Despite attempting to start anew, the lingering influences of Zack Snyder’s extended universe seem to have made a mark on DCU’s new Superman.

As dawn breaks in James Gunn’s DCU, the Man of Tomorrow rises to new heights unlike ever before. Superman swoops in with a message of hope and old-fashioned kindness in a world where both are taken as signs of weakness. However, with the larger-than-life shadow of the Snyderverse looming over DC, David Corenswet’s hero doesn’t look like he’s making much progress.

Superman (2025) [Credit: DC Studios]

The shadow of scandal that colored Zack Snyder’s DCEU and made a pariah out of the Kryptonian superhero has breached James Gunn’s new universe. After all that controversy, struggle, and anticipation, Superman goes right back to where he started. And nothing can convince the audience otherwise.

Superman comes to DC – but there’s a catch

David Corenswet’s Superman hurtles into DCU [Credit: DC Studios]

The Superman teaser trailer begins like any great comic adaptation – with a moment of weakness from the hero right before he begins his ascent to greatness. With the Yamcha pose (that signifies defeat after a great battle) in the opening shot, James Gunn establishes the grueling tone of his film and introduces a bloody and battered hero who is not all that invincible.

However, Gunn’s work comes at a price. His Superman, although containing all the elements required of a hero who is a “beacon of light, hope, and optimism” – fails to let go of the more psychologically darker allure of his predecessor. Despite attempting to start anew, the lingering influences of Zack Snyder‘s extended universe seem to have made a mark on the new DCU.

Although painted in all the right shades of blue, red, and yellow, David Corenswet‘s Superman rises to the occasion only to fall in the eyes of the people, bleed for them, and be stoned for his actions as a god among men. As the Superman trailer depicts, Gunn’s Kryptonian superhero seems to be a reimagined iteration of Henry Cavill‘s Man of Steel from the former DCEU.

James Gunn’s DCU follows the Snyderverse playbook

Henry Cavill as the Man of Steel in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice [Credit: Warner Bros.]

Over the past decade, the Snyderverse established a grimdark reality where corruption and hatred ruled supreme. Man of Steel began the journey of a morally complex superhero and Dawn of Justice stripped him down to a false god. While James Gunn promises to do right by Superman this time around, the plot of the film seems eerily familiar to what Snyder’s DC once depicted.

Henry Cavill’s Man of Steel fought, killed, died, and was resurrected – all the while staving off mobs of fanatics around the world who either wanted him to be their new god or burn him at the stake. The imagery of the false god was made iconic by Zack Snyder in Batman v Superman – something that is once again repeated in James Gunn’s Superman.

Gunn’s new film is not all about bright colors, uplifting music, and cats and girls being saved. There are moments of panic and darkness that seep in between the sunlit cinematography of the movie. Doubts are cast and fingers are pointed as Superman walks through a mob of critics and haters. Flags are raised in his name and prayers are sent to the skies above in the hopes of being saved by the man from the stars.

However, this is where it gets a bit repetitive. One could argue that Zack Snyder has already tried the same with his Man of Steel in the contentious DCEU trilogy and unless James Gunn has planted these scenes as a misdirection or a dream sequence, no amount of logic and rationality can separate Gunn’s new film from the version that was depicted in Snyderverse.

Superman is slated to premiere on July 11, 2025.