James Gunn's Hotly Anticipated 'Superman' (Watch First Trailer) is still more than six months away from a theatrical release. That means we're currently at a stage where, as with any major summer movie tentpole, studios tend to tease rather than deliver much of anything substantial. Right now, you just want to put the film on moviegoers' radars with some eye-catching images, maybe a villain reveal, and then save the much more revealing official trailer for March or April.
However, Gunn's Superman doesn't play it. I don't know if that's because Warner Bros. and DC Studios have mostly taken it on the chin since Christopher Nolan finished his Batman trilogy, or the fact that the last two Superman standalone movies — Superman Returns and, to a lesser extent, Man of Steel" — were commercial disappointments, but both companies are in hard sell mode eight months out. The new Superman trailer is overflowing with big character reveals and action. Lois Lane! Lex Luthor! Kritpo! Guy Gardner? Damn right, Guy Gardner! The whole movie can't be that full of wow moments, but it's reassuring that so much of it is brightly colored and, you know, fun! Matt Reeves' Batman was solid and The Penguin was surprisingly great, but we badly need a break from the darkness. "Superman" seems to promise just that.
It's also a promising introduction to secondary villains who will likely be included in future DC Universe films like The Brave and the Bold and Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. Some of these introductions are buried in the trailer, but eagle-eyed members of the DC Comics fandom have picked out the trailer frame-by-frame and highlighted them for the rest of us to ponder. And one of these villains is an old friend of the Scarlet Speedster himself.
James Gunn's DC Universe will bring the Gorilla Grodd goods
It's just a lone blink-and-miss image printed on a newspaper, but it looks like Gunn's DC Universe will have some form of involvement from the great and mighty Gorilla Grodd. See for yourself below (courtesy of Comicodigy on Twitter/X):
Gorilla Grodd also appeared in a newspaper in #Superman trailer pic.twitter.com/KgRqeRYAC4
— Comicodigy (@comicodigy) December 19, 2024
Who is Gorilla Grodd? Why is he just a hyper-intelligent ape capable of mind control who is healthy for world domination. He's been stomping his way through DC comics, animated series, and television shows since 1959, and while he's mostly given trouble to The Flash (a character whose role in Gunn's DCU remains to be determined), he's also given trouble to Superman, Batman, Mars. Manhunter, and Ambush Bug, among others.
We don't know what Grodd will do in Gunn's DCU, but the fact that his movies will have room for, again, a gorilla with psychic powers is a balm for the soul. Superhero movies need characters like Gorilla Grodd. They should be inundated with silly, inventive splash pages. Grodd entered just this the DC animated universe(via the voice of the great Powers Boothe), so I can't wait to see what havoc he wreaks in a live-action movie.
Superman hits theaters on July 11, 2025.
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