James Gunn and DC have won the internet for the day with the new teaser trailer for the Superman movie. While we were all wondering how the new reboot of the DCU would work out, it seems that Gunn and his team have been in the kitchen cooking up something special.
The cameo-laden trailer ignores little things like dialogue, focusing instead on human expression, motion, and Superman doing super things. We see people reacting to him, from the average, everyday citizen to Lex Luthor, the mere presence of the Man of Steel drawing out hope and adulation or hatred and fear. It’s a great trailer, hopefully one that heralds a fantastic movie, but one scene more than any other makes me think that this might just be a banger, folks.
During the latter part of the trailer, there is a scene of a massive monster’s foot crashing down, causing gas tanks to fly in all directions, with a young girl just moments away from grievous injury. Superman zooms into the frame, wrapping himself around the girl to protect her, absorbing the hellacious impact of the tanks, broken glass, and other shrapnel.
Other Superman movies have often led with him doing the extraordinary on a grand scale. Flying at superspeed to snatch someone out of the air, somehow managing to do it without smearing them all over the place from the impact. Or maybe catching a plane, or hurling someone into the sun. This scene is more simple, a defining moment for the character and a display of his approach to the concept of collateral damage that was used as a central crux in the story of the Snyderverse.
The message is loud and clear that, for Gunn’s Superman, collateral damage is not okay. The fights this Superman will endure are not careless romps spent throwing his enemies through buildings. This is further hinted at later in the trailer, as we see him fighting someone in an empty stadium, and it feels likely that Superman will have drawn them there as a way to keep others safe.
Right now, people feel like they want someone to fight for them. Not for “the greater good,” or loftier ideals that are often more conceptual than based in reality, but for them. Threats in the world today feel more personal, more real. People who feel afraid want a hero who is willing to put themselves between them and the danger. At times, it feels like the powerful among us are willing to sacrifice normal people for their own ends, so seeing the most powerful person of all take such care to protect a young child really strikes a chord.
What this new Superman needs to give us is the birth of hope, the idea that every innocent life is worth saving. Gunn is a talented director who usually plumbs the emotional depths of his subjects — and his audience — very well. The use of this scene feels deliberately designed to let us know that this Superman lives up to the old ideals.
Classically, Superman has always been willing to avoid a fight. He will defend those who need defending and will save those who need saving, but if he can do it without hurting anyone, that is his preferred method.
It is this stance that lets us know that when he is forced to fight, to go toe to toe with an enemy, that enemy truly is a villain. It seems that we will once again have this classic Superman back on the big screen, the type who would give his life in exchange for yours, because he truly believes you are equals.
Published: Dec 19, 2024 07:27 pm