Why We’re Rebooting ‘Superman’ Again (And What That Says About Us) 

Every Superman reboot reveals something about the audience.

Not just what kind of stories we want but what kind of people we’re trying to become. James Gunn’s version of the Last Son of Krypton arrives at a moment when the world feels collectively worn down. So it’s not just a branding move for DC or another attempt to escape from tangled, overstuffed multiverse stories. It’s a recalibration of the myth, or at least, that’s the hope. 

Gunn describes his take as “a story about kindness,” which sounds simple until you remember how little space our culture makes for that word without irony. Kindness is only cool in hashtag form, while those with pure intentions are accused of being naïve or performative. But Gunn seems willing to push back against that cynicism by building a story around a man (who just happens to be an alien immigrant) navigating the messy, uncertain work of caring. 

The Original Superman Boasted Strength Without Complication 

When Superman first appeared in the pages of DC Comics in 1938, he was built for clarity. Broad shoulders. Strong jaw. Impeccable timing. He was certainty in a red cape and a vision of morality so straightforward it almost glowed. Against the backdrop of economic depression and global unrest, he stood tall and unshaken, a symbol of what goodness looked like when it didn’t flinch. This was a hero who didn’t wrestle with self-doubt or emotional nuance. He simply was good. And that was enough.

Clark Kent was the quiet disguise. Superman was the truth. There was no internal conflict between saving the day and being the day’s moral compass. And in post-war America, that simplicity had a magical healing effect on people recovering from trauma. Superman became a kind of collective wish that somewhere out there, someone strong and certain could carry all our fears without cracking under the weight. 

That same clarity carried over into the original Superman movies, beginning in 1978 with Christopher Reeve. Though released decades after World War II and Vietnam, those films still echoed the comics’ moral structure – bright, clean, and earnest. Reeve’s Superman was sincere without irony, powerful without arrogance, and good without having to earn it. Even in an increasingly complicated world, the films clung to the fantasy that people were inherently good. And it worked because we still wanted to believe that. 

Why the Old Archetype Doesn’t Work Anymore 

But belief, like everything else, has changed. We live in the aftermath of too much. After pandemics, protests, and reckonings, both global and personal, our tolerance for icons without inner lives has thinned. We don’t crave idealism wrapped in primary colors. We crave reflection and honesty. We want our heroes to feel as tangled as we are. The classic Superman, with his unwavering, unshaken persona, doesn’t reflect what strength looks like in the world we live in now. Masculinity has shifted, too. 

Traits like stoicism, restraint, and dominance now feel like walls instead of virtues. Vulnerability, no matter your gender, is no longer considered a flaw. It’s more of a skill with emotional literacy fast becoming the new hero’s journey. Gunn seems to understand that. “He’s an alien trying to be human,” he said of his Superman in an interview with The Times UK, not just in body, but emotionally. And in 2025, that sentiment lands hard because we live in a world that keeps demanding certainty while offering none. 

When Superman Reflected Our Darkness Back at Us 

But before we got to Gunn’s gentler vision of Superman, there was Man of Steel. Zack Snyder’s 2013 reboot attempted to reframe Superman not as a beacon of hope but as a product of modern anxiety. His Superman was brooding and conflicted. He felt alienated, as though he was less of a savior and more of a survivor. He didn’t have all the right answers. He killed Zod. And for some, that was unforgivable. But maybe what made Man of Steel so polarizing wasn’t that it failed to capture who Superman is, but that it captured, too precisely, who we had become. 

It reflected a version of strength shaped by hatred, not tradition. A Superman forged in the rubble of cynicism, economic collapse, and post-9/11 grief. He was trying to do the right thing in a world that barely believed in right and wrong anymore. And while that may have been a painfully accurate mirror, it wasn’t a comforting one. The backlash wasn’t just about what Snyder changed. It was about what we saw of ourselves in the change. That Superman didn’t reassure us. He unsettled us. Because he asked a question, we didn’t want to answer. What happens when even our most hopeful heroes seem lost? 

What James Gunn’s Superman Might Say About Us

So now, we wait for a different kind of answer. Early glimpses of Gunn’s Superman reveal something new and maybe necessary to the familiar tale – a hero who isn’t just physically vulnerable but one who also wears his heart on his sleeve. “He’s trying to balance his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing,” Gunn says. And that internal struggle has been billed as the whole story. From the little we’ve seen, this Superman bleeds. So maybe this time, we won’t be watching to see how high he can soar. Maybe we will watch to see if he falls, gets back up, and keeps choosing to try. 

If Gunn sticks the landing, this version of Superman could reflect who we are becoming – not just what we’ve survived. We’re weary, distrustful of dominance, and starving for connection. We don’t want gods. We want people who fail and keep going. So this Superman might just meet us where we are. Gunn calls him “a kind person in a world that thinks kindness is old-fashioned.” And in a culture built on sarcasm and self-defense, a Superman who chooses kindness anyway might just be the most radical one we’ve seen. 

Gunn says the story is about morality, not politics. But let’s be honest, choosing to center empathy in a world built on fear is a deeply political act. So here we are again, rebooting Superman, not because we’ve run out of ways to tell his story, but because we’re still figuring out how to tell our own. The truth is we don’t know if this new film will live up to its promise. But we can hope. Because maybe that’s the most Superman thing of all.