"Superman" Final Trailer: Battered Man of Steel Faces Lex Luthor’s Wrath in James Gunn’s Hotly Anticipated DC Relaunch, Starring David Corenswet, Nicholas Hoult, and Rachel Brosnahan
Superman (Corenswet) faces new challenges in a world already shaped by superheroes, with Lex Luthor (Hoult) determined to take him down.
Superman is doing “important stuff” in this newly-released final trailer for James Gunn’s eagerly anticipated DC reboot, which finds the Man of Steel (played by David Corenswet) a little battered and bruised before soaring to new heights to reignite hope in a world on the brink.
The film, essentially the first installment in Gunn’s new DC cinematic universe, poses an intriguing idea: unlike past Superman movies, this one drops us into a world where superheroes already exist and are woven into society’s fabric. Superman’s mere presence isn’t novel—a flying man in a cape is just part of daily life. The world already knows him well, and they love him.
And as Lex Luthor (played by a bald-headed Nicholas Hoult in a nicely tailored suit) snarls in the new trailer, “They chose him… let them die!” He’s seemingly referring to a crowd of cheering children in a developing nation, all gazing skyward for any morsel of help or hope.
Again, it raises an intriguing question: how will Superman respond to a world that’s already learned to lean on heroes for rescue? And will he face backlash for any perceived lapse in attention or failure to save everyone?
The new trailer shifts focus to Superman’s famed nemesis, Lex Luthor (Hoult), who opens the promo with a chilling monologue: “Super…man. The most powerful being on Earth. Now, as planned, I’ll destroy you—and that reporter you always do interviews with.” His tone grows colder and more agitated: “Who raised you as a child? I’ll kill them too.”
As a man of great wealth and brilliance, Luthor is probably the only person smart enough to sniff out Superman’s secret hideaway—the Fortress of Solitude. And in the trailer, we get to watch him and his goons bulldoze through the Man of Steel’s high-tech lab, the one place Kal-El goes to patch himself back together after every life-or-death brawl.
Luthor’s anger seemed to stem from pure jealousy. He is also consumed by this need to be adored by the masses, as seen by his disgust after seeing Superman being cheered by so many. This trailer gives us our best look yet at Lex Luthor and his twisted playbook, from stalking the Fortress of Solitude to unleashing his goons on Kal-El’s healing lab—all while plotting to snatch the world’s applause for himself.
It’s clear that Luthor is Superman’s biggest threat—not because of his wealth or genius, but because a man consumed by unbridled envy is a man on fire who will burn everything down just to watch the world burn with him.
The film also stars Rachel Brosnahan as intrepid Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane. In the trailer, we see her piloting an orb-shaped spacecraft through downtown Metropolis, as she hollers “Buckle up!” to Perry White (Wendell Pierce), Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo), and other Daily Planet co-workers. Well, that’s one way to beat the traffic!
On the superhero front, we catch new glimpses of Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi), the gadget-savvy superhero inventor whose high-tech machinery takes on crime, and clearly plays a key role in the film’s unfolding subplot. We also get a fresh look at Green Lantern Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion, bowl cut and all) as he stares down Superman and snarls, “Make a move, Big Blue.” That just might be fighting words.
Tickets for Superman are now on sale. And so far, Fandango is reporting record numbers, becoming the best first-day ticket sales of this year on their platform. Meanwhile, Amazon Prime Members are being offered exclusive early screenings, a few days before the nationwide rollout on July 11th. So, the buzz is taking flight, that’s for sure.
