The Man of Steel is back — almost, at least. The latest trailer for James Gunn's upcoming film Superman has been released ahead of its July launch and it's brimming with excitement. From lead David Corenswet's compelling performance to the dynamic action scenes featuring Superman's beloved dog Krypto, there's plenty to unpack. However, the main buzz among fans post-trailer release seems to be the sheer volume of plot and characters, raising questions about how the film will manage to weave a coherent narrative.
"Strong start to the trailer," one Redditor commented on an r/Superman post shortly after the trailer dropped. "But then practically every shot introduced 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 expressed 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 showcase a diverse cast of characters, including Clark Kent's Earth parents, love interest Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), and various formidable villains, with the central antagonist being Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult). While some fans are concerned about the film potentially being overpacked, many are thrilled at the prospect of these character introductions.
All the characters revealed so far in Superman include:
- 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 added, "It's side characters, less cameos. Like Iron Man had several side characters."
Another fan pointed out that this is typical for superhero films: "I don't feel like it's such a big deal honestly. Movies usually need secondary/side characters," the person commented. "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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Despite worries that the movie might be a bit overstuffed, fans remain eager to see the final product. "It looks good but wondering how they're going to shoehorn so many different characters into one movie," one user wrote, to which another fan 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…?" Honestly? Touché.
James Gunn has repeatedly emphasized that the film is not an ensemble piece. "At the middle of everything is Clark, Lois, and Lex," he stated at the beginning of 2025 during an Instagram Live session. "It's about these three characters." How he manages to focus on these key characters amidst the crowded cast remains to be seen.
Superman flies into theaters on July 11, 2025.
