This past week, mentally, was one of the lowest points I’ve experienced in at least five years — to the month, in fact. It was an even lower low than the precipitating event that finally pushed me into therapy in the summer of 2021. That scared me. Because, as I’ve analogized before, it felt like what falling off the wagon as an alcoholic must be like. Oh, those feelings can come back. In that way, it’s a reminder of how precarious everything is with regards to my mental health. All it takes is one bad week and all the familiar thoughts come storming back in. And even though I ought to be better prepared for it due to the aforementioned therapy and also antidepressants, I wasn’t. These thoughts found me in a moment of susceptibility. Self-worth, which is to say, worth to others, is a fickle monster. Insidious.
But then, on Thursday, while still down in this familiar mental pit, the 2025 Superman teaser trailer was released. While it may seem tenuous, or for a less graceful word, silly, to grab on to Superman, a fictional character represented in a fictional movie, as something to hang on to as a life raft, I think sometimes you have to take whatever you can get to ride out the current disrupting your mental state. I sure did.
Superman goes by many monikers: Man of Steel, the Last Son of Krypton, Big Blue, and Boy Scout. The one I’m most fond of and grateful for this week is Man of Tomorrow. Indeed, he —in his way as the personification of all that is good and right and uplifting — showed that a tomorrow could exist at a time when I most needed it. He was called the Man of Tomorrow because he represented a future people believed in where we would be stronger, faster, more invulnerable; it’s a world of progress. A world where we take one more step and then another. And another.
Sometimes, that’s all it takes. One more step. Once I can visualize tomorrow in all that it means, it’s like a dam to the flooding negative thoughts. Thank you, Superman, for doing what you’ve been doing for 86 years, and hopefully will do for many more people when Superman releases on July 11, 2025.
Here is the teaser trailer:
To say I was buoyed by this trailer is an understatement. Before I do my usual trailer dissection, let me first offer a preface. I love Superman, the character, so I’m excited to see Superman on my television and on the big screen. Animated or live-action. I’m not one of these people who is dismissive of other incarnations, and indeed, other performances and looks of Superman. Christopher Reeve was the first celebrity hero I ever had, first because of 1978’s Superman: The Movie, and later, because of the man being a real life hero. Dean Cain and Tom Welling played different versions of Superman well in their respective television shows, Lois & Clark: The Adventures of Superman and Smallville. I also thought Brandon Routh and Henry Cavill were great as Superman in their respective films, 2006’s Superman Returns and 2013’s Man of Steel. I prefer the latter film overall because of how Superman’s power, strength, and flight are showcased, but they’re all great! I’m sure David Corenswet, who has been cast as Superman in the latest film, is going to do great as Clark Kent and Superman. On the costume, I love Reeve’s, Routh’s, Cavill’s, and what I’ve seen from Corenswet’s. I’m easy to please when it comes to Superman is what I’m trying to say, folks. (Twitter, as usual, has a lot of toxicity around this issue.)
Back to the trailer.
I love how colorful this Superman’s costume is though, and I’m nostalgic for the underwear over the tights look we see in the first shot of Superman, who has careened into the snow and is bloody! Very few people are capable of making Big Blue bleed! Then, as he’s breathing in pain in what sounds like a punctured lung, we see flashes of him bumbling around as Clark Kent as he enters The Daily Planet.
John Murphy’s thundering music kicks in on the close-up of Superman’s bloody face, a mix of the familiar John Williams score and Murphy’s own flavor on the theme. I think it’s grand and spectacular. I listened to it on a loop Friday. Murphy’s theme leads into presenting James Gunn in what seems like a similar font as the classic 1978 font, who is the director and writer on the film. I trust Gunn’s vision as a director and writer here, not even because of his great work on the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, but because he’s taking inspiration from one of the greatest Superman stories told in the comics, All-Star Superman, which ran from 2005-2008.
After the Gunn title sequence, we’re back in The Daily Planet with Clark, followed by a close-up of Lois Lane played by Rachel Brosnahan. It’s not even stated that that is Lois, but Rachel does something with her mouth, the way she’s dressed, and of course, the importance she’s given with a close-up shot, that you know it’s Lois. After that, it’s obviously confirmed because she’s looking at Clark, who himself looks properly goofy. After letting everyone know Gunn did Guardians, we’re back on the farm in Kansas, where comfortingly since he’s crying, Clark hugs Jonathan Kent, his adoptive father, played by Pruitt Taylor Vince. Pruitt is one of those guys I’ve seen in so many smaller roles throughout the years and he’s always good. I’m sure he will be phenomenal here.
I’m getting goosebumps again as the trailer returns to Superman in the snow and ice, bloodied. He whistles in a whistle that must be heard for miles around. Off in the distance, it looks like a locomotive is barreling toward Superman. In a way, one is: It’s Krypto. Now, for those who don’t know, Krypto is Superman’s superpowered dog. I have to say, there is a part of me that was never into Superman’s superpowered cast, like Krypto and Supergirl, as examples, because in my head, there should only be Superman, the one superpowered being. But I was instantly won over here. Krypto is a dog, after all! Even Superman needs man’s best friend.
Before Krypto reaches Superman, we return to the font, “IT BEGINS.” Let’s go!
Krypto has the cutest little red cape on and looks shaggy and ready to help his owner. I’m such a freaking sap because I love everything about this little interaction we get.
Superman: Krypto.
Krypto: Ruff, licks face.
Superman: Home, take me home.
Superman hands Krypto his cape and Krypto proceeds to drag Superman home (perhaps the Fortress of Solitude?). Let me be clear. I’m seeing Superman in July regardless of anything, but that little interaction between Superman and Krypto was everything. Sold.
Then we flash to a bunch of fun action shots including a shot I’m obsessed with and have watched numerous times in GIF form since: Superman rushing in to shield a little girl from an explosion of some sort. The action slows down so we can see all the debris that would have hit the child harmlessly flying past her. Superman saving people! Yes!
Next, we see Lex Luthor, bald, played by Nicholas Hoult. Obviously, you can’t have a Superman story without Superman’s #1 enemy. Nicholas was great in 2022’s The Menu opposite a very menacing Ralph Fiennes, so it’ll be interesting to see Nicholas take up the menace mantle. But in a shot I didn’t even realize until someone pointed it out on Twitter: As we’re looking behind Lex, Superman is flying away in the distance. That’s why Lex looks so peeved.
Another shot I’m obsessed with comes immediately after, with Superman enclosed in some sort of glass box punching his way out. It just looks cool and wonderfully lighted.
More images: A little kid hoists a makeshift flag for Superman quasi-praying to the Man of Steel to rescue him. Superman is approaching a building, what looks later to be Stagg Industries, a research and development firm, and is being accosted by an audience. One man throws a can at Superman’s head (which it shakes his hair; shouldn’t even Superman’s hair be inpenetrable?!).
Guy Gardner/Green Lantern then comes into the building behind Superman shooting his green ring light at the onlookers (to shield whatever Superman is about to do?). Gardner/Green Lantern is played by Nathan Fillion, who has the bowl cut famous from the comic books. It’s one helluva bowl cut! I was only familiar with Hal Jordan as the Green Lantern, so I didn’t know about Guy Gardner. Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl then is shown flying with her mace (club). She’s played by Isabela Merced, who is from Cleveland, which is fun (the hometown of Jerry Siegel, one of the co-creators of Superman). A Godzilla-like creature is shown spitting fire. Upon Googling, people refer to these as Kaijus, or appropriately, giant monsters.
Superman and Lois affectionately look at each other while something bizarre and uh, serious, is going on in the background of the shot. Then the trailer cuts to Clark and Lois passionately kissing, woohoo! A sap, I tell ya.
There’s also a blink-and-you-miss-it shot of Superman consoling a robot. Because Superman appreciates and mourns all loss of life. Again, upon Googling, people suspect it’s Kelex, a Kryptonian service robot. In another quick shot, appearing in the trailer is Rex Mason/Metamorpho, whose love interest is Sapphire Stagg, the daughter of Simon Stagg of Stagg Industries. He’s a good guy, though, whose superpowers are indicated by his name. I had to Google that as well. I’m not that well-versed in the comics! Mason/Metamorpho is played by Anthony Carrigan, who just as easily could have been cast as a deranged Lex Luthor, given shots of him bald. We also see a close-up (and I think previously, it was him punching through a wall?) of Michael Holt/Mister Terrific played by Edi Gathegi. To be honest, I hadn’t heard of Mister Terrific until Thursday when I saw the trailer. But anyhow, he’s a good guy, too, who is incredibly smart and is well-versed in medicine and engineering.
So, to summarize, joining Superman in the pursuit of all things good and right are Lois (because she counts!), Krypto, Mister Terrific, Metamorpho, Green Lantern, and Hawkgirl. Quite the ensemble of characters I look forward to getting to know more.
And of course, I love the shot toward the end of the trailer of Superman and Lois embracing as they float above the ground. Superman also is having a fight with someone on the baseball field of the Metropolis Meteors. I’m not sure who that is, and Google isn’t much help on that score. I also want to try to avoid some spoilers!
Finally, the trailer ends the way it ought to given the tagline on the film, Look up, with a shot of Superman flying straight up into the sky. Well, actually it ends with Lois and Superman hugging again before it appears Superman’s going to do something momentous, like save the city from whatever the heck was going on in the background of that shot!
Did I mention I love Superman? What’s great about this little more than 2-minute teaser trailer is we are given a lot without being given a lot. Which is to say, we’re shown a lot of the characters that’ll be featured and some other fun nuggets of information, but it’s not like other trailers (at least not yet) where I feel like I already know the whole story from the movie.
Thank you, Man of Tomorrow, for giving me more tomorrows. I should note, I’ve obviously since done some of my usual go-tos when I’m feeling down, as it were, to build upon the momentum that Superman gave me, but that teaser trailer and Murphy’s score were the catalyst for a better tomorrow and then another better tomorrow.
Milam's Musings 