Final Superman Trailer is Better and Worse Than Previous Ads

Movies

Warner Bros. wants moviegoers to look up in the sky one more time before they look up at movie screens. Today, the studio released the final trailer for Superman, James Gunn’s opening salvo (cinematically speaking, anyway) in his and Peter Safran’s DCU. While the plot has largely been kept under wraps – although this trailer gives a few too many beats away – we know that it’s about Superman navigating a world that has seemingly rejected his old-fashioned decency and heroism in favor of newer, morally flexible heroes, while Lex Luthor schemes to destroy him and everyone he loves. David Corenswet stars as Superman, with Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor; they’re joined by Wendell Pierce, Skyler Gisondo, Isabela Merced, Edi Gathegi, Pruitt Taylor Vince, María Gabriela de Faría, and the great Nathan Fillion. Written and directed by Gunn, Superman lands in theaters on July 11, 2025, and you can see the final trailer below:

As with all of the advertising for this movie, there is good and bad in the final Superman trailer. I like that this one begins from Lex Luthor’s perspective, and we get a sense of what he’s up to; as always, Luthor hates Superman almost just because he exists, and he wants to tear him down for the whole world to see, starting with the Man of Steel himself and moving on to everyone he holds dear – chief among them, Lois Lane. It’s a great start, and I look forward to seeing a ruthless, petty, and dangerous Lex Luthor. The one place I wish the trailer had held back is when Luthor says, “They chose him; let them die.” That sounds like an escalation that comes late in the film, something I would have preferred to have discovered while watching it on the big screen, not in a trailer. I also worry that Nicholas Hoult’s voice is a little too slight; when Luthor starts threatening Superman and his loved ones, he doesn’t radiate the power he should. He doesn’t have to sound deep and gravelly, but he should be more menacing. That’s something that may work better in the movie, though; sometimes, mixing clips from different scenes produces an inaccurate representation of a character’s voice. The final Superman trailer also gives a good idea of the various forces arrayed against Superman, with all the super-powered nemeses giving him trouble. That clip of Guy Gardner telling him to “make a move” is cool, and I don’t think I’ve ever said this about Nathan Fillion before (well, once, when he was in Buffy), but I want to see Superman kick his ass.

On the good guy front, I like the shot of Lois Lane piloting that ship with Perry White and Jimmy Olsen strapped in behind her. It looks like Gunn is going to give Lois and the other human characters something to do in the midst of what is probably a huge battle, and Lois is the type to jump into the pilot’s seat of a vehicle like that and go for it. Mr. Terrific is annoying with that “Quit messing around” line, and now, I want Superman to punch him, too (although he’d probably kill Mr. Terrific if he did that, so maybe not). Unfortunately, once again, Superman himself is my biggest worry on the character front. I like the way the action looks, and some of his lines are fine, but some of them still don’t sit well with me and make me think that Gunn simply isn’t the right choice to write a character like Superman. He’s too quick to make the kinds of jokes that don’t fit Superman, like the one following Mr. Terrific’s admonishment where he says, almost mumbling to himself, “I’m not messing around; I’m doing important stuff.” That’s something I can imagine Star-Lord saying, for example, but it doesn’t sound right coming from Superman. I don’t mean to say there can’t be any comedy, just that there’s a particular way to have Superman make a joke. “Good luck with that,” on the other hand, can work in the right situation; Superman isn’t arrogant (which is why I still don’t like the “Hey, buddy, eyes up here” line), but he is confident.

However, the real elephant in the room is the special effects in the final Superman trailer, and while some are good, some are downright awful. I hope this trailer was assembled before James Gunn put the movie in the can last weekend because if not, they need to take it back out and do some more work. Some of the shots of Superman flying or fighting look like someone playing with rubber toys; they make the playground fight in The Matrix Reloaded look grounded and gritty. The moment at 1:31 where Superman swings a long pole at a villain is bad, and the shot of him knocking one guy’s teeth out is goofy, but a few clips of him flying are the worst. When he turns around after dodging the fire in the big monster fight (1:03-1:05) and the very end where he flies towards the screen are absolutely atrocious. It baffles me how these studios can spend ridiculous amounts of money on these movies and still have the special effects look this bad. You can’t complain that nobody goes to the movies anymore and then half-ass a big blockbuster film like Superman, particularly in the effects department. And, like the effects, Superman still looks like a mixed bag to me; I’m hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.

Let us know what you think of the final Superman trailer in the comments!

***

Get a META PC today; use code “199” to save on all purchases!

If you want to know what kind of political leanings movies have or just talk about cinema, check out the movie ratings community Criticless.

Get Your Geeks + Gamers merch here!