Superman captured my heart as the 2025 movie of the year with its hopeful rejection of cynicism

2025 was a year of great movies, both in terms of blockbuster tentpoles and auteur prestige pictures. And though writer/director James Gunn's Superman may not be the most-likely candidate for above-the-line awards this season, and it won't wind up being the year's top box office earner, it captured our hearts and our imaginations like nothing else in 2025, landing it the honor of being our movie of the year.

It's certainly my movie of the year. I'm a huge Superman fan across comics, TV, movies, you name it, and the film delivered on everything I wanted, including a refreshed take on the long-suffering superhero genre, alongside the care and effort in its filmmaking.

To borrow a phrase, Superman is the hero we deserved in 2025, and a return to form for big-budget summer movies that bring viewers into a less angsty, more just world for a little while.

Superman is ultimately a fairytale where existential crises can be met with superpowers, less a guidepost for real world political opinions than for hopeful idealism. But it's the kind of fairytale that offers a small, much-needed escape to a simpler, more resolvable conflict between pure good and obvious evil.

The new punk rock

I'd be hard-pressed to recall a more cynical time in my 40-plus years. There's an undercurrent of undirected anger that runs through many of this year's most prestigious films, even the ones that ultimately attempt to show some kind of optimism at the end.

That's a big part of why, above other, more prevalent critical darlings, Superman takes our top spot – because it presents a message of kindness, hope, and togetherness along with its willingness to stand up to the most toxic elements of society.

In 2025, that's the kind of story I crave. Not one that asks us to ignore our differences or to unflinchingly break bread with those who would do us harm, but to join hands in refusing to bend ourselves into the mold of paradoxical tolerance demanded by demagogues.

The movie's theme is admittedly just a bit schmaltzy; "kindness is the new punk rock" is the kind of mantra that might make some harder-edged folks roll their eyes, but it lands with absolute sincerity. Superman delivers these kinds of small parables throughout its runtime without a hint of irony. It invites us to open ourselves to the experience and to its philosophical simplicity rather than constantly pointing a finger back at itself with snide condescension – a trick too many genre contemporaries rely on.

There's also the film's core romance, a key feature wisely taken from 1978's all-time great Superman: The Movie. David Corenswet's Clark Kent/Superman and Rachel Brosnahan's Lois Lane have endless chemistry and a shared arc that brings Clark slightly back down to Earth while elevating Lois' more realistic perspective.

Heroes and villains

Like other entries in the year's film canon, Superman also features a villain drawn in caricature from the woes of modern society. Nicholas Hoult's Lex Luthor is a menace to society who hides behind a xenophobic veneer of protecting Earth from Superman's protection. Superman is a man with absolute power who cares about using it wisely, while Lex is a man who can't bear the idea of a world that might not center him.

The parallels should be obvious, especially when we get a look at Luthor's mad science experiments performed in total disregard for the potential consequences on the rest of the planet's population. It's not a subtle mirror, but it's a welcome reflection that, at the very least, identifies exactly what's wrong with Lex Luthor's vision for the world instead of uncritically expecting viewers to figure it out for themselves.

Lex and Superman's rivalry also fuels the film's sense of spectacle with dimensional rifts, kaiju fights, destructive clones, and all manner of team-ups with superhero allies. Superman holds nothing back, remembering to tell a story that actually has some resolution beyond setting up whatever the next chapter will be. By leaning into a structure more directly influenced by comic book storytelling, the movie breathes some fresh air into the by-the-numbers nature of modern superhero filmmaking.

At the same time, though Superman doesn't totally avoid CGI, an impossible prospect for a film of its scale, critical effects such as Superman flying across the world at supersonic speeds and engaging in aerial combat were first practically filmed using a special rig that sent David Corenswet careening across on-location shots of natural environments.

Up, up, and away

Not every movie should be a black-and-white morality play that leans into clearly delineated heroes and villains. James Gunn's follow-up to Superman, Peacemaker season 2, offers the other side of the coin: a man struggling to do his best by doing his worst and suffering the consequences.

Many of 2025's best films offer a similar experience to Peacemaker, seeking empathy for deeply flawed people who are at best careless and at worst openly hostile to everyone around them. That can be a tough prospect, but there's a kind of wisdom in it. It's certainly more reflective of the veneer of moral gray in reality.

Sometimes, though, the most impactful movies are those that take us out of reality, that offer up some small amount of poetry rather than a grounded, unflinching reminder of the woes of the human condition.

Add in the touches of a beautifully captivating score (which was my personal most listened to album of the year – atypical for my usual music taste), a colorful, Silver Age-inspired visual language, and a heavyweight supporting cast of multiple breakout characters, and Superman becomes the new bar for superhero entertainment.

In a real world where it often feels like society's worst impulses are rewarded and consequences seem few, Superman embodies the needed willingness to take direct action against injustice while also remembering that no punch should be thrown unless it's to defend those with the least power to do so themselves.

Maybe you're totally checked out on superhero movies. Maybe your taste skews toward more dramatic fare. Maybe you've been as captivated as I have by the gentle heart at Superman's core. Whatever the case, Superman's impact has taken it up, up, and away as our movie of the year.

Superman is streaming now – and be sure to check out our ranking of the best movies of 2025. For more, here's our guide to all the upcoming DC movies and shows.