The Man of Steel is back, and the excitement is palpable with the release of the latest trailer for James Gunn's upcoming film, Superman, set to launch in July. The trailer showcases lead actor David Corenswet's portrayal of Superman and the impressive action sequences featuring Superman's loyal companion, Krypto. However, what's capturing fans' attention most is the sheer volume of elements packed into the film and how it will manage to weave them into a coherent narrative.
"Strong start to the trailer," one Redditor commented on an r/Superman post shortly after its release. "But then practically every shot was another new character and I started worrying how the movie was going to tell a coherent story." Another fan chimed in, "I’m gonna love it, he looks great as Superman, he looks great as Clark Kent, but the movie looks like it might be a bit busy, there's a lot going on here."
"Now this, I love this trailer. From someone who never really liked the dark DC vibe I’m excited to experience a true comic superhero movie. But am I the only one who is worried for all the cameos that are in the trailer?" another fan noted in the comments. "Like I swear I was counting like 8 friends and foes in this movie. I know they want to set up James Gunn’s DCU with this but I would prefer it to be less heavy on cameo fodder and take more time to develop the characters that are needed to tell the story that they’re trying to tell."
To be fair, the trailer does introduce a plethora of characters, including Clark Kent's Earth parents, his love interest Lois Lane (played by Rachel Brosnahan), and various formidable villains, with Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) as the central antagonist. While some fans worry about the film being potentially overpacked, many are thrilled by the prospect of these character introductions.
All the characters revealed so far in Superman:
-----------------------------------------------Superman
Lois Lane
Lex Luthor
Mister Terrific
Guy Gardner
Hawkgirl
Metamorpho
The Engineer
The Hammer of Boravia
Ultraman
Rick Flag Sr.
Supergirl
Maxwell Lord
Kryptonian robots, including Kelex
Krypto
Jonathan Kent
Martha Kent
Perry White
Jimmy Olsen
Steve Lombard
Cat Grant
Ron Troupe
Eve Teschmacher
Otis
"I'm glad there's a lot going on. We've seen him fight Lex & Zod countless times at this point, I want to see him completely overwhelmed and emerge as a symbol of hope," one user responded to the concerns, while another pointed out, "It’s side characters, less cameos. Like Iron Man had several side characters."
Another fan added that this level of character inclusion is quite typical. "Movies usually need secondary/side characters," they noted. "Gunn here is just filling in those spots with rather big names, but I doubt he'll give them more than what they need."
Superman: Behind the Scenes Cast and Character Images
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The concern that the movie might be a bit overstuffed isn't deterring fans. "It looks good but wondering how they’re going to shoehorn so many different characters into one movie," one user mused, to which another replied, "It's not any more characters than the average comic book movie. It's fine." A third user even quipped: "Kinda like Guardians of the Galaxy…?" A valid comparison, indeed.
James Gunn has clarified that the film is not an ensemble piece, emphasizing that "At the middle of everything is Clark, Lois, and Lex," during an Instagram Live session at the beginning of 2025. How he manages to balance this focus with the extensive cast remains to be seen.
Superman soars into theaters on July 11, 2025.
