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Look up in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a hackneyed opening line? No \u2013 it\u2019s Superman<\/a> (2025), James Gunn<\/a>\u2019s new blockbuster, which flew dashingly into cinemas last Friday<\/a>. The film comes at a precarious time for blockbusters<\/a>, arriving in a forbidding post-pandemic landscape where superhero movies, still ubiquitous, are no longer the bankable certainties they were a decade ago. If \u201csuperhero fatigue\u201d is the phrase du jour when it comes to recent audience attitudes, then Gunn clearly didn\u2019t get the memo. <\/p>\n Superman is as unapologetically comic book-ish as any film in recent memory, and promises much more to come. It heralds a complete overhaul of the DC Comics<\/a> movie universe, following more than a decade of critically panned, commercially wavering releases, from Man of Steel (2013) through to The Flash (2023). Gunn, best known for directing Marvel<\/a>\u2019s much-loved Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, took over as co-chair of DC Studios in 2022, and is overseeing the new creative direction of the franchise himself. <\/p>\n On paper, Superman is the kind of film that embodies what is so drab and off-putting about contemporary blockbuster cinema: a reboot of a character we\u2019ve seen adapted ad nauseum. But here\u2019s the thing: it\u2019s really very good. So good, in fact \u2013 lively, and sincere, with an unexpected timeliness<\/a> \u2013 that it ought to upend the widespread cynicism surrounding the modern blockbuster and its viability as an artform.<\/p>\n There is often a temptation to conflate blockbuster filmmaking into one homogeneously disappointing entity \u2013 a uric canal down which the year\u2019s big releases grimly float. And sure enough, even if we look at just this year\u2019s offerings, there are plenty of lacklustre blockbusters out there: some commercially successful (A Minecraft Movie; How to Train Your Dragon; Mission: Impossible\u2013 The Final Reckoning); others less so (Captain America: Brave New World; Snow White). These represent the kind of output that has come to be referred to as \u201cslop\u201d: interchangeable franchise extensions bereft of imagination, ideology or craft. But this is only half the story. <\/p>\n Twenty-twenty-five has been no one\u2019s idea of a banner year for cinema, but this summer has seen the release of several sturdy, worthwhile blockbusters, from Ryan Coogler\u2019s brilliant Sinners<\/a>, a vampiric period thriller, to the Florence Pugh-fronted Marvel outing Thunderbolts*<\/a>, and 28 Years Later, a muscular sequel<\/a> directed by Danny Boyle. Significantly, these films have not only garnered strong reviews but have enjoyed healthy showings at the box office. Superman banked $217m globally across its opening weekend. Sinners made back nearly four times its budget. <\/p>\n