Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for ‘Superman’The moment has finally arrived —James Gunn’sSupermanhas officially flown into theaters. Proudly featuringDavid Corenswetas Clark Kent,Rachel Brosnahanas Lois Lane,Nicholas Houltas Lex Luthor, and many more, the new introduction to the DCU is already off to a very positive start. Per Collider’s review fromRoss Bonaime, who calledSuperman"one of the best DC films in years, and one of the best movies of the summer,“the future is looking bright for DC’s cinematic future.
From start to finish,Supermanmoves at a lightning-fast pace. Whether it’s losing a fight to a metahuman from Boravia or saving Metropolis from a colossal kaiju,Clark Kent goes through the ringer both mentally and physicallythanks to his nemesis, Lex Luthor.It’s a tough, hard-fought battle, but if anyone knows what Superman is capable of, then they also know the Kryptonian hero isn’t one to back down from a fight.
Lex Luthor Throws Everything He’s Got at Superman in the Film’s Grand Finale
Following Superman’s escape from the pocket dimension, an enraged Lex Luthor orders his LutherCorp cronies to overload his pocket dimension portal to lure Superman to Metropolis. At the same time, he orders the President of Boravia, Vasil Ghurokos (Zlatko Buric), to begin his invasion of Jarhanpur, so Lex can break ground on his own personal country. Not even Superman can be in two places at once, so Clark puts his cape on to stop Metropolis from being destroyed whileMr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi)tries to slow things down and Lois tries to expose Lex’s crimes to the world.
The moment Superman meets up with Mr. Terrific in Metropolis, they’re immediately intercepted by Lex’s top goons, The Engineer (María Gabriela de Faría) and Ultraman. The two heroes duke it out with the two villains in Metropolis’ now-evacuated baseball stadium. Using her nanite technology,The Engineer gets dangerously close to suffocating Superman to death, but Clark manages to bodyslam both her and Ultraman from space into the sewers below Metropolis. He succeeds in knocking out The Engineer (who may or may not return in the future for the plannedThe Authoritymovie), but Ultraman gets back up to reveal a terrible twist.
Superman Finally Takes Down Lex and His Superman Clone
Unknownst to Clark,the antagonist known asUltraman is actually a clone of himself, which explains how Lex was able to bypass the Fortress of Solitude’s biometric security earlier in the film. Lex explains all of this while venting that a selfless, all-powerful metahuman like Superman should not be allowed to exist. All that bloviating does Luthor little good, as, with the help of Krypto, Superman is finally able to send his evil clone (who is totally probably not an early version of Bizarro) into a black hole and quickly deals with Luthor’s Raptor troopers.
All that’s left is to bring Luthor to justice. Not only does the bald narcissist start up into another one of his evil rants, all while the reports of his wrongdoings are being revealed by the Daily Planet behind him. If that wasn’t enough, Lex also gets the same beatdownLoki (Tom Hiddleston) got in the originalAvengersfilm, all courtesy of Krypto. With Lex Luthor behind bars, his operation shut down, and the rift put back together, Clark and Lois are able to live happily ever after. Oh, and so doJimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo)and Eve Tesmacher…we hope.
Kara Zor-El Stops by the Fortress of Solitude To Pick Up Krypto
If fans were worried about the fate of 4/Gary (Alan Tudyk) and his fellow Superman Robots, worry not. The final scene ofSupermanconfirms that they’re all alright and were repaired following Lex Luthor’s invasion. They’ll need to be in order to continue caring for Krypto, but they might not need to. Turns out,Krypto’s actual owner is none other thanSuperman’s cousin, Kara Zor-El (Milly Alcock), and the Man of Steel has just been dog-sitting. Before fans can even process the information that Clark and Kara have already met before the film’s events, Kara and Krypto fly off to party around the galaxy. The film draws to a close with Kal revisiting the memories of him and his Earth parents, though it seems the mystery behind his Kryptonian parents’ request to conquer Earth is only just beginning.
Supermanis in theaters now.
