Writer and director James Gunn has expressed his hope that his upcoming Superman film will help to “unify” fans amid an increasingly polarizing internet.
In a Q&A session attended by IGN, Gunn touched on the message Superman, with “the simplicity of the morals and goodness and love” the character embodies, can convey upon its release in July 2025.
“Listen, I do think that things have become really polarizing, and my life is just not that,” Gunn said. “I also think that the internet has become polarizing and it's much more polarizing than life is. I live in rural Georgia and I have friends of all different political persuasions. I'm not a person that believes in cutting someone out because their politics are different than mine. And I think at the end of the day, most of us are trying to do our best, and most of us are making the best choices we can for ourselves and trying to do things compassionately.
“I know that's hard to believe in this time when everything is so black and white on the internet in terms of what's good and what's bad, what choices are good and what choices are bad.
“But I would hope that Superman does unify us a little bit because he is just about those core values that I think everyone believes in. Not everyone, but almost everyone believes in. And so hopefully this is outside of that realm of political discourse in that respect.
“And yeah, I do think that if we can focus on our humanity, which is what Superman is about as a character and as a movie, and focus on doing the best we can day-to-day, then it's a little bit healing, but not a lot.”
The debut Superman trailer sees Superman, played by David Corenswet, lying prone, battered, bruised, and bleeding after a battle with an unknown foe. Superman calls out to Krypto the Superdog for help, and upon his arrival asks him to take him home.
This sequence, Gunn said in the Q&A, reflects his desire for the Superman movie to act as a place “we can all go home” to.
“At the beginning of this trailer, Superman wants Krypto to take him home,” Gunn said. “And I think that this is a place where we can all go home, to a character that we love, to the simplicity of the morals and goodness and love that Superman embodies as a character, and that we can all go home this summer to Superman. I think it’s something that could be a good thing for us.”
Superman hits theatres on July 11, 2025, and is the first film in the DCU's Chapter One: Gods and Monsters. IGN has an explainer on all the DC Heroes and Villains in the new trailer, thoughts on how Superman is about hope, and comments from James Gunn on Krypto actually being a pretty terrible dog in the movie.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
