In recent years, superhero movies have moved away from showing their main characters helping civilians, but in 2025, both Superman and Thunderbolts* brought back that classic hallmark of the genre. There are multiple points in Superman when David Corenswet’s hero is shown helping the citizens of Metropolis, and the Thunderbolts* ending sees the team rescuing people in New York City.
Ever since 1978’s Superman showed Christopher Reeve saving a cat from a tree, some of the best scenes in these films have been the superheroes helping everyday people. Seeing superheroes interacting with the public, like the scene on the subway train in Spider-Man 2, showcases the humanity of these superhuman characters. Unfortunately, these kinds of scenes have disappeared over the years.
In the last decade or so, superhero movies have expanded in size and scale, with the heroes facing bigger and bigger challenges. As a result, the stakes of those movies have increased exponentially so that the heroes are working to save the entire world or the entire universe, leaving little room for them to interact with everyday folks. It’s been a loss for the genre as a whole, but two 2025 superhero movie releases are bringing it back.
Superman & Thunderbolts* Brought Back Classic Superheroism
Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes looks up in the Thunderbolts character poster
In the third act of Thunderbolts*, Sentry (Lewis Pullman) gets overtaken by his darker side, The Void, and begins disappearing people across New York City, trapping them in a void where they have to relive their greatest traumas. The rest of the team is left to save people from the wreckage caused by these disappearances, including Red Guardian (David Harbour) saving a young girl and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) using his metal arm to deflect a van from hitting an older couple.
As for Superman, there are many scenes throughout the movie where Corenswet’s Man of Steel takes the time to save as many living creatures as possible — even, at one point, a squirrel. Although the Superman squirrel scene was “heavily debated”, according to director James Gunn, it’s important to showcase how much Superman cares about saving not just people, but all living things.
This desire to save people and animals is a defining trait of superhero characters, and should be important to superhero movies. However, films have largely moved away from showing those the superheroes save, which is a shame. And it’s why it was so heartening to see both Superman and Thunderbolts* bring back these scenes. They may be smaller in scope and stakes, but they’re just as important.
How The MCU And DCU Can Continue Showcasing Classic Superheroism
Tom Holland’s Spider-Man in Homecoming
Although the MCU will return to big-scale stories in 2026 with the release of Avengers: Doomsday, Spider-Man: Brand New Day could potentially showcase its heroes saving everyday people. Spider-Man is a superhero character who naturally lends himself to the kind of classic heroism seen in 1978’s Superman, and, in fact, the first MCU Spider-Man movie, Spider-Man: Homecoming, showed Tom Holland’s wall-crawler helping out his neighborhood.
As for the DCU, some of its upcoming releases could potentially feature scenes like those in Superman. Lanterns, which is described as a True Detective-style show about the Green Lanterns, could include its heroes saving civilians from whatever foe they’re facing. Supergirl is set to be a space-based story, but could do something similar with alien civilians. Then there’s Man of Tomorrow, the follow-up to Superman, which sees the Man of Steel return. Hopefully, he’ll bring more of his heroism to the DCU when he does.
Ultimately, it was good to see two major 2025 superhero movies bring back this classic element of the genre, and hopefully it will continue beyond just Superman and Thunderbolts* in their respective franchises.