of the more unsatisfying aspects of the film, though, in my mind. Superman is like if the Avengers movie was the very first MCU film in that it would still be good and enjoyable, but it lacks the foundation that prior world building films would have set up. The most world building we got for this new DC universe were like six lines of text at the very beginning of the film that is basically saying many humans have been around for a while. Superman introduced himself to the world like three years ago. 

Let's get the story started. I actually thought that was a brilliant piece of world building. It was almost like Star Wars ask the way you were kind of thrown into that universe with just the opening crawl. Yeah, I mean, I can't knock this approach too much because I understand why James Gunn did it. No one wants to see Superman's origin again because we've seen it a lot. Whether it was in the Donner film or the Man of Steel film, everybody knows that Superman was a baby who was sent from Krypton. And we even got references to that in this movie. 

So his backstory is essentially established. I guess what felt hollow to me were like the other supporting metahumans that just kind of exist in this world without a whole lot of setup. In a perfect world, each of these characters would have had the chance to live and breathe on their own. But again, I understand, you know, how many different superhero films have come out in the past couple of decades? We're at the point now where you can drop people in the deep end and they won't feel like they're drowning because they understand what these movies are about and largely who these characters already are. I agree and I could see where you're coming from, although I would argue wouldn't that mean that characters like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Han Solo and Darth Vader would have also needed some project that you would have seen them in prior to Star Wars? 

Yes and no. And I'm trying to articulate what felt slightly unsatisfying about the film. I think the reason characters like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Han Solo worked in a movie like A New Hope where you're dropped into this world and introduced to these characters largely without context is because a movie like A New Hope followed a very traditional storytelling structure wherein being introduced to the characters at the point they enter the script felt organic and you didn't feel like you were missing context because you were still being introduced to the world. Here in the Superman movie, the storytelling structure is not traditional. 

There is no three act structure here. It feels very episodic. It feels very much like a comic book series. That's to its credit and to its detriment, I think. When I say to its credit, I mean because the plot of the film is very much unlike what audiences are used to seeing from these stories on the screen. And therefore it feels new and unique. 

When I say the structures to its detriment is because it makes the story feel a little off in general. I could see that, you know, with the amount of stuff thrown at Superman in this movie. The film felt longer to me than it actually was, though not at all in a bad way. Like, I was surprised that this movie was only about two hours long when so much happened in the film. 

The film's pacing definitely moves forward at a steady clip, particularly in its second half, where it seemingly feels like there's climax after climax after climax. It's like, what? Superman's about to fall into a black hole. What? Boravian and Jarhanper are going to war. What? Metropolis is being torn in half. What? There's Kryptonite. What? 

He's drowning in nanites. What? There's a clone. In much the same way that Batman was very reactionary to the Joker in The Dark Knight or the Riddler in The Batman. The ultimate stakes set up by the film's antagonist aren't revealed to the hero until after their plans have already been set in motion. So there's no telling just how far the villain is willing to take things for the hero or the audience. Typically in a three act structure, audiences are made aware of the ultimate stakes of the film between the end of the first act in the middle of the film. You know, that's when we see Alderaan blow up. That's when we learn what the Matrix is. 

That's when Frodo is straight up stabbed and nearly killed. But the primary conflict of this film seems to be will Superman embrace his Kryptonian destiny or remain true to his humanity rather than will Metropolis be destroyed and actually thought that was a fascinating approach. But speaking of characterizations, let's move into our character breakdown. Starting with Superman slash Clark Kent, who was played by David Corenswet. Now, his performance is extremely sincere and extremely likeable. I mentioned in our review of The Batman that Robert Pattinson brought more interest to the character of Bruce Wayne than any actor before him. 

And I'd say the same for Corenswet. Again, I'd say the characterization isn't necessarily perfect. My ideal Superman personally is actually pretty stoic. But I do see the appeal in Corenswet's performance, who definitely puts the man in Superman more than anyone before him on the big screen. He's definitely a more humanized character than like Henry Cavill, right? You talk a lot about the appeal of DC comic books over Marvel in that DC comics are a lot more iconic and more legend like than Marvel comic books, whose characters are a lot more relatable. 

Given that I feel like this version of Superman in this movie is more Marvel like than any previous adaptation of the character. How do you feel about that? You know, it is what it is. I wouldn't disagree with you. It's again, not necessarily my favorite version of how the character is portrayed because, you know, I don't necessarily need my mythical characters like Hercules, for example, to have so much of a personality. 

But it doesn't hurt as long as they stay true to the essence of the character, which I 100 percent believe they did in this film. I'll let it slide. You closet Marvel fan. What? No, I knew it. 

No way. Now, Superman begins the film as this embodiment of unwavering optimism. A figure so committed to seeing the good in others and protecting life that it strains his relationship with the American public and even his relationship with Lois Lane, when Lois essentially accuses him of being naive, pointing out that while she questions everyone and everything, he's eager to trust and see beauty in everyone he meets. His reply that may be trust and kindness are the real punk rock reveals the moral steadfastness at the heart of his character. Clark's unwavering faith in humanity isn't just his greatest strength. It's what makes him potentially more human than anyone else. I think the scene that this clicked the most for me was when he was in Lois's apartment and the Justice Gang were fighting. I think that was Mxyzptlk in the background. 

Yeah, weird, huh? Superman called him a dimensional imp. But that was a great scene as far as characterization goes. 

And when he says that he's going to turn himself in knowingly going into a trap for the sake of this dog, who he doesn't even particularly like just because it's the right thing to do, says a lot about his character. And Lois realized that. And that's when she planted a big old smooch on him just for being a good guy. Yeah, that was a fantastic scene. I loved that scene. Although I thought it was in Clark's apartment, not Lois's. Was it? 

I don't know. Now, Superman's moral foundation was shaken to its core when he learned what the full message from his Kryptonian parents was, essentially that they intended him to dominate and repopulate Earth rather than uplift it. Reeling from this seeming betrayal, Clark confronts a painful question of identity. Is he the benevolent protector he always believed he was? Or is he a harbinger of conquest? In a tender moment with Jonathan Kent, his adoptive father, he's reminded that his actions, not his origins, define him and its Clark's choices, his failures and the courage to keep stepping forward, despite those failures, that shape who he truly is. 

By the end of the film, as he faces Lex Luthor and is called an alien, Clark delivers the gist, essentially of his arc, that his humanity, along with Lex's and everyone else's, is everyone's greatest strength when they're able to recognize that humanity in each other. Yeah, it's so fantastic. Such a fantastic message. I freaking loved it. 

I freaking loved this movie. What do you think, though, about the alleged message from Jor-El and Lara about Superman's purpose being the domination of planet Earth? That was a twist. I did not see that coming. 

That was actually really interesting. And I don't mind it, honestly. Like, it's definitely a deviation from what we know about the characters in the comics, and it's almost kind of sacrilegious in that way. Yeah, my head cannon is that Lex is lying. And no matter how many times they keep saying in the movie that it's the true translation, I don't really buy it because it's so perfectly fit Lex's agenda. 

That could be the case. And I love that the movie kind of leaves it up to interpretation. For anyone upset by the implication, you have to remember that this is coming from Lex Luthor, who's not a trustworthy source, especially when he could easily create new video footage with the engineer. Now, through his journey, Superman doesn't just save the world. He reclaims his place within it, embodying a radical kind of hope. His arc is a reminder that being human isn't about where you come from, but about choosing kindness and having courage. Again, fantastic arc, fantastic angle for the character. 

And I'm really glad that James Gunn was smart enough to kick off this cinematic universe with this approach for Superman. Now, what did you think about the suit? Well, as listeners know from this podcast, when the suit was first revealed, I didn't really like it. I've been largely ambivalent since I don't like the texture of the suit. I don't love the design. 

That being said, it hardly registered with me in the course of the film. I don't hate it. It definitely grew on me as well, I would say. I was thrilled about it at the beginning, but this has kind of become, I would say, my favorite Superman outfit, even though I would have preferred something with a more traditional logo just to put a more iconic stamp on the suit. I think it really worked for this movie. 

The best Superman suit is the one from Superman and Lois, the TV show. Maybe. Again, I don't need like the abs. Why do I need to see your abs, you know? 

To make me feel bad, is that what you're trying to do? So he can communicate that he could kick your ass without having to say it out loud. I mean, I feel like the symbol on the chest should do that. 

But you see Superman's abs in the comic books. I don't necessarily think you need to. All right. Moving on to Lois Lane, she was played by Rachel Brosnahan. Now I called it from the very beginning. She was going to be the most perfect Lois Lane to date on screen. And I was right. She freaking nailed it. I loved her characterization. I loved her performance. 

Mwah, Chef's kiss. Yeah, she was fantastic. She was definitely more like the comic book character of Lois Lane than any other iteration I think we've seen on the big screen thus far. 

Yeah, 100 percent. She was true to character as the ultimate skeptic that she is. She's this sharp, relentless, investigative journalist who questions everything and everyone, including the man she loves. After Superman's controversial intervention in Boravia, she openly questions not just the ethics of his actions, but the very foundation of their relationship. For Lois, trust is earned, never given blindly. Her instinct is to push back against power, even when that power belongs to Superman. 

And that makes her a really strong and independent character, which she's always been in the comics. Yet, despite her doubts in this film, she alone refuses to believe Superman has any hidden agenda to repopulate Earth with Kryptonians because she knows and trusts Clark in a way that no one else does. Throughout the film, Lois' arc is about confronting her own fear of vulnerability and learning to see the humanity beneath Superman's invincibility. By the end, she realizes that beneath the cape is the same man who had a mighty crab joist poster in a smallville bedroom, a man whose open heart and unwavering faith in others aren't weaknesses, but proof of his shared humanity. 

And choosing to stand by him and profess her love, she overcomes her fears, embracing the idea that love, despite all the differences and uncertainties, is worth it. The character of Lois Lane is usually portrayed as a damsel in distress in her history in comic books and film, which never quite sat well with me because she has such agency as a character and is really smart or supposed to be, you know. And I really like how this film chose to use that agency and that intelligence to have her go and seek out resources and help save Superman. 

Right, exactly. They definitely do not go with the traditional version of Lois Lane that needs to be saved. She's the one that does the saving in this film, which is fantastic and maybe different from what we're used to seeing with the character. 

But I never once for a second thought that this version was not true to character because of that. What did you think of the romance between the characters of Lois and Superman here? They definitely went a different route in that Lois is in the dark on Superman's alter ego. So I like the fact that right off the bat, they know who each other are. And really, there shouldn't be a long period of time between Lois's discovery of Clark Kent being Superman because of how smart she is and how inquisitive she is. But that doesn't mean that they're automatically like head over heels and love with each other. I actually thought it was really interesting that Lois Lane would not be sure And yeah, she probably believed Superman to be naive, but she also found the good guy qualities about him to be endearing because they had the strength of character and the strength in general to boot. 

And she understood that kindness is not weakness. Yeah, especially when you're as strong as Superman. Moving on to Lex Luthor, he was played by Nicholas Holt. Like Brosnahan, I thought Holt's performance as Lex is the best to date. His pettiness and overall emotionality makes more sense to me than it does for someone like Superman because Lex, as the film explicitly says, is essentially the embodiment of envy. 

And I have suspect that Holt's performance was so good because he actually auditioned for the role of Superman in this film, but lost the role to Corenswet. Oh, for sure. He can easily identify with Lex's envy in that way. 

That's a great point. And I really like how this movie brought about the theme of envy for Lex and the idea that he admitted to it and leaned into that was kind of profound for the character I felt. Yeah, absolutely. Like he's intelligent enough to recognize his own faults in a way, but also justify them. 

It's interesting. Now, this film, Lex orchestrates this complex array of schemes that includes cloning Superman into Ultraman, manipulating global politics by arming Baravia, inciting war for profit, creating a pocket universe prison, engineering villains, and even fostering public distrust against Superman. His schemes are part selfishness, part pettiness, and they reflect his dual nature of his unparalleled genius yet deep rooted in security. Lex's motivation in the film explicitly is pure undiluted envy. He admits that envy consumes him and that he cannot stomach humanity's idolization of Superman because it highlights humanity's collective weakness and his own perceived undeserved inadequacy. His rage isn't just about hating Superman. It's about proving that humanity doesn't need gods or saviors, that human intellect and willpower such as his alone should define the future. Through his obsession, Lex becomes something of a tragic figure, a genius so terrified of his own insignificance that he would rather destroy the world than see it uplifted by an alien and foreign ideal. 

He's a profound character that nothing nailed him in this movie. Absolutely. And admitting his whole weakness of envy thing, because of that self-introspection, he was able to dive deeper into the why of his being and the whole philosophy behind that, which I think is incredibly profound when a character can speak to their own truth like that. 

Oh, totally. I feel like it came away from this film understanding Lex in a way that I never really have before. A lot of the characters even, including Superman. Yeah, there's a lot of characters in this film. 

I just wanted to touch on those three specifically, but the roster is huge, including Jimmy Olsen, who was played by Skyler Gizondo, who I thought nailed the character, even though his depiction as a pussy magnet. That exactly was, I think, unique to the character, but I thought it worked really well for this story. It was funny. 

He was one of many Daily Planet cast members. Not all of them worked, I felt. I felt they were largely background noise. Yeah, really the only one that stood out to me was Beck Bennett as Steve Lombard, but even with him, I'm not sure why he was included in Mr. Terrific's hovercraft towards the end, or really any of the other Daily Planet staff other than Perry White, Jimmy Olsen, and Lois Lane. I don't want to say the cast was overstuffed, but there were definitely some superfluous characters. 

For sure. Of course, there was also the roster of the Justice Gang, which I don't love the name of Justice Gang, I'll be honest. I think it eventually will be Justice League, just based on trailers from Peacemaker Season 2. But if it were up to me, I would actually prefer Maxwell Lord's team to sort of segue into a Justice Society. I don't understand why they wouldn't just call them the Justice League to begin with. Like, why circumvent the formation of the Justice League in this way? I don't know if that has to do with the fact that Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are not involved in it, or maybe the fact that they're being somewhat indecisive this early on in the universe, as to whether they want it to be the Justice League or Justice Society. 

Who knows, I did not care for it though. I'm on Team Hawkgirl in that instance. Except Hawkgirl kind of sucked in this movie, played by Isabella Merced. Yeah, I did not like her characterization at all. Way too much screaming for no reason. She didn't do nearly enough damage to the kaiju with her mace. She basically just tapped the fucking thing. And I was like, okay. 

You think hitting it in the eyeball with that mace would hurt it? But yeah, she didn't do anything. Hawk Girl doesn't scream in the comic books, so like she's not Black Canary, right? She does, and I've actually seen some instances where she does have a canary cry, but I feel like that's just bad writing. Because yeah, she traditionally does not have that. And it's not like it did anything anyway in this movie. Her enthematal mace should have knocked out the kaiju's eye. 

I'm just gonna say it, but it didn't. Yeah, I had real problems with Hawkgirl. Hopefully she redeems herself in Peacemaker. 

We'll see. I did love the other members of the Justice Gang though, namely Guy Gardner, the Green Lantern, played by Nathan Fillion. He friggin killed it. Guy Gardner is not my favorite Green Lantern, as I've mentioned in prior episodes, but I thought he was perfect for this movie because he was just a great foil in a way for a Superman. Like he represented the cynicism of the world. Yes, exactly. But I also liked the fact that each character, including Guy Gardner, was able to showcase their power in this really impressive way. 

Like Hawk Girl was really the only one who didn't get the opportunity to do that. But the most impressive was actually Mr. Terrific, in my opinion, played by Eddie Gathegi. His moment where he's taking on the soldiers at Fort Kramer with his T-Spheres was so cool. 

One of the best action scenes in the movie, I would say. I do like how they showcased his multitasking ability in the course of that fight, in that it felt like he was kind of everywhere at once fighting everybody through his T-Spheres. I like the T-Spheres in general. I want the T-Spheres. I guess it was maybe a little bit vague exactly what they did, at least to newcomers, but I think people would be impressed nonetheless. I mean, in the comics, they kind of do everything. So it was appropriate. 

I also just really liked Eddie Gathegi's performance. I kind of hope that he leads his own spin-off, maybe, Justice Society show later on. I don't know. That'd be cool. I need to see more Mr. 

Terrific. That's all I know. Metamorpho joined the Justice Gang at the very end of the film. He was played by Anthony Kerrigan, who played him a little bit more meekly than I think he's depicted in the comics. But I did like the fact that they made him a family man, because that's really important to the character in DC Comics. 

Is his son like that in the comic books? Green? Yeah. 

Interesting. I really loved the special effects behind his powers. It was weird, especially when he was like a flying head, it would just have like tentacles. Yeah. 

After he turned his body into acid and sprayed those guys. Yeah. Yeah, really interesting. But of course, there's also Lex Luthor's own superhuman crew, which included the engineer who was played by Maria Gabriela de Ferreira, who was better in the movie than I thought she would be. Like, I didn't think she really belonged in this movie based on the trailers, just what I know of the character. But I thought James Gunn made good use of her, being that she was a creation of Lex Luthor to tackle Superman. But is that true to the authority comic books? Does she have any association with Lex Luthor? 

No, not initially. She was a Wildstorm character, a member of the authority that was brought into DC Comics later on. I guess in that regard, she just still feels random to me. Well, that's what I was afraid of, but I didn't get that sense, because she was a part of a team called Overwatch, created by Lex Luthor to bring down Superman specifically. So I kind of liked the idea that he was working on these experiments to create superpowered individuals capable of taking on Superman. And I thought her power set was really cool. I was horrified when she was like flooding Superman's mouth with nanites trying to drown him. 

That was wild. I wonder why Lex didn't give himself superpowers. I don't necessarily think he wants them. I think he wants to prove that he's better than meta-humans. He's always kind of been anti-meta-human. 

Just being in control of them as opposed to joining them. Right, yeah, he uses them. Like the clone of Superman in this film, Ultraman, which I don't love that they named him Ultraman. I don't understand why they didn't just go the bizarro route with this character. Yeah, they were trying to keep it this secret or something like that, as if fans didn't already know or highly suspect that this was going to be a Superman clone underneath the mask. 

Well, I wasn't 100% going in. Like it was a genuine mystery who the character of Ultraman was to me. I was kind of actually disappointed when they revealed that it was a normal looking, for the most part, Superman clone. Would you have preferred a disfigured looking one? Yeah, I would have much preferred like if Lex Luthor was still working on perfecting his clone technology. 

And maybe that would lead to Superboy in a later film. I don't know. I didn't love what they did here. For all I know, that version of Superman being sucked into the black hole maybe ends up in some bizarro universe and comes back later on disfigured. But we'll see, I guess. I think it would have been more expedient if you replaced Metamorpho in the movie with Metallo. And Metallo could also serve in the engineer's role as well. Oh, just made of like nanites? Yeah. 

Yeah, Metallo and Bizarro? That would have been awesome. And I think more reflective of Superman's traditional rogues gallery. Not gonna lie, I would have loved to have seen that. I can't even deny that. But let's move on to the story highlights. 

Visit dynamicpodcast.com where we settle the debate and settle the score. 

Superman crash lands in Antarctica three minutes after being pummeled in Metropolis by the Hammer of Boravia, who is seemingly the mid human champion of the nation of Boravia, an ally of the United States, whom Superman stopped from invading its neighboring country of Jarhenpur three weeks ago. Superman is taken to the Fortress of Solitude by the unruly crypto, the super dog, where he is healed with the help of his robot assistants and a concentrated dose of solar radiation. All while an inspirational yet incomplete recorded message of hope from Superman's Kryptonian parents, Jor-El and Lara, plays in the background. 

Once adequately healed, Superman flies back to the city of Metropolis, though he and his Antarctic fortress are noticed by the engineer who works for and was created by Alex Luther. Again, brilliant use of the opening crawl as it were for this film. I guess many humans emerged three centuries ago and in this movie, Superman is 33 years old. I'm not sure why they went with the number three, but I thought it totally worked timeline wise. Yeah, I don't think there was real significance to the number three. 

It was just kind of a coincidence that all these occurrences lined up with the number three. It made me interested in which metahumans emerged three centuries ago. Like what century would that have been? The 18th century, I guess? 

The 1700s? You can't wait to learn more about that, but I also liked that they build it as ushering in age of gods and monsters, which is the name of the first chapter, essentially, for James Gunn's DC universe, like his phase one. Were you surprised that Bradley Cooper was Jor-El? No, that was actually spoiled for me beforehand and not even on social media, like it was a news article. 

I was pissed. In Metropolis, Lex and his team are alerted to Superman's return and issue instructions to the hammer, resulting in Superman's defeat once again. The injured Superman is helped to his feet by a friendly food vendor named Malik, while he's also criticized by the public for his intervention in the foreign conflict. The hammer departs, flying to Fort Kramer, a nearby military base, where a series of interdimensional gateways through a pocket universe takes him to Lex Luther's command center, and it's revealed that the hammer is Ultraman, another creation of Lexes. The hammer of Baravia is an original character to the story, yes? 

Yes, yeah, he's not in the comics. I do gotta say I really like Lex Luthor's fight system that he has set up against Superman, where he calls out like specific moves to Ultraman to defeat him. That was really cool. Yeah, he essentially plotted like thousands of moves to go against Superman, which is wild. 

I thought that was really cool. It's like Lex Luther playing a video game against Superman with like a thousand buttons. I was surprised that the war suit that the hammer of Boravia or Ultraman war was not Lex Luther in a battle suit, because I totally thought that was going to be the case from the trailers. I thought that was a really cool suit, and I kind wish Lex Luther would use it later on. Yeah, that would have been cool. 

Or at least you think he'd put on like a raptor suit or something like that. Oh yeah, yeah, I guess that's green and purple. More traditionally, Lex's colors. 

That would have been cool. Now Clark Kent arrives at the Daily Planet after getting his first front page news story published about Superman's fight with the Hammer. While Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen questioned the Hammer's motive and Superman's actions, the president of Boravia, Vassil Gurkos, criticizes Superman during a televised press briefing and insists Boravia's invasion of Jarhanpur was to liberate its people from its oppressive government. Lex Luther meets with US military executives at the Pentagon, presenting Ultraman, the engineer, and an army of flying armored soldiers known as Raptors as a military unit known as Planet Watch, pitched as the best and only method of neutralizing the alien threat that Superman presents as all Kryptonite has now been removed from the planet. Though the executives, including Rick Fleck Sr., are hesitant to allow Lex to kill Superman, they give Lex the authority to hold Superman for questioning. You mentioned that the story did a good job of showing the multiple sides of Lex Luther as a villain as he's been portrayed in the comic books as like, you know, an evil scientist, a businessman. When I saw Lex in the Pentagon speaking with generals and stuff like that, I could easily see a route to him becoming president in maybe like a sequel or a third film in a trilogy down the line. Yeah, that would be interesting. I've always loved that storyline with Lex. It was really cool in the comics. 

Now, I have to imagine that Planet Watch is a precursor to Stormwatch in the comics, which is related to the authority and maybe one of the reasons they went with the engineer for this movie, because the authority is a film that James Gunn has been planning to be a part of this Gods and Monsters chapter in the DC cinematic universe. Now, Lois arrives at her apartment only to find Clark there cooking dinner. It's revealed that the two are having a secret romantic relationship and that Lois knows Clark is Superman. After agreeing to allow Lois to interview him as Superman, Clark nevertheless becomes agitated by her questions and leaves. Meanwhile, Lex arrives in Antarctica with Ultraman, the engineer, and his current girlfriend Eve Tessmucker, who all infiltrates Superman's fortress, destroys his robots, kidnaps crypto, and steals the recording of Superman's Kryptonian parents. To prevent Superman from interrupting their infiltration of the fortress, Lex has his team unleash a distraction in Metropolis, a small alien creature that grows into a skyscraper sized kaiju overnight. Now, there's a lot of things in this film that they don't really explain, and it makes me wonder if there was a longer cut of this film earlier on. 

Things like the kaiju. When did it grow? Why did it grow? 

Where does it come from? Things like that. Yeah, I definitely had those questions about it as well. Like I was maybe missing something, or maybe it was some kind of easter egg to the comic books. 

Like he was a well-known character for DC fans, but I never got those answers. No, the kaiju. I mean, there are kaiju's in Superman comics, but I think this one was original to the movie. As Superman protects Metropolis from the kaiju, the Justice Gang arrives, with its members Guy Gardner, a Green Lantern, Mr. 

Terrific, and Hawkgirl ultimately killing the kaiju to Superman's dismay. While the public celebrates the hero's victory, Lex Luthor reveals on a new show a repaired and full recording of Superman's parents, their inspirational message of hope, followed by their wish that their son Cal-El rule over Earth's citizens and spread his seed to rebuild the Kryptonian lineage. Devastated by the revelation, and with a public sentiment turned against him even further, Superman realizes Luthor must have stolen the message from his fortress. Upon flying there, Superman finds his robots destroyed and Krypton missing. 

While President Gerkos meets with Lex Luthor in his pocket universe, the two revealed to be in cahoots. The kaiju scene was a great action scene for not only Superman and showcasing how heroic he is with the saving of like dogs and squirrels and stuff, but also just a great introduction, I think, to the Justice Gang. I was looking forward to this scene from the trailers, and I thought they pulled it off really well. Yeah, it was interesting how Superman was largely serving in a support role, like preventing collateral damage while the rest of the heroes took on the kaiju directly. 

Yeah, set Superman apart from other heroes. They just wanted to kill this thing. He didn't. He wanted to take it to like an intergalactic zoo or something. 

I thought that was cool. Despite confronting Lex Luthor about Krypto's whereabouts and getting no information, Superman returns to his metropolis apartment after spending the day looking for the dog. There, he and Lois discuss their strained relationship before Superman reveals that he's going to turn himself into the government for questioning, figuring that may help lead him to Krypto. While Superman is arrested by Ultraman, Rick Flagg Sr. reveals that Superman is to be held in Lex's custody for the time being. Superman is escorted through the interdimensional portal at Fort Kramer to Lex's pocket universe, where he is placed in a prison cell with metamorpho, whom Lex has neutralized and tortured Superman by creating Kryptonite. Superman spots Krypto being experimented upon and realizes Lex has no intention of ever releasing either of them. 

Meanwhile, Lois and Jimmy try to find the connection between Lex and Boravia, resulting in Jimmy reaching out to Eve, who turns out to be Jimmy's obsessive ex-girlfriend and the two agree to meet. I like the Kryptonite effect in this movie, where it really made Superman feel more alien and really feel much more affected by the Kryptonite element than in other screen adaptations where it just looks like he's sick to his stomach or something like that. Yeah, it definitely looks like the Kryptonite was poisoning his blood here, and it actually did. 

Kryptonite is so inconsistent, I'm glad that it had lasting ramifications in this movie. After Jimmy meets with Eve to ask her to find information, Lois visits with the Justice Gang to ask for their help, and though their leader Guy Gardner refuses, Mr. Terrific tracks Superman to Fort Kramer. After Lex kills Malik in a game of Russian roulette in front of Superman to force information out of him, Lois and Mr. Terrific arrive at Fort Kramer, where Terrific defeats the soldiers there to uncover the portal to Lex's pocket universe. 

While Mr. Terrific searches for Superman using his T-Sphere, Metamorpho agrees to help Superman escape their prison cell in exchange for the rescue of his also imprisoned infant son, Joseph. Though Superman manages to rescue Joseph and Krypto, he struggles against the Raptors and is knocked into an anti-proton river before nearly getting sucked into a black hole at the center of the pocket universe. Eventually, Superman manages to escape the pocket universe with help from Metamorpho. Along with Mr. Terrific and Lois, the Superman continues to suffer from Kryptonite poisoning, and Lois takes him to the Kent Farm in Kansas while Mr. Terrific stays behind to try to close the portal. 

I feel like using Super Breath to escape a black hole makes no sense in any sort of reality. Okay, well how would you have done it? You could. I don't know, squeezed my flying muscles a little bit harder or something like that? 

I have no idea. But Super Breath had me scratching my head during the movie. Well, I think it was Super Breath combined with Minimorpho's tugging that really got him out of there. I did think the anti-proton river was really cool. Did not expect to see anything like that in the Superman movie. Yeah, it was a cool special effect. 

For sure. Why do you think Jimmy Olsen didn't like Eve? Because the implication was that he was kind of shallow and thought she had weird looking toes and that's why he didn't like her? I mean besides the obvious personality reasons, if she was so clingy I wonder why they even inserted the toe thing. Yeah, it does kind of make Jimmy look kind of bad. 

It had to be a personality thing. I don't know. Furious as Superman's escape, Lex abuses Eve, who texts information to Jimmy out of spite, though she's caught immediately upon doing so and imprisoned in the pocket universe. Though Jimmy is disappointed to see the information Eve sent was a series of selfies, Lois recognizes that the background of each selfie contains critical evidence that reveals Lex's plans. Despite warnings from his team, Lex overloads the portal generator at Fort Cramer causing a destructive rift to grow between realities that begins tearing Metropolis apart and Lex's desperate bid to attract Superman. While Clark has a heartfelt talk with his adoptive father Jonathan Kent about Jor-El and Lara's full message, Metropolis's citizens evacuate the city and Baravia's army gathers at the border ready to invade Jarhenpur, whose citizens call out to Superman for help as their people do not have an advanced military to defend them. There's a few scenes in this movie that not gonna lie got me choked up, one of them being the discussion between Jonathan Kent and Superman. Oh for sure, yeah really heartfelt stuff. But also the Jarhenpur scene with the kids lifting up the flag, that was real touching. 

For sure and not just for us as audience members but also like the characters from the Justice Gang who decided ultimately to go help despite their criticism of Superman doing the same thing earlier in the film. As a parent hearing the wisdom of Jonathan saying that parents aren't for telling their children who they're supposed to be, we're just here to give them the tools essentially to make fools of themselves. I really liked that message. 

Oh yeah so good. Letting your kids make their own choices to become who they are going to be on their own is a challenge I think as a parent because you want the best for them and you kind of end up wanting to control their lives in some way but the wisdom of not doing that just struck Yeah telling someone who they are in general is just going to build resentment on their part. Totally yeah. Now despite seeing the Jarhenpurian people call out for him on television, Superman is notified by Mr. Terrific about what's going on in Metropolis. As Metropolis is being destroyed, Lois and Jimmy reveal to Daily Planet editor and chief Perry White that Lex had given military arms to Baravia at a discount in exchange for half of Jarhenpur's conquered land which would serve as the site for a tech haven as well as provide him with billions of dollars in oil reserves. 

The three of them along with several other Daily Planet journalists write a story exposing Lex in Mr. Terrific's hovercraft while Mr. Terrific and Superman themselves are attacked by Ultraman and the engineer after working to protect Metropolis's citizens. After the engineer nearly drowns Superman in nanites, Superman flies into space and crash lands back in Metropolis knocking out the engineer along with her nanites and also damaging Ultraman's mask which reveals that he's a clone of Superman. What did you think of the way Superman defeated the engineer? 

I liked it. I liked how he took issues into his own accord. You know he didn't have outside help to come in and rescue him at the last minute like you would expect maybe from a situation like this. He had to use his own wits being a character who isn't necessarily known for his high intelligence. It was a desperate move on his part but it made sense and it worked. Yeah I agree. 

I totally thought with Mr. Terrific being there that he was going to disable the nanites in some way but I loved that they came up with a unique way for Superman to overcome his own challenge. A way that even Lex didn't foresee coming. 

Yeah it was also hardcore. Even the engineer was like I'm not going to survive this and Lex was like the only one they're protecting is Superman. That was genius. 

That was good. As Guy Gardner, Hawkgirl and Metamorpho defend Jarhan Perr from the Baravian army going so far as to even kill President Girkus, Ultraman meanwhile pummel Superman under the fight direction of Lex Luthor. With help from Crypto however, Superman is able to disable Lex's observational drones and knock Ultraman into the pocket universe's black hole. 

After defeating the Raptors as well, Superman, Crypto and Mr. Terrific crash into Lex's flying command center and after a brief debate between Superman and Lex, Crypto attacks Lex, injuring him while Mr. Terrific hacks Lex's systems to reverse the rift destroying the city. Once the Daily Planet's expose outs Lex as manipulating the war between Baravia and Jarhan Perr, Lex is arrested and his pocket universe prisoners are set free including Eve who embraces a reluctant Jimmy. Superman and Lois also share a kiss. 

This whole third act was so action packed and so fun to watch. I do have to call BS on a code fixing that rift between dimensions though. I don't know how that's possible. Kind of the whole Silver Age zonkiness at work there. Yeah. 

But the rest of it I loved. Do you think the Justice Gang will come under the same kind of scrutiny that Superman did for interfering in an international conflict going so far as to assassinate a world leader? I was actually wondering that. I think with revelation that Lex was manipulating them and that President Gerchos was corrupt, probably gives them a bit of leniency. 

Maybe. I really didn't appreciate how the whole Crypto attacking Lex comedic beat in the film was a direct ripoff of the puny god scene where the Hulk beats the shit out of Loki in the Avengers film. It was like this same exact joke. That's a beyond the reasoning of the antagonists just being more of a force of nature and beating the shit out of the villain because they can. 

For me it was almost the same exact moment. Okay so that's only a lot to happen once in storytelling for all of history? At least for superhero films? Yes. No. I'm sorry. 

It was way cooler when Crypto did it. Now back at the fortress of solitude as Superman undergoes healing treatment from his now repaired robot servants, a drunk super girl arrives and is reunited with her dog Crypto. After she leaves, Superman watches videos of himself growing up with his adoptive parents, the Kents in Kansas. In a mid-credits scene, he and Crypto overlook the planet from the moon and in an end-credits scene, Superman chastises himself for being a jerk after pointing out to an irate Mr. Terrific that the city was not seamlessly rejoined after closing the rift. I gotta say both the mid-credits scene and end-credits scene were entirely worthless. Like I did not need to see them, I regret wasting my time. 

Well it's been said that DC Studios is not going to make the mistake of recent Marvel Studios films in setting up promises that they can't deliver. It wasn't really necessary, it was cute, it was comedic. I'm glad I stayed for them. I think to that end they should just not have mid or end-credits Why even include them if it's just going to be pointless? You know what? Just let DC do what it's going to do. 

You don't need to worry about it. I did really like the ending how Superman started watching the videos of Ma and Pa Kante as opposed to his Kryptonian parents. That whole switch-up was I thought a great culmination to his arc because it spoke to how he started defining himself. I actually kind of loved how they played up more on Ma and Pa Kante in this movie than Krypton. Even with Pa and Ma Kante being portrayed as the simpletons that they were, to Clark they were still more important because they were the ones who raised him than his Kryptonian parents. You know in Man of Steel we got a really brilliant take on Krypton and I wasn't really sure that this film could improve on something like that and I'm kind of glad it didn't even really try to. Like Krypton is interesting but beyond it being the planet he came from his real origin story is his upbringing in Smallville by Jonathan and Martha Kent and I'm glad that this film acknowledged that. 

Yeah Krypton is irrelevant to his actual character. This film really puts the causation of Superman's morals and ethics on the Kants which kudos to the film. Yeah there's a lot that this film gets right. It surprised me in a lot of ways. I thought it was profound in more ways than I would have thought it would have been. 

It was a soaring reminder that true heroism lies not in mites but in the radical choice to see goodness in others. I thought it was a bold heartfelt and fun start to the new DC universe. I loved this movie. It's not perfect but it's really close so I'm giving it four and a half out of five stars. 

A fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Yeah I think viewing it on a surface level doesn't quite seem as profound as it actually is if you look deeper. You know that whole message is the essence of Superman. At least how he should be and beyond that I think the film was just a lot of fun and a lot more true to the tone of the comic books and true to the characterization. You can't really ask for much more than that from a superhero film. 

So yeah I think four and a half stars is a solid rating. I cannot wait for the Supergirl movie after this. I cannot wait to see Batman. I really hope they incorporate Robert Pattinson's The Batman into this universe because I think it would work perfectly. I'm so stoked to be a DC fan right now and see what they have coming up. 

What a time to be alive. And I gotta say Marvel's Fantastic Four has a lot to live up to after this movie. Oh it's up for the challenge and then some. You'll see. It is going to get trounced by Superman. No way Fantastic Four has a chance. R.I.P. Marvel Studios. Calling it now. 

You know what I like. I give this movie zero stars. Well thank goodness it doesn't matter what you think. And also I'll remember that in my review of Fantastic Four. Never mind. Never mind. But that does it for this review. AJ9K help close this out. 

Thanks for listening to Dynamic Jewel. Visit the show's website at dynamicduel.com and follow us on Instagram at dynamicjewel podcast. You can support the show on Patreon at patreon.com slash dynamicduel and joining a tier that works for you or by rating and reviewing Dynamic Jewel on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podchaser or on our website. Don't forget to listen to the other shows in the Dynamite podcast network including Max Destruction, Senjo World and Console Combat. 

In our next episode we will be doing a quick break from the reviews to do a team duel this time pitting the Justice League International versus the West Coast Avengers. It's the Justice League versus the Avengers again. Yes like a rematch or like a grudge match where this time the Avengers are going to be kicking all kinds of ass. Not as much as the Justice League. 

You'll learn. But that does it for this episode. We want to give a big thanks to our executive producers John Straussky, Zachary Hepburn, Dustin Belcombe, Miggy Mathen-Geehan, Nathaniel Wagner, Levi Yatn, Austin Wazalowski, AJ Dunkerly, Nick Obanto, Scott Camacho, Gil Camacho, Adam Spees, Dean Molesky, Devin Davis, Joseph Kirsting, Josh Leiner, Mike Williams, Oscar Galvez and Paul Graves for helping make this podcast possible. We'll talk to you guys next week. Up, up and away, true believers. 

I'm so punk rock that I despise punk rock.