Superman Legacy To Bring Back Glory To DC Films  Or Result In Failure Again?

When it was stated that 2025 would be the best year for superhero fans, it was not wrong actually, as there are a splendid amount of superhero shows and films which are about to come next year. But out of them, do you know which is the most hyped one? Well, if you don’t know, the answer is Superman: Legacy. The James Gunn-directed film starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor is scheduled to arrive on July 11 2025. It mainly tells about how the man of steel embarks on a journey to reconcile his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing.

This film will be the first entry of DCU, a shared universe consisting of DC comic characters. One of the main questions already being sparked among fans that will this film can bring back the glory of old DC films or if it will be the 9^th consecutive DC film which will taste failure.

Judging by the set photos, poster and cast, however, it looks like this film is capable of bringing back the glory of DC films.

Why Superman: Legacy can bring glory to DC

One of the main reasons is directly tied with James Gunn who is also the writer of this film. The 58-year-old director has already shown how much he is capable of pulling out superhero content through Guardians of the Galaxy Trilogy, Peacemaker and Suicide Squad 2, which is well received by fans and critics due to its strong storyline, development of characters and a well-written antagonist. Sincerely, based on his past track records it can be certainly hope that this film is about to bring the old glory of DC films.

Another reason is that the film will be heavily comic-accurate, something that in recent days has been criticized by fans that superhero films are lacking. This film, as confirmed by Gunn, is heavily based on the critically acclaimed Superman comics, which are All-Star Superman Superman: Birthright. Superman: Brainiac and Superman: Ending Battle.

Looking forward to SUPERMAN: LEGACY? So are we! Read the comics that inspired the upcoming film on DC UNIVERSE INFINITE: https://t.co/eBreNsNOBt pic.twitter.com/HKlcFPIZhA

— Superman (@Superman) July 9, 2023

So fans in this process can certainly expect the classic accurate Boy Scout Superman to make his way back on the big screen after several years, and this thing can directly contribute to the process of bringing the old legacy of DC films that was mostly known for maintaining a strong accuracy in comics. However, not only the comic accuracy and director will be the only factors that can help the film to achieve its success, but in this process the casting is also playing a key factor.

Playing Superman/Clark Kent is actually the hardest part, as in this process, an actor has to portray two personalities together to make people believe that no one in the world can possibly make a link between these two people. David Corenswet is a Julliard-trained actor who knew how to effectively portray this kind of character.  Besides this, the set photos of him as Superman and Clark Kent certainly assures people that he will easily portray the two personalities together effectively.

Another key factor in the casting of Superman: Legacy is the actor  Nicholas Hoult, who is portraying the role of Lex Luthor the arch nemesis of Man of Steel. He has been acting since the age of 7, and he already played various villainous characters in films and TV shows. Based on his experience on the bag, one can certainly hope that they are about to get the best Lex Luthor ever on screen that can certainly help DC films restore their old legacy, which was mainly noted for having top-notch antagonists which sometimes even overshadowed the protagonist also like on the film The Dark Knight.

Despite a key chance of Superman: Legacy to bring back the glory of DC films however, there are a couple of reasons also which are making fans fearing that it might be another failure for DC films.

Why Superman: Legacy can be a failure

Despite Superman: Legacy having a bunch of key positive factors; however, some negative factors are also seen, which can cause the potential failure of this film.

One of the main reasons is that Superman: Legacy will be releasing on the wrong window. As the film is releasing in July, it had to face massive competition from well-known big franchise films like  Jurassic Park: Rebirth and Fantastic Four: The First Step, which is also releasing in that month. Since Warner Brothers, in recent years, has had a very lack of approach towards marketing for DC  films. These both aspects together can hurt the profitability of the film.

Beside Superman, there would be other heroes also who will appear in the film, like Guy Gardner/Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, Mister Terrific, Metamorpho and the superhero group The Authority. The appearance of so many heroes like this might be a good way to showcase a shared universe; however, there is a huge amount of chance that if not written properly, it can be labelled as shoehorned, which can contribute to the failure.

Another main problem is the DC itself, as in the past few years, the DC films, due to producing some worst superhero films, have itself shattered their brand popularity. Despite how well-written the film is, the fans will always be sceptical to watch the film in the first place. Without good word of mouth there is a high chance the film will be a failure at the box office.

Another chance that the film can be summed up as a failure is due to the nature of the film. The past experience of James Gunn and the set photos and leaked insider reports confirmed that the Superman: Legacy genre would be heavily light-hearted. DC is always known for producing successful films which are dark genres like The Batman, Joker, The Dark Knight, Man of Steel, etc.

Whenever they went on the approach of light-hearted, goofy tone, the film always met with failure both critically and commercially like The Flash or The Justice League. So certainly the tone of the film based on the success ratio of DC in past films regarding this one is certainly creating uncertainty regarding the success of Superman: Legacy.

Why this film is the last chance for DC Films

If Superman: Legacy gets a flop verdict at the box office. There is a massive chance that for the foressable future, we will not see a shared DC universe anymore as the current plan of DCU will be cancelled.

This will also effectively hurt superhero fans as they always want DC characters like Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, etc, to co-exist in the same universe and appear in each other films or appear together. Also, in this process, the fans will be deprived of seeing various DC characters like Plastic Man, Wildcat, Deadman, and Martian the Manhunter in live-action films for the first time since there are rumours that the films based on these characters are repeatedly in development which will take place in the same universe.  

The cast of Superman: Legacy

FAQ

Follow us on