This episode contains spoilers for Superman.
The film writer Jessica Ritchey returns for a look at James Gunn’s hard reset of the DC cinematic universe starting with his new Superman, starring David Corenswet as the Last Son of Krypton, with Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor.
After a decade of Henry Cavill’s Übermensch Superman, Gunn has returned to the original idea of the Man of Steel as a kind and decent protector of the planet. incorporating elements of the character from the last 90 years of comic books, radio, tv, cartoons and cinema, while also plugging the idea of Superman into modern life, where real life supervillains like Trump and Elon Musk seem to have the upper hand. Gunn’s Superman contends with techbros and oligarchs who use other metahumans to inspire fear and social media to corrode the public discourse while running private prisons and engineering global conflicts for profit.
Jessica and I discuss what we appreciate about Superman as a light and goofy movie that holds up kindness as a virtue and goodness as a choice one can make, including the gentle rebuke of Man of Steel in the main plot twist, and how it has enraged the Snyder Bros and conservatives who confidently predicted this movie would fail, but we also eat our words about how sure we were this movie was not going to meet the moment.
Over 30% of all Junk Filter episodes are only available to patrons of the podcast. To support this show directly and to receive access to the entire back catalogue, consider becoming a patron for only $5.00 a month (U.S.) at patreon.com/junkfilter
Follow Jessica Ritchey on Bluesky, and support her work on Patreon.
Pre-release teaser for Superman (Richard Donner, 1978)
Trailer for Superman (James Gunn, 2025)