James Gunn's First 'Superman' Image Looks Like AI, And The Suit ...

12 days ago

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David Corenswet as Superman

Credit: Warner Bros / DC

I’m having a hard time getting excited about the first image from James Gunn’s upcoming Superman because it looks really bad and I’m mostly just really puzzled about the decision to release this as the first image of the new Man of Steel.

Here’s the full image:

Before I comment further, here’s David Corenswet—our new Superman—outside of the suit:

TORONTO, ONTARIO - SEPTEMBER 12: David Corenswet attends the "Pearl" Premiere during the 2022 ... [+] Toronto International Film Festival at Royal Alexandra Theatre on September 12, 2022 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)

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Okay, so a few things:

First, the image of Superman doesn’t even look like the actor. If you’d shown me this image but hadn’t told me who it was, I would never have guessed. It’s the angle maybe. It’s just a very weird shot. Second, as others have pointed out, this has very strong AI vibes. I’m not sure if it’s just the weird angle and lighting, coupled with the very unreal-looking apartment he’s in, and the very CGI-laden backdrop or what, but I hopped onto Midjourney and made my own Superman image and it looks less like AI than this image does:

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Also, is it just me or is the new Superman suit kind of . . . baggy? It doesn’t look like it fits very well. It’s loose around the shoulders. I’m not against the pose, to be honest. It’s weird as a first image, but I like the idea of Superman sort of casually putting on his boots, maybe singing “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” before going out and dealing with the alien threat. Still, a more dramatic or heroic image might have been better as our first glimpse at this Gunn-led rebooted DC cinematic experiment.

I just find the whole thing sort of bizarre from a marketing standpoint. You want people excited about the new Superman, which was already a controversial move. I actually think Corenswet is a terrific pick for a younger Superman, and I’m fine with Cavill hanging up his hat because I think he’ll do great work in other things like Warhammer—we’ve had lots of different actors in this role and I suspect we’ll have many more in the future, after all—but I think they could have sold the new actor a lot better than this. Hopefully we get more images—and a trailer—soon. Hopefully these are less fake-looking, and hopefully Warner Bros doesn’t rely too heavily on CGI, which has made so many DC films in recent years feel cheap and fake.

I should note that I like Gunn’s superhero movies for the most part, especially the first Guardians of the Galaxy. I hope he does a good job bringing Superman back to theaters because DC has really lost its way outside of Batman and Joker.

What do you think of this new supersuit? Let me know on Twitter and Facebook.

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