An excerpt from my script review for Superman (2025) which will be available 02/09/26:
2.) Plot Stability
The thing I liked about this, and Matt Reeves The Batman, is that we’re moving away from including the origin stories for characters we’re familiar with.
(Oh, and Tom Holland’s Spider-Man!)
How many times do we need to see Krypton blow up?
Or Martha and Thomas Wayne get gunned down?
Or Uncle Ben mutter the now overused line about responsibility with his last dying breath?
Short answer to each is we don’t.
If it’s a character general audiences are familiar with, going this route allows the writer to jump right into an established world that is dealing with the hero, both the good and bad of the hero’s actions.
(One of the things I enjoyed about reading Marvel comics while I was in college is one story arc actually discussed the cost to the public of the collateral damage while heroes fought villains, especially in NYC. Certainly an interesting topic and makes the world feel more real.)
Here are a few examples, excluding the ones above, of whether or not they merit including the origin story…
Captain America? Nope.
Wonder Woman? Probably not.
Wolverine? Absolutely not! Jackman did it enough already and in multiple films!
Deadpool? Now…no, but initially yes since he had a cult following but mass audiences weren’t too familiar.
Namor? Probably should, just so audiences don’t confuse him with Aquaman.
Plastic Man? Yes…and extra points if you include examples of why some powerful DC heroes are afraid of him!
Okay, so let’s say you want to skip the origin story and get right to the meat of your plot, what can you do to catch everyone up?
Gunn uses a great example with his opening.
Six lines that take us from 3 centuries ago right up the present.
Will audiences be a bit upset they have to read? Maybe, as the youngest was on this end, but it sure as shit beats sitting through the alternative.
(See my above examples, like Krypton blowing up for the umpteenth time and watching a young Clark Kent discover his powers as an adolescent in Kansas.)
Overall, I enjoyed this script and film, even watching it again with the “the girls” after reading.
The middlest left early as it wasn’t for her, but the boss and youngest watched it, saying it felt forced, kind of like Guardians 2.
It wasn’t without its faults in my opinion though.
First…I absolutely hated the idea that Lex had memorized all of Superman’s fighting moves and developed a software program to counter it, using multiple stations.
Listen, I get he’s super fucking smart, but him yelling out moves like some weird think tank version of Street Fighter 2 was fucking silly.
A more realistic explanation, if they wanted to go that route, was he created some unique AI algorithm that analyzed Superman’s moves and then countered them that Lex designed.
Second…the whole “confirmed footage” of Superman’s real video from his parents…
It made a great plot point, and that I didn’t have a problem with. I also didn’t have a problem with Lex Luthor telling everyone it was fucking verified by “top men”.
What I did have a problem with was how everyone else doubled down that this was legit verified.
Like Mr. Fantastic…”These guys aren’t going to say it’s legit unless it is.”
Oh…OKAY…cause you know exactly who verified it? And it’s in a fucking alien language! And the person who discovered it…yeah she can manipulate technology because…nanites!!!
“All languages share basic linguistic similarities…” Shut the fuck up!
It just felt like a James Gunn plot point he shoehorned in to make his universe unique, but came off more dumb than original.
Lastly, LordTech and LuthorCorp?…Really? You couldn’t come up with ANY other corporation name to oppose Lex?
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