James Gunn’s Superman trailer proves he understands the Man of Steel in a way Zack Snyder never did

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a tired cliche used to introduce a story about Superman! 

Anyway, the first trailer for James Gunn’s Superman movie has arrived, and you know what? It looks really, really good. I was worried about how Gunn’s irreverent sense of humor would marry with the sincerity that defines the Man of Tomorrow, but it looks like my concerns were misplaced. 

In fact, I’d go so far as to say that Gunn’s realized something that most directors working on Superman movies forget, and it’s part of the character that Zack Snyder definitely didn’t think about. 

Specifically, Gunn clearly gets that Superman is first and foremost a man and a superhero second. Allow me to explain. 

Superman returns!

The new trailer is all about Clark’s humanity. Yes, we see him saving the day and flying around in his red and blue jammies, but everything he does is so human. He saves a little girl from a monster, he cries, and he smooches Lois. Everything that Gunn is putting front and center in this teaser seems deliberately designed to showcase Clark’s compassion and humanity.

I mean, for Zodd’s sake, the very first sequence highlights the character’s vulnerability and his reliance on others when he turns to Kypto for help. (There’s a joke to be made about him calling on man’s best friend for help, but we don’t have the time to make it.) As I say, the trailer seems tailor-made to make you think of Clark as one of us, and not some god-like superbeing from another world.

Warner Bros.

That’s something Zack Snyder, who’s a director with an incredible eye for a visual, never quite understood. To Snyder, Superman or Kal-El was a Christ-like figure who came from on high to save humanity from ourselves. Snyder put the Super before the man, and it made his version of the Man of Steel difficult to like. 

It comes down to a matter of interpretation, really, but I always think people (and I actually blame Quentin Tarantino and his dreadful Kill Bill monologue about Superman for this) who see Superman as an alien first and a human second are missing the point of the character. He’s meant to be the best of us, an optimistic vision of what humanity could be if we embraced the nobility within. 

That’s what Gunn seems to understand, but Snyder doesn’t. Superman doesn’t want us to “one day join him in the light.” He knows we’re already there, and he’s just around to catch us when we slip. We know it’s early days and we’ve only seen a few short clips of Gunn’s Superman but honestly we’re ready to believe a man can fly again.

If you love superhero movies check out our ranking on the best MCU movies and we’ve defended David Corenswet’s new Superman suit from the haters.