Superman (2025)

Superman — James Gunn's inaugural film in his rebooted DC Universe — originally opened in summer 2025, but its extraordinary cultural staying power and status as the spiritual predecessor to the upcoming Supergirl have made it one of the defining films of the current blockbuster era. David Corenswet stars as Kal-El/Clark Kent in a portrayal compared favorably to Christopher Reeve's iconic 1978 performance — warm, genuine, slightly awkward in a way that feels authentically human. Gunn's approach to the Man of Steel is deliberately and refreshingly earnest. At a moment when superhero cinema had become synonymous with cynical quipping and wink-at-the-camera postmodernism, Gunn made a Superman who actually believes in what he stands for — who holds the door open for strangers, who is afraid of hurting people with his strength, who cries when he cannot save everyone. The film earned an 83% Rotten Tomatoes critics score, a 90%+ audience score, and $618 million worldwide — confirming Gunn's DCU reboot as the most successful franchise relaunch in modern superhero history. Krypto the Super-Dog (2026's most merchandised movie character) is an act of character design genius that no superhero film has matched since Baby Groot.