Man of Tomorrow, Today: Official “Superman” Trailer Reveals James Gunn’s Bold Vision for Man of Steel

The official trailer for James Gunn’s Superman has arrived, offering a bevy of new footage of the hotly anticipated feature film that will officially kickstart Gunn’s new-look DC Studios.

The trailer opens with a close-up of David Corenswet’s Clark Kent/Superman and Rachel Brosnahan’s Lois Lane. As Brosnahan teased recently, the film begins with Clark and Lois already in a relationship, and Clark has given Lois the most unbeatable scoop—she can interview him as his alter ego, Superman. Lois, being a crack journalist for The Daily Planet, is, of course, game for the assignment, and the interview begins. It doesn’t go as Clark imagines it will, given his relationship with the reporter.

It’s a clever set-up, as the interview allows Lois to paint us a picture of what’s been going on in Metropolis and the world, and how much fire Superman has been under, including from the Secretary of Defense, who is officially looking into Superman’s actions. This elicits a smile from Clark, as he doesn’t understand how “his actions” require suspicion, given that they include him stopping a war. How could such bravery possibly be something the Secretary of Defense, or anyone else of sound judgment and moral fiber, could call into question?

Such is the tone and tenor of Gunn’s vision for Superman, which re-centers the Man of Steel as a singular force for good in a world that has forgotten, at least a little bit, what good looks like. Gunn, who made his name centering offbeat misfits and oddballs in The Guardians of the Galaxy and The Suicide Squad, has been unabashed in his quest to tell a story about Superman that recalls the iconic hero’s original bearing and purpose, someone who was good, who wanted to do good, and who believed in the goodness in others even if he was cast as an outsider, a threat, an alien.

The case Lois puts to Superman in the new trailer is that others might not see it that way. Playing the hardened reporter, Lois points out that technically, Superman did illegally enter a country without consulting with the President of the United States, and she asks Superman the tough questions the rest of the world is asking—under whose authority was he acting? To Superman, however, the case is much more transparent and more straightforward—he acted because, if he hadn’t, people would die.

The new trailer is chock-a-block with action and allows some of the other meta-humans and villains their moment to shine (or destroy), including Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor, Edi Gathegi’s Mister Terrific, Anthony Carrigan’s Metamorpho, Isabela Merced’s Hawkgirl, Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner, and María Gabriela’s The Engineer.

It’s a terrific trailer, and there’s little doubt Gunn’s Superman reboot is going to be one of the summer’s biggest films. It augers in a fresh start for a united DC Universe, and sets the stage for Corenswet’s Superman to stake his claim as the new Man of Steel.

Check out the new trailer below. Superman soars into theaters on July 11.

Featured image: Caption: (L to r) RACHEL BROSNAHAN as Lois Lane and DAVID CORENSWET as Superman in Warner Bros. Pictures’ “SUPERMAN,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Jessica Miglio