Breaking down the Superman trailer, from heroes to villains

James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy) is now in charge of DC’s movie/TV universe, and his direction is immediately clear: serious, colorful, and super comedic. The trailer for the studio’s first major release, 2025 Supermanfell on Thursday to set the tone. There’s a lot to unpack in the space of two minutes – so let’s unpack it. Here’s a look at everything that was teased ahead of the July 2025 release, just to make sure you didn’t mistake birds or planes for Superman.

The trailer opens boldly for a superhero movie: the lead apparently just got his ass kicked. Is this one All Star Superman thing that makes him more vulnerable? Or has he gone up against a truly gnarly foe? We know Gunn loves All Star Superman (and he’s right about that).

Luckily, Superman’s best friend is around to lend a paw. Krypto the Superdog has been a recurring addition to Superman’s continuity since writer Otto Binder and artist Curt Swan introduced him in 1955. Adventure comics #210. He is a dog from the planet Krypton, who, like all Kryptonians, gains amazing powers – such as flight and super strength – when exposed to the light of a yellow star.

How did an animal precisely Like Earth dogs evolve on Krypton? How did Krypto survive the destruction of Superman’s home planet? Comics creators have come up with various explanations for this in the 70 years that Krypto has been in business, so let this comics expert sum it up for you: don’t worry about it.

Superman has a dog with laser vision. It’s fun.

Although Lex Luthor’s conglomerate (I’d say “evil conglomerate,” but that would be redundant) is classically known as Lexcorp, it is occasionally used by other names, such as LexCo, Lex-Corp, L-Corp, and even Supercorp (because Lex likes to do things just because it makes Superman angry).

For being SupermanJame Gunn appears to have opted for the dark horse choice of ‘Luthorcorp’, most prominently used in the Smallville TV series.

If there’s a bald man in a suit in a Superman comic, he can only be one man. Here’s Nicholas Hoult (Nosferatu) as Lex Luthor as Agent 47 from Hitman.

There are a lot of ethically compromised billionaires running tech companies in the DC universe – ha ha, so superhero-esque, so far-fetched, ha ha – and here’s our indication that at least one of them exists in the new DC Films universe.

Stagg Industries is the company of unscrupulous CEO Simon Stagg. Stagg may not appear, he is not present Superman‘s officially announced cast list. But he is the nemesis (and future father-in-law; it’s complicated) of the superhero Metamorpho (more about him later). Also starring Metamorpho Supermanit makes sense that Stagg Industries would be present in the setting, regardless of whether the company plays a major role or not.

That scale cut tells you that a Green Lantern lives without fear

Nathan Fillion plays the Green Lantern Guy Gardner Supermanand his haircut is both completely comic-accurate and completely terrible.

The supporting superhero cast is also rounded out by Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl. There are many different versions of Hawkgirl and Hawkwoman in DC Comics history, but let’s see if this comics expert can narrow it down: She’s either a constantly reincarnating warrior who keeps the memories of all her past lives, or she’s a cop from a planet of bird people. We’ll find out!

A ferocious giant monster seems bad for Metropolis, but great for moviegoers. And an eagle-eyed Polygon writer asked a good question: Could this be Jimmy Olsen?

I know that sounds ridiculous, but that animal has strange human eyes and things like this happened to Jimmy Olsen always in the Silver Age.

We’ve seen this ball of energy before, floating in the background of the first photo Gunn revealed of David Corenswet’s Superman costume. There’s no telling what it is, what it does or who made it, but purple and green are classic Lex Luthor colors, just saying…

Often, as a comic book fan, you have the somewhat out-of-body experience of seeing something that makes perfect sense to you, and knowing that it looks bananas from the outside. “Superman cradling a legless robot while deep in grief” is one of those things.

Judging by the clear crystal surroundings here, we’re in his Fortress of Solitude, and judging by Superman’s apparent deep distress over whatever has happened to this robot, it’s probably Kelex. Created by John Byrne for 1986 Man of steel #1, Kelex is a robot that used to belong to Superman’s Kryptonian family and often serves as the keeper of the fortress.

Meet Rex Mason, aka Metamorpho

This man with a rocky exterior is Rex Mason, the shape-shifting superhero known as Metamorpho, played by Anthony Carrigan (Barry). Thanks to some tricks from Simon Stagg (see Stagg Industries above), Rex Mason has the power to change himself – or even just parts of itself – into an element or chemical compound, which stretches, bounces, disappears into gas, or makes its mass compact enough to survive and deal mighty blows. The catch is that he simply doesn’t look like a human anymore.

Not much to say about this, other than to acknowledge that Boravia is one of countless fictional European countries that have graced the pages of DC Comics over the setting’s nearly ninety year history, and in Supermanthings get tense there.

The trailer sneaks in a few shots of Superman‘s mysterious villain, seen here battling in the Metropolis Meteors’ empty baseball stadium. This character’s identity has been almost completely spoiled by paparazzi taking set photos, so Google carefully! (If you Real wants to know who this seems to be, click here.)

The third smartest man in the world

Here we get our first look at Michael Holt, the adventurous super genius known as Mister Terrific, and his signature T-spheres, which project that handy shield. For more on him we have a whole article – Gunn has repeatedly said that Terrific plays a “big role” in his Superman.

Just a few star reporters

The trailer rounds itself out with some classically framed shots of the real beating heart of Superman stories: Superman and Lois Lane. The greatest superhero stories rely on a combination of monsters, superheroes, and romance, but we’ll have to wait until July to find out how Gunn combines these themes. Superman.