Lois, Lex, and Krypto: Superman Trailer Has It All

Warner Bros. and DC Studios have been promising us the return of Superman for months, and now that we have a first full look at James Gunn’s upcoming film (via the official trailer), we have a good deal more than enough reason to be hyped for this bold new take on the Man of Steel. Titled simply Superman and set for a July 2025 release, Gunn’s reboot introduces us to a new Clark Kent, a new Lois Lane, a host of DC heroes and villains, and, of course, one single superdog.

No Kryptonite Allowed

The trailer is just 2 minutes and 30 seconds long, but it already tells us a whole lot more about what’s in store for the next Superman. One major change in tone we know about: this isn’t an origin story. Gunn has said before that, in a lot of ways, Superman will be about Clark Kent’s inner journey of trying to juggle and find the balance between his Kryptonian royalty and his small-town Kansas upbringing. This thematic throughline gives Superman an emotional anchor that will hopefully carry the film beyond just another hero’s origin.

Speaking of, the actor playing Superman/Clark Kent is David Corenswet. If the name is not yet familiar to you, he’s appeared in shows like Pearl and Hollywood. He’s playing a 25-year-old Superman, meaning he should be more of a grizzled veteran than the “deer in the headlights” we typically associate with past versions of the character.

We know Clark Kent’s double identity is a focal point of the film, because, let’s be real, who else is he going to use that identity with other than Lois Lane? Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) is Lois Lane, and, unlike past versions of the character, she doesn’t waste any time in her first scene. The trailer opens with a fast-talking Lois frantically running to keep up with “Superman” during an interview she’s conducting. For reasons we’ll address shortly, Clark Kent is Superman.

The dialogue and body language between Clark and Lois suggest some flirtatious banter and friendly competition, but it’s still not clear if Lois has figured Clark out (or if we should assume she has) at this point. This is the million-dollar question among DC fans, and honestly, the evidence can be seen on either side. Some point to her interviewing Superman and Clark Kent in the same sitting as a given that Lois knows. I, for one, am in the camp of thinking the hesitation and cringe on the actors’ faces suggest that she doesn’t have a clue. For better or worse, it’s the core hook of their relationship and the film’s emotional center.

Nicholas Hoult (X-Men, Mad Max: Fury Road) is also in the mix as Lex Luthor. He shows up in the trailer looking menacing as all hell and looks just as evil as ever, taking his expected route of being an evil scientist and corporate mastermind. He’s joined by Sara Sampaio as Eve Teschmacher and Terence Rosemore as Otis. All three are from the original Luthor Team cast on Gunn’s online Superman comic series.

The White Dog Saves the Day

Let’s be honest. The movie’s breakout star is not human at all. Superman has always had a legendary connection to his one dog. We first got a peek at Krypto last December in the film’s official teaser. In it, we see Krypto heroically drag a near-death Superman to the Fortress of Solitude in a last-ditch effort to save his master. We get another look at Krypto in the full trailer, and it just doubles down on this dog’s superpowers.

The trailer shows him standing paw-to-toe with Lex Luthor in one scene, and, in another, dogfighting the equally high-tech Angela Spica, a.k.a. The Engineer (played by Maria Gabriela de Faria). Dressed in black spandex and wielding what look like stiletto-sharp blades at her elbows that rotate out at eye-blinding speeds (all courtesy of nanotechnology, of course), Angela Spica and her team of no-nonsense costumed goons go on a full-on assault of the Fortress.

The trailer also isn’t light on action. There’s plenty of the usual blockbuster fare, from explosive setpieces, scenes full of kaiju-sized creatures (DC’s own Godzilla), and a notable team-up sequence between Superman and The Flash. And, of course, there’s a wider ensemble of intriguing, lesser-known DC characters on display for the first time as well. Nathan Fillion is Guy Gardner, a Green Lantern with a hairpiece. Anthony Carrigan is Rex Mason, aka Metamorpho, a power-suit-wearing shapeshifter who can use his biology to transmute elements in his body. Isabela Merced is Hawkgirl, the angel-winged warrior. Edi Gathegi is Michael Holt/Mister Terrific, a tech-savvy masked hero who was once the owner of a company similar to LexCorp.

The supporting cast also includes Milly Alcock as Superman’s cousin, Kara Zor-El a.k.a. Supergirl, Pruitt Taylor Vince and Neva Howell as Clark’s Kansas-born adoptive parents Jonathan and Martha Kent, Frank Grillo as Rick Flag Sr. (reprising his role from Gunn’s own animated series Creature Commandos), and Sean Gunn as Maxwell Lord.

Superheroics and Sentimentality

In all, the trailer is loaded with eye candy, from some high-speed rooftop action to cosmic-level swashbuckling. It’s heavy on action, but not short on substance. Gunn shows Clark Kent being put in the hot seat by Lois Lane (figuratively and literally) when she demands answers to how the U.S. Secretary of Defense can tell him what he can and can’t do. The jaded Kent responds by saying, “People were going to die!” before lighting up the city skyline with a fistful of his handy antimatter cubes.

The good moments balance out the serious with the lighter stuff. The outro, in particular, gives us a nice reprieve from the action. Superman is lying on his bed when we see the last of him, lying there in peace with a serene (and satisfied) Krypto on his chest. The shot, while brief, is an effective bookend to the trailer as a whole and gives us a sense of the character’s emotional direction: it’s an epic story, but one that still feels deeply personal.

Superman is a stacked, modern reboot that seems to nail all the right notes of the character. Gunn is assembling an impressive lineup of DC heroes and villains, and he’s bringing them all together with warmth and humor. The movie is as much a reboot of Superman as it is a reset for the entire DC cinematic universe, and it looks like a good one to boot.