It appears that everyone has very strong feelings, positive or negative, about the Superman (2025) costume reveal that James Gunn finally shared a few days ago with David Corenswet in the role. The thing is… we’ve been here before, but everyone seems to have just forgotten about the announcements of old.
Of course, the first costume reveal that comes to mind is Man of Steel’s ‘here’s your first look at the new Superman moment’ back in 2011. I vividly remember all the heavy criticism over a single image, way before we saw the movie in movement for the first time. Mind you, Zack Snyder‘s DC movies aren’t exactly widely beloved, contrary to what recent revisionism might suggest, but almost everyone warmed up to Henry Cavill’s portrayal of the character — and the wardrobe that came with him — over the years. Now, after many months of asking for an early look at Supes (this is just a slightly touched-up production still), everyone seems to be mad. Comic book fans never change, I guess.
There’s a reason why some studios have chosen over the years to play things safe and simply keep the first-ever looks at new costumes and characters under wraps for as long as possible. While early peeks at the stars of the show may help build up hype even before a teaser trailer is released, unchecked hate campaigns organized by the worst sections of a fandom can spread like wildfire and kneecap projects, regardless of the final quality, before the actual marketing campaigns kick off.
In the case of Superman, both Zack Snyder’s most toxic followers (a small but noisy bunch) and those who are optimistic about James Gunn’s refreshed on-screen DC continuity are kind of a problem right now. The first group clearly wants to bring the mood down no matter what, as they feel this whole enterprise is a ‘betrayal’ of Snyder’s vision and Henry Cavill’s legacy as Kal-El. The thing is, Snyder had several shots at capturing the audiences’ attention; he’s no underdog. And while the financial results weren’t bad, the Warner Bros. top brass decided to screw him over halfway through his opening plans for the DCEU, which sucks regardless of what you think about his movies. If anything, James Gunn (a friend and former collaborator of Snyder) is picking up the pieces of a battle he certainly didn’t fight and trying to glue together a future for the DC brand on the big and small screens.
As for those who are openly excited about the prospect of a Gunn-led DC universe, they’re showing disappointment about Corenswet looking too downbeat in the photo instead of optimistic and inspiring as we’d been told to expect. Also: What’s up with Metropolis being destroyed in the background while he slowly suits up? It doesn’t matter. Good chances are this isn’t a scene you’ll see in the movie. They just needed to get something out that looked good on print. Don’t overthink it.
Neither DC nor Marvel are free from scrutiny whenever these reveals come out, and things only get more heated up when the superheroes in question are Spider-Man, Batman, or Superman, arguably the ‘Big 3’ of the comics medium. In a way, I’m certain these companies are counting on chatter, good and bad, helping in the long run, but, as explained before, we’ve seen this backfire before. Another 2011 reveal works as a great example of obsessive fandoms rushing to drop whole essays about a yet-to-be-released projects based on just a production still: that of The Amazing Spider-Man, which represented another fresh take on the famous webslinger.
Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker had to fight an even tougher uphill battle, as Sony Pictures’ quick pivot from Spider-Man 4 (which would’ve brought Sam Raimi and his team back) to a reboot that felt pointless at the time was a bit of a head-scratcher. In the end, the movie performed well enough and spawned a sequel which also featured another big costume change. And the loop repeated itself.
Marvel Studios‘ movies, popular until the public perception started to shift recently, have historically struggled to dodge such half-baked conversations too. From Spider-Man’s renewed look for the Tom Holland iteration of the character, which arrived only three years after Andrew Garfield bowed out, to Wolverine’s new and ‘accurate’ comic book look in Deadpool & Wolverine, nitpicks based on filming shots always caught fire and took over pop culture headlines for weeks. The several complaints about the long-awaited classic look for Logan are especially funny, as they focused on the upper part of the costume not being sleeveless, only for the second trailer to quickly show Hugh Jackman showing off those bulky biceps. Be patient!
It’s hard to imagine a scenario in which comic book fanatics and terminally online moviegoers stop being a whiny bunch about movies and shows based on famous IPs. I saw complaints about ‘Batfleck’s bat-ears being too short, only for the BvS costume to be praised months later. Same thing with the first look at Robert Pattinson in the iconic role. It’ll happen again when DC Studios casts the next shared-universe Caped Crusader. It’s how things work, I know. But I wish that people at least understood that these early pictures are hardly representative of the entire project. So no, I don’t think James Gunn’s take on the Kryptonian journalist will be a gritty snoozefest. Just let him cook and wait for the real thing. Then we can talk.