Storytime with Rachel F Hundred

A tease of nostalgia makes me excited for July.

Spoilers for Superman

The new teaser trailer for Superman definitely got me hooked yesterday.

It’s an interesting combination of a nostalgic nod to Superman (1978), a hint of the dystopia of Man of Steel (2013), and a potential superhero team-up less in the style of The Avengers (2012) or Justice League (2017), and more like Black Adam (2022) – or perhaps given James Gunn as director, like The Suicide Squad (2021) or Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).

Skeleton Crew (2024) is proving that providing nostalgic notes is a great hook for an adult audience. There is nothing like remembering the innocence and dreams of childhood through evoking memories of past movies. It’s a good start.

The first scene to really get my attention is not the first scene itself with a battered Superman falling into the snow and ice, but the second where David Corinswet’s Clark Kent battles his way through the crowd and stumbles into The Daily Planet. That scene screams Superman (1978). It’s familiar and comforting.

The nostalgia continues as, after a brief cutback to Superman in the snow, we see Clark in The Daily Planet, walking and looking around like a bumbling fool intercut with Rachel Brosnahan’s Lois Lane competently navigating her natural environment, with her movement and styling evoking hints of Margot Kidder’s Lois. And over this we hear the familiar chords of the original John Williams’ Superman theme.

Even if the electric guitar is not my preferred choice, that theme is Superman for anyone who grew up with the original Christopher Reeves’ trilogy. Moreover, it is one of the best themes to build excitement, to build a sense of awe and wonder, to sweep up your emotions until the end as it builds and builds and builds to its triumphant finish.

And really it is that theme which carries me through the rest of the trailer where teasing shots of Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor do enough to say ‘villain,’ scenes of Lois and Clark floating together do enough to say ‘love and romance,’ and the action shots give nods to the other motley collection of superheroes showing up.

As a DC fan, the glimpses of characters like Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan) and Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi) are a great hook. One of James Gunn’s strengths as a director has been to bring together lesser-known characters and make them awesome – probably why the flashcard for ‘from the director of The Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy’ pops up is to remind us of this (although am I the only one amused that they decided to advertise a Marvel success rather than highlighting a DC property like The Suicide Squad – which, while not a great box office success, was generally loved by DC fans).

For me, the sight of so many other characters is a little worrying. I am concerned at just how all these characters will fit into a movie storyline. A little concerned that Gunn is trying to crowbar in too early the seeds of the future DC universe instead of focusing on the holy triumvirate of Superman, Lois and Lex. Also I am hoping that the more shaky CGI that shows up in these action sequences improves by the actual movie itself. Perhaps there is a creative choice to make it comic-esque from an art perspective, but my immediate thought was ‘ouch, that CGI looks shaky.’

There is a definite attempt to frame shots as though they came from a comic. The scene where the little boy raises the scrap with the symbol and prays for Superman’s help; the shot of Superman saving the girl from the exploding building; the picture of the Kent farm – they all look as though they have stepped out of the comics and into the movie. Again, a nice poke to evoke nostalgia and familiarity.

The last nostalgic hook for me personally was Krypto. I don’t care if he is another character too many in this movie. I love that dog.

Roll on July 11^th 2025. It will be great to see if the movie lives up to the promise of this trailer.

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