Even the Most Loyal 'Superman' Fans Have Something Negative to Say About the 2025 Movie
There was criticism about 'Superman' months before it was even released.
Published July 11 2025, 9:54 a.m. ET
It's not uncommon for die-hard fans of certain franchises and movies to get hung up on a new iteration of a classic. That's what happened with the 2025 Superman movie, but why do people hate it so much? The hate actually began well before the movie was even released, and the disdain for the way it was filmed, its plot, and even its director, James Gunn, began around the time the first trailer was released.
After a Superman 2025 teaser trailer was released in December 2024, there were mixed reactions. While most of the YouTube comments were positive and longtime fans of the comics and other Superman iterations celebrated the return of the Man of Steel on the big screen, elsewhere on the internet, harsher critics were already tearing it apart.
Why do people hate 'Superman' 2025?
According to one DC Comics fan group on Facebook, some fans hate the 2025 Superman movie because it isn't another Zack Snyder movie. He directed Man of Steel, Batman vs. Superman, and both Justice League movies. The 2025 Superman is another version of Superman that came so soon after Zack's films that many of his fans feel loyalty to his version of Superman. At least, that's what seems to be the case.
One user commented on a thread on the Facebook fan page, "James Gunn is coming off as a huge egotistical narcissist making sure he inserts his face into every public entity. Snyder nor Donner [1978's Superman: The Movie director] ever needed to do that, and they both still made successful Superman movies."
Someone else added, "Sometimes it's better to leave a great movie alone."
On a Reddit thread about why people hate the 2025 Superman movie so much, users once again blamed loyal Zack Snyder fans who prefer his version of Henry Cavill as the title character as opposed to David Corenswet. Other users in the thread said that some fans of the Man of Steel version of Superman "refuse to move on" from that version.
To be fair, Man of Steel came out 12 years before Superman in 2025, but for some fans, that doesn't appear to be enough time to have passed for another version.
James Gunn has commented on the politics in 'Superman.'
Another reason why some people don't like Superman could be because of the supposed "woke" storylines in the movie that were brought up before it was released. One part of the movie involves Clark talking to Lois Lane about whether or not he should have been the person to stop a war. James spoke to The Times of London about this ahead of the premiere.
"It is definitely the most unusual thing that we put in the movie," he told the outlet. "Yes, it's about politics, but on another level it's about morality. Do you never kill, no matter what, which is what Superman believes, or do you have some balance, as Lois believes?"