5 ‘Superman’ Scenes That Point To The DCU’s Bright Future
Superman is back and he’s fun this time. Gone are the days of Hot Superman brooding hotly as he furiously bodies bad guys.
This time, as written and directed by James Gunn, Superman is a lot more prone to joking around. In 2025’s Superman, Hot Superman is corny! He’s self-aware! He even has a Superdog! It’s like James Gunn read all of our comments about how dreary and plodding the Zack Snyder Superman movies were, and then did the opposite. Gunn’s Superman now has plenty of absurd flourishes that signify a new, promising direction for the DC Extended Universe. With that in mind, let’s look back at some moments in Superman that definitively prove where this franchise is headed.
Spoilers ahead!!
Green Lantern’s middle finger
The new Superman isn’t free of controversy. It does, after all, center upon a fictional international conflict that could be seen as an allegory for the current conflict in Israel and Palestine. In doing this, it apparently comes down hard on the side of Palestine. (Boravia is rich and backed by the U.S.; Jarhanpur is impoverished, and invaded by Boravia.) On the other hand, this opens the door for a scene in which Green Lantern joins the fight against Boravia and uses his Green Lantern ring to create massive green middle fingers that destroy the enemy forces. It’s a perfect mix of action badassery and irreverent humor, pointing towards a much lighter and user-friendly DCEU future that’s edgier than Marvel and less self-serious than Snyder.
Superdog plays ball
Superdog a.k.a. Krypto is one of the best parts of Superman. Unruly but loyal, he always arrives at a perfect time to heighten tension or provide comic relief. He even works well as a plot device at one point. Also: Superman has a dog!! So fun!! That said, Krypto’s most heroic and memorable moment might be when he eats Lex Luthor’s drone cameras, cutting off Luther’s way of controlling Ultraman’s motor functions. It’s absurd and amusing, and if it means we’re getting more Krypto in the future, then I’m on board.
The introduction of Supergirl
Speaking of Krypto, he technically belongs to Supergirl (Milly Alcock), who lurches onto screen at the end of the movie in a state of hungover dysfunction. (Apparently it’s possible to get drunk on planets with red stars.) Though Supergirl’s appearance is brief, it’s also funny, and it introduces her character in a way that now has me excited for 2026’s Supergirl.
The army of monkeys
Though Lex Luthor is largely a paint-by-numbers egomaniac in Superman, he does have one redeeming quality: his army of social media-savvy monkeys. These aren’t your grandma’s flying monkeys. These are weaponized simians that have mastered the art of Twitter trolling, with no expressed goal other than to take down wokeness. What a creative if terrifying idea! But these monkeys are also a perfect way to satirize troll farms, which may be a hint that the DCU will be hip to pop culture trends in addition to being a bit meta. (Gunn has his own past with Twitter trolls.) Bring on the meta! I love meta!
The background Kaiju fight
Superman doesn’t shy away from absurdity, which is a good sign that the DCU will seek to entertain rather than, I don’t know, provide film school fodder? What exactly was Snyder doing with all those deathly serious movies? Did he think the Oscar would notice or…? Come to think of it, is it even legal to give an Oscar nomination to a movie starring Gal Gadot? But I digress. Superman revels in its moments of absurdity, and that’s apparent in one of its best scenes — a quiet moment between Lois and Clark.
As Lois tells Superman, “You think everything and everyone is beautiful,” Superman’s buddies run themselves ragged in the background battling a deadly kaiju. Superman, amusingly nonchalant about this, responds to Lois with a corny line that also somehow defines his character. “Maybe that’s the real punk rock,” he says, as his friends risk their lives trying to destroy the massive interdimensional octopus. Thus, in just this one scene, we get a fresh characterization of Superman, a sweet romantic Lois & Clark moment, and an amusing visual gag. I have a good feeling that this will be the DCU in a nutshell: funny and packed with heroics, but rooted in humanity.
