It is the year of our Lord 2025, and we finally, finally have a Superman movie worthy of the 1970s Christopher Reeve movies—the first two, anyway. We don't talk about The Quest for Peace.

Today, I want to take a brief break from talking about creating fantasy species to break down why Superman 2025 was an amazing movie. Welcome to another episode of Just in Time Worldbuilding with your host, Marie Mullany.

If you haven't seen it yet—spoilers ahead. And also, you're missing out on a rare gem in the modern superhero landscape, because this is a Superman movie where, during every single fight scene, he's not thinking, "How do I beat this guy?" He's thinking, "How do I keep people alive?"

And because Gunn understands drama, that is so much harder to achieve. And can I just say how much I admire Gunn's work in this movie? That man cooked. He somehow remembered something that the last decade of superhero films forgot—you can have a superhero movie where the hero's number one goal is saving people, and the villain's number one goal is being a villain.

Not a misunderstood tragic rival. Not an accidental opposition. Not the guy in your way this week. An actual villain.

And the hero isn't conflicted about being a hero. He doesn't have to justify being a paragon of goodness and kindness. He can just be good and be kind. And that is being a hero.

This movie was freaking great. 10/10, no notes.

Okay, so with that fangirl gushing out the way—spoilers ahead—and let's talk about the movie. So, we're going to start, as I said, with the background world, because Superman 2025 just drops you straight in the world. No montage, nothing—just boom. Here's the world.

Metahumans have been around for 300 years. Superman rocked up 30 years ago, and he's been active for three years. Superman has just lost his first fight ever. Let's go.

Okay, so what I really want to talk about in terms of the background world is how the movie makes it clear that superheroes and their opponents aren't that rare. Normal people are sipping coffee while the Justice Gang skirmish crackles overhead.

And when it's revealed that Superman's birth parents are a bit dickish, we get a shot of the Peacekeeper on late-night TV saying, "I always thought that guy was dodgy."

And the shot that really brought home to me how normal this stuff is in this world is when Superman and Lois are having this heart-to-heart conversation, and in the background the Justice Gang is having a fight with an interdimensional imp, and Superman doesn't go help them because they don't need his help—and this kind of thing is relatively normal.

It is just really well-done worldbuilding that brings home that, in this world, metahumans and their villains exist all the time, and things like this—like the interdimensional imps—don’t necessarily need the hero's attention.

So, that was one part of the worldbuilding I really appreciated.

The next part I loved was the villain worldbuilding. So, let's talk about Lex Luthor next.

But before we get there—members of my channel have had access to this video well in advance of it being released. If you would like to get early access to my videos, as well as access to exclusive worldbuilding templates and livestreams, hit the Join button down below and sign up for less than the cost of a cup of coffee a month.

Okay, now let's talk about Lex.

So, Lex was a villain in this movie—not an antagonist, a villain. There is a difference between the two, and James Gunn understood the assignment.

An antagonist just opposes the hero's goals. A villain embodies moral wrongdoing. They are bad people.

And this Lex, played by Nicholas Hoult, is gloriously, unapologetically bad. He's not trying to save the world in the wrong way. He's not misunderstood. He's just power-hungry, self-justifying, manipulative, and personally invested in tearing down Superman. He hates Superman, and he's made up a narrative for himself to justify his hatred and jealousy.

He's not complicated. There's no grey morality. There's not "maybe he has a point." He's just wrong, and he knows it, and he chooses it anyway.

Then, in terms of creating a challenge for Supes, Lex doesn't try to outpunch him. He changes the rules of the fight. He's created this Ultraman from Supes’ DNA, and he's taught that Ultraman to fight using commands that Lex uses like a video game.

In addition, Lex sets legal traps for Supes and turns public opinion against him. Lex uses dangerous tech that threatens people faster than Superman can save them. But never once does Lex personally try to outpunch Supes.

He's smart, and he uses those smarts to challenge Superman without constantly resorting to kryptonite.

So, the movie also does a really good job of setting a contrast between Lex and Supes. Supes has a vision of hope, and Lex has a vision of control. So, the contrast is stark and it's strong.

And then the final thing that James Gunn really gets right is that Lex loses. Villains need to lose, and they need to lose in a satisfying, cathartic way. When Supes finally catches up with Lex and it's clear Lex is beaten—man, I wanted to stand up and cheer.

Okay, so Lex was fantastic, but a good villain alone is not enough. So, let's talk about Superman.

From the first fight to the last, Superman is fantastic. His choreography isn't “fastest knockout,” it's “keep civilians breathing.” When he's fighting the weird fire-breathing monster, even then he's trying to save the monster's life. And when he saved the squirrel—perfect. I am so, so glad Gunn fought to keep that in. Superman cares enough to save even a wild squirrel.

He cared about his droids. He saves lives. Every punch he throws is angled away from crowded streets. Every time the monster goes airborne, he's behind it to stop it from plowing into an apartment building. He is like the ultimate firefighter. And the movie treats that as heroic in and of itself.

There's no satirical winks, no making a joke about his goodness. He says “golly” because he's from Kansas and he means it. He likes being approachable, even if it means looking a little silly in bright red trunks.

Now, let's talk about something the movie does which is very interesting and counterintuitive to modern storytelling in some ways—Superman lacks a traditional change/growth arc. He doesn't change during the movie. He is the same man at the end that he was at the start.

Yes, some things happen to him in the middle and he doubts himself. He doubts his course. But his dad—who is the best version of Jonathan Kent we've had in a long time, just saying—says some really good stuff to Supes and he gets back out there. But there's no actual change/growth.

However, everyone else changes. Even Guy Gardner—famously the Lantern who doesn't get invited to Lantern functions because he can't behave himself—actually becomes more involved in the end because Supes asked him to do so. Mr. Terrific goes with Lois to bust Supes out of interdimensional prison because Supes is a good person. And Metamorpho—they call him Element Man in the movie for whatever reason—anyway, Metamorpho goes from working for Lex to working for the Justice League.

And all of that happens because Supes is unwavering, unapologetically a paragon of goodness. And if you do write a paragon as a central character, writing a steadfast arc is not a bad way to do it. Instead of the paragon growing, you challenge the paragon's worldview a bit and he has to recommit to it. But what happens is he brings everybody else along on his growth journey because of his presence. Everyone else is better.

And that really worked well for this movie.

It has been a long time since I walked out of a cinema and felt hope. Superman is the paragon of saving lives, and this movie lets him cook. No irony filter, no “yeah, but secretly he's edgy.” Just the world's most sincere superhero going up against the world's most committed villain and proving that heroism isn't about beating your enemy—it's about protecting everyone else.

Have you seen the movie? Comment below and let me know what you thought.

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