SUPERMAN
A thrilling, heartfelt Superman — with real cautions for grown-ups.
Should You Watch It?
James Gunn's Superman is genuinely good filmmaking — exciting, funny, and unexpectedly tender. The opening rescue of an injured Superman by his dog Krypto is both thrilling and comic, the Justice Gang banter lands real laughs, and the scenes at the Kansas farm, where Superman's father reminds him that "your choices, your actions, that's what makes you who you are," are the movie's emotional high point.
But this is a PG-13 movie earning that rating. Two gratuitous strong profanities — one using the name of Jesus Christ, one a GD — stand out and will hit sensitive viewers in the face. Add roughly 30 obscenities and profanities total, scary and sometimes dark action violence (the "pocket universe" scenes are particularly frightening), and a script that reworks Superman's origin in a way that dilutes the story's long-standing biblical echoes of Moses and Christ.
If you're an adult who can weather harsh language and dark peril for the sake of a well-made, morally serious superhero film, this one delivers. If you're choosing for children or young teens, this isn't the Superman movie for them.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESSuperman has just lost his first battle — to a masked, armored metahuman called the Boravian Hammer, secretly controlled by Lex Luthor. Wounded and stripped of much of his power, Superman retreats to the Fortress of Solitude to heal, while Metropolis braces for the Hammer's return.
Posing as Clark Kent, Superman juggles a secret three-month romance with Lois Lane, a government wary of his unauthorized heroics, and a billionaire enemy quietly closing in on the one secret that could destroy his reputation with the whole world.
Is It Any Good?
Four stars means this is Movieguide's top rating for craft, and the film earns it. Gunn packs the movie with real physical and emotional jeopardy, balances it with genuine comedy — Krypto's antics, Nathan Fillion's blustery Green Lantern and the running "Justice Gang" joke pay off well — and lands honest heart in the farmhouse scenes with Superman's adoptive father.
The film's weaknesses aren't craft weaknesses; they're choices. Gunn rewrites Superman's origin in a way that undercuts the story's classic biblical resonance, and the two gratuitous strong profanities feel like unforced errors in an otherwise well-built film. As entertainment, though, this is confident, well-made blockbuster filmmaking.
The Worldview
At its best, this Superman tells a strong moral, pro-life story: doing right, showing compassion, resisting tyranny, and protecting the vulnerable. Superman's choice to stop a stronger nation from invading a defenseless one, and his father's counsel that character is built through our choices, both carry real moral weight — and a mild redemptive tone runs underneath it all.
That said, the film mixes in some undeveloped Romantic notions about people being inherently good, and a politically correct, arguably disingenuous pro-immigration message seemingly aimed at present-day debates over deportation. The irony is that the movie undercuts its own message: it's Superman's American, non-immigrant adoptive parents who actually shape him into the good, compassionate man he becomes — not his biological heritage. More significantly, the film gives Superman's Kryptonian parents ulterior, negative motives for sending him to Earth, which weakens the story's classic allegorical echoes of Moses and of Christ, themes the original Jewish creators of Superman wove into the character from the start.
We'll also note that the filmmakers' public comments on immigration ahead of release stirred real controversy; we think the film's own internal contradiction on that theme speaks louder than any press interview.
Superman's deepest longing here — to know whose child he really is, and to be shaped by a father's love into someone good — echoes a truth the film only half-sees: "you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons" (Romans 8:15).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements
Strong moral pro-life worldview with a light redemptive tone promotes doing the right thing, compassion, justice, fighting and overcoming tyrannical evil, setting the captives free, and protecting and saving lives, mitigated by some occasional but undeveloped Romantic notions about people being inherently good and by some politically correct and misguided and disingenuous if not deceitful arguments supporting immigration that are meant to send a message against any mass deportations of illegal immigrants, but these arguments are contradicted by the fact that the movie also clearly shows that it’s the hero’s American, non-immigrant adoptive parents who are responsible for making the hero such a good, upstanding young man who’s always trying to do the right, compassionate and just thing
Foul Language
21 obscenities (including 9 or 10 “s” words), one strong profanity using the name of Jesus Christ, one GD profanity, and seven light profanities
Violence
Lots of strong and ought action violence includes Superman hurtles to the ground and has bloody cuts on his face, dog with superpowers jumps on the injured Superman’s body wanting to play and this causes Superman pain, Superman battles a masked mutant human with powers similar to his, Superman and his dog use their heat ray vision several times, Superman and other superheroes battle a large dinosaur monster that the main villain has created, villain subdues dog by wrapping it with nanobots, Superman turns himself in to the authorities, but main villain imprisons him in a “pocket universe” with a bunch of other prisoners, Luther shoots an innocent civilian in the head from a distance to get Superman to reveal where his adoptive parents live and then threatens to do the same with other people Superman knows, villain uses kryptonite to debilitate Superman, villain imprisons and threatens a kidnapped baby to order baby’s father to do his evil bidding and hurt and painfully subdue Superman, Superman gets loose and tries to save the father’s baby, villain’s henchmen try to stop Superman from saving the baby, and the baby is placed in multiple dangerous situations while Superman tries to protect him, a developing black hole threatens people, villain tries to suffocate and overcome Superman with nanobots, characters hit the ground violently in one scene, a superhero fights multiple henchmen at one time, a villain violently body slams Superman on a baseball field, and they tear up the grass and ground on part of the field, Superman punches one of villain’s henchman, and the man’s the go flying, villain orders his scientist’s to create a crack in the Earth’s crust that threatens a city, buildings start to topple like dominoes because of that and threaten people below, Superman and other superheroes protect buildings and people from getting hurt
Sex
No sex scenes but Superman passionately kisses Lois Lane in two scenes and they’ve been in a romantic relationship for three months, Lois wakes up one morning to find Superman has entered her apartment to cook her breakfast so it’s left ambiguous how far their romance has progressed, woman leaps into one male character’s arms to hug him (she’s super enthusiastic about him but he’s not so committed)
Nudity
No nudity
Alcohol Use
No alcohol use
Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse
No smoking or drugs;
Miscellaneous Immorality
Villain admits to being envious, and villain falsely and publicly accuses Superman of having evil motives and even of having a secret harem of enslaved women.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
Superman's father tells him, "Your choices, your actions, that's what makes you who you are." How does Scripture describe the relationship between our character and our choices?
Matthew 7:17–20 · James 2:17–18The film reveals that Superman's goodness comes more from how he was raised than from his biological heritage. What does the Bible say about the role of adoptive love and upbringing in shaping who we become?
Romans 8:15 · Ephesians 1:5Lex Luthor publicly accuses Superman of evil motives he doesn't have. When have you seen someone slandered for doing right? How should Christians respond to false accusation?
1 Peter 2:12 · Psalm 35:11The villain admits to being driven by envy. What does Scripture warn us about envy, and how does it destroy both the envious and the people around them?
James 3:16 · Proverbs 14:30The Final Word
James Gunn's Superman is exciting, funny, and unexpectedly tender — four stars' worth of confident blockbuster filmmaking. But it also carries real cautions: strong profanity, scary violence, and an origin-story twist that trades away some of Superman's oldest biblical echoes. Our answer is the one we opened with: worth the trip — adults only. Choosing for the kids this week instead? Start with our latest family-friendly picks.
