For the past decade, superhero films have been action-packed, filled with celebrity star power, and featuring incredible world-building. However, there’s one significant aspect of a superhero film’s narrative that has been missing from the genre for a while, and James Gunn’s Superman (2025) has just reintroduced it. This missing ingredient is a compelling love story. The DCU film has helped revitalize the superhero genre, giving fans hope that there’s still cinematic magic to be found within these films.
From the nuanced characters to the meticulous world-building that only Gunn can achieve, Superman has brought a fresh perspective on a small yet important element that connects all great films within this genre to their source material. The love story in a genre such as this is the heart of the narrative, as it grounds these larger-than-life figures and is potentially the element that resonates most with fans.
Superhero films have come a long way since the early 2000s, and this evolution has been one of the most significant shifts in Hollywood, inspiring the MCU to completely transform the superhero genre and its place in cinema. It has evolved from dark tones to lighter ones, both in terms of how the films look and how they feel. For over a decade, the MCU has been the standard by which superhero films are judged, in terms of how they look, feel, and are created, and it has seemed to know how to adapt and balance all the elements from a comic book to the screen.
However, in recent years, the MCU model hasn’t been able to live up to its early promise. In the process of focusing on the grandeur of scale, it seems to have abandoned the romantic core of these stories, and with it, the grounded nature of superheroes. The fantastical is just as important as realism, and Gunn has revitalized this belief in the latest adaptation of the Man of Steel.
Release Date
July 11, 2025
Runtime
130 minutes
Director
James Gunn
Producers
Peter Safran
Compelling Romance Storylines Have Been Missing From the MCU and DCEU
Sony Pictures
When considering the golden age of superhero cinema, the first franchises that come to mind are the original X-Men trilogy and the Spider-Man trilogy. These two franchises essentially provided Hollywood with the blueprint for what a superhero film should encompass, and one of those elements is romance. The X-Men films adapted one of the most iconic and well-known love triangles in comic books: Cyclops (James Marsden), Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman). The films successfully balanced the emotional storylines with the action-heavy ones. The original Spider-Man movies starring Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst also relied on that formula and executed it brilliantly throughout the three films.
The Amazing Spider-Man films also followed suit, with Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) and Gwen Stacy’s (Emma Stone) love story spanning the two movies and ending in tragedy. The directors, writers, and actors understood that romance was an essential part of creating superheroes that audiences could relate to, which is just one reason they were successful.
The last MCU film that leaned into romance was Deadpool (2016). Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) and Vanessa Carlysle’s (Morena Baccarin) relationship, twisted as it may have been, resonated with moviegoers because it reflected various relationship dynamics. There were tender moments between the characters that were crucial for Wade, as he would become the antihero, which helped humanize him, despite his violent nature. The MCU has since adopted an aromantic approach to its superhero films, focusing primarily on the idea of superheroes saving the day, and has relegated the romance plot to the background, sacrificing the audience’s ability to connect with the protagonists emotionally.
For the DCU, Man of Steel (2013) was the film that established what moviegoers could expect from DC and its cinematic universe. They understood what Marvel was doing and implemented the same formula, but through DC characters. With the film, Zack Snyder adapted Superman as he perceived the character, and was aware that his relationship with Lois Lane is an integral part of who he is, so their relationship became a central point to the story. However, when Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) arrived, their romance receded into the background. James Gunn, being familiar with the genre, noticed the lack of emotional connection and changed this in Superman (2025).
‘Superman’ Accurately Portrays Superman and Lois Lane’s Romantic Relationship
The Chemistry Between Rachel Brosnahan and David Corenswet Is Great
Warner Bros.
Since they met in Action Comics #1 in 1939, the relationship between Clark Kent and Lois Lane has been the heart of Superman’s narrative. From the first pages to eight decades later, anyone who has reinterpreted the character knows the love story between the Man of Steel and the Pulitzer-winning journalist must remain central. It’s essential to how fans recognize the most iconic superhero of all time.
Gunn’s film is as faithful to the comics as any adaptation can be, as he captures both the tenderness and the challenging, playful nature of their relationship. The interview scene is one example where, as an audience member, you believe that Rachel Brosnahan and David Corenswet are these characters, and they are in love while navigating the challenges within their relationship.
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Brosnahan’s Lois isn’t a damsel in distress; she’s someone who isn’t afraid to challenge the most powerful being in the universe and inspires him to question his purpose. She’s intelligent, resourceful, and relentlessly pursues the truth. Gunn explores the idea of these two characters saving each other, rather than Superman always being the one to save the day. She partnered with Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi), Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), and Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced) to investigate Lex Luthor’s (Nicholas Hoult) machinations against Superman. After the team saves the day, it’s Lois and Clark’s reunion that feels the most satisfying, and the audience witnesses an emotional and intimate moment between them that brings the narrative full circle.
The Romantic Component in ‘Superman’ Underscores the Humanity of the Film
Warner Bros.
With a character like Superman, it’s crucial to bring out his humanity. He is quite literally the most powerful being ever to exist and is nearly invincible (unless Kryptonite is involved). How do you break a character who’s physically impossible to subdue, or how does an ordinary Joe relate to him? His humanity. For Gunn to accurately portray the Superman who embodies hope, empathy, and humanity, the romance aspect had to be included. In the film, we see Clark grappling with his purpose in this world and the legacy he wants to live up to. Lois is someone who challenges him, and through her, he has experienced love.
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Some people are afraid of him because they don’t understand him, but Lois sees all parts of him, from his god-like powers to his vulnerable heart and soul. Superman confronts Luthor and says, “I’m as human as anybody… I love. I get scared. But that is being human.” It can be easy to become transfixed by the grandeur of superhero films and the high stakes of it all, but Gunn threw that formula out the window and authenticated the idea that love is the foundation for a superhero like Superman. Superman is in theaters now.
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