Spoilers for Superman Below

I remember watching Man of Steel the summer after my first year of college. I didn’t mind the movie, but a common critique I saw online was that Man of Steel didn’t feel like a Superman movie. There were discussions about the tone of the film and how Henry Cavill’s suit was darker than the usual bright blue and red suit from the comics. As a comics fan, I like how each era of superhero films has its own take on the characters, and Man of Steel’s take was a grittier, more realistic superhero if Superman were to exist in the real world. James Gunn’s Superman film was under considerable pressure. If this film were bad, it would be a terrible way to launch his DC movie universe. It’s safe to say that Superman was a delightful take on the character, and I’d ride or die for Krypto specifically.

Superman (played by David Corenswet) revealed himself to the world three years ago. During a fight, Superman is defeated and crash-lands near the Fortress of Solitude. Saved by Krypto, Krypto drags him to the Fortress, where he’s exposed to the sun and is partially healed. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor (played by Nicholas Hoult) discovers the Fortress and gathers additional information about Superman that he can use to take him down. A video is revealed where Superman’s parents tell Superman to take over Earth. Superman feels he has no choice but to give himself up to Lex. Lex imprisons Superman in a pocket dimension where his true intentions are revealed, including helping to start a war in another country to make a profit and defeating Superman.

For the most part, I never had any doubts over the casting choices for this film. David Corenswet has the look of Superman, and I found he had natural chemistry with Lois Lane (played by Rachel Brosnahan). The only casting choice I was a little torn over was Nicholas Hoult. Granted, I thought Jesse Eisenberg was a mis-cast for Lex, so that set me up to be a little more picky this time around. With that said, Nicholas Hoult was phenomenal, and as soon as he threatened to kill Krypto, the whole theater gasped. How dare he kill Krypto. Nathan Fillion played Guy Gardner, and that bowl cut is horrendous, even though it’s comic book accurate. Mister Terrific (played by Edi Gathegi) played a huge role in this film and is instrumental in breaking Superman out of the pocket dimension. The cast made the movie as great as it was.

Let’s talk about Krypto. Krypto acts how you would think any dog with superpowers would act. During the climax of the film, there’s a scene where Krypto breaks into a pet food store and is eating biscuits and treats. How cute is that? There’s another scene where Krypto viciously attacks Lex, and Superman tells him to put him down. To be fair, Lex did imprison Krypto, karma is a bitch. It reminded me of the scene from The Avengers where The Hulk smashes Loki around. Krypto’s look is really scrappy. He isn’t this perfectly manicured dog; he looks like a dog you would adopt from a shelter. I like that a lot. Krypto is so well-loved that there was a 500% surge in dog adoption interest after the movie was released. Krypto was a highlight of this movie.

There were a few cameos throughout the movie that were fun. Peacemaker (played by John Cena) was being interviewed on TV. Rick Flag Sr. (played by Frank Grillo) is one of the political players that Lex talks to when trying to get approval to attack Superman. For those who haven’t watched Creature Commandos, Rick Flag was animated, but not seen in live-action. I think the most surprising or least expected was the appearance of Supergirl (played by Milly Alcock). James Gunn is working on the Supergirl film now, and I think Milly was a good choice to play the character. I love how she’s off partying in outer space, and Krypto is misbehaving because of that. It also means that Krypto could appear in her movie too, and I’m here for it.

Another thing I read online was how some people hated Superman because they felt it was “too woke”. First of all, I think it’s perfectly fine if some people (like myself) liked this movie and some didn’t. That’s a part of being a fan of anything. With that said, comics are political. I hate to break it to you, but comics have always had political messaging throughout. Captain America punching Nazis. The X-Men are fighting for mutant rights. Superman is an immigrant. I always laugh whenever I see this pop up again in various fandom spaces. Comics have always been political; hell, Star Wars has been political. If you didn’t notice the message, that’s on you because it’s always been there.

I would not want to be James Gunn. The amount of stress of trying to relaunch a movie franchise sounds awful. With that said, Superman was a solid start, and I thought it was worth it to see in theaters. It gives me hope that DC can finally have a successful and solid film franchise.