Writer and director James Gunn has expressed his hope that his upcoming Superman film will help “unite” fans amid an increasingly polarized internet.
In a Q&A session at IGN, Gunn touched on the message Superman, embodying “the simplicity of morality and goodness and love” the character may convey upon its release in July 2025.
“Listen, I think things are really polarized, and my life just isn’t,” Gunn said. “I also think that the internet is polarized and it’s polarizing more than life itself. I live in rural Georgia and have friends of all different political persuasions. I’m not a person who believes in excluding someone because their politics are different than mine. And I think at the end of the day, most of us are trying to do our best, and most of us are making the best choices for ourselves and trying to do things with compassion.
“I know it’s hard to believe these days when everything on the internet is so black and white in terms of what’s good and what’s bad, what’s good and what’s bad.
“But I would hope that Superman unites us a little bit because he’s about those core values that I think everybody believes in. Not everybody, but almost everybody believes in. And so hopefully that respect is outside the realm of political discourse.
“And yes, I think that if we can focus on our humanity, which is Superman as a character and as a movie, and focus on doing what we can every day, that will heal a little bit, but not a lot. .”
The first Superman trailer shows Superman, played by David Kornshwaite, lying down after a battle with an unknown enemy, battered, bruised and bleeding. Superman calls Krypto the Superdog for help and tells him to take him home upon his arrival.
The sequence, Gunn said in the Q&A, reflects his desire for the Superman movie to act as a place where “we can all go home”.
“At the beginning of this trailer, Superman wants Krypto to take him home,” says Gunn. “And I think that’s a place where we can all go home, to a character that we love, to the simplicity of morality and goodness and love that Superman embodies as a character, and we can all go home this summer to Superman. I think that’s something that could be a good thing for us.”
Superman hits theaters on July 11, 2025, and is the first film in the first chapter of the DCU: Gods and Monsters. The new trailer features IGN explaining all the DC heroes and villains, how Superman thinks about hope, and James Gunn’s comments on Krypto actually being a pretty creepy dog in the movie.
Wesley is IGN’s UK News Editor. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or privately at wyp100@proton.me.
