Up, Up, and Adorable: Krypto Steals the Superman Trailer

DC Studios is making a bold move. Superheroes are a tough row to hoe, and while DC’s original Justice League films had their ups and downs, several attempts at rebooting the Man of Steel have fared worse. Superman, a reimagining of the superhero’s origin story written and directed by James Gunn, will make its debut this July. After months of ramping up buzz on the hero’s return, it seems now that a first full trailer for the project is out, there’s more than enough reason to pay attention. A new Clark Kent, a no-nonsense Lois Lane, a host of DC heroes and villains, and one scene-stealing superdog all combine in the film’s new trailer to portend a refreshingly emotionally grounded reboot.

The Road to Metropolis

Gunn has made it very clear that Superman will not follow the template of a by-the-numbers origin story. Instead, the film focuses on the internal struggle Clark Kent faces as he attempts to reconcile his birthright as a Kryptonian royal with the values instilled in him by his adopted Kansas family. “He’s learning to live up to the legacy of Superman while still living up to the expectations of being a small-town Kansas boy,” Gunn told Variety. It’s a narrative shift that infuses the film with much-needed emotional heft by moving its stakes beyond the physical.

It’s also a shift in characterization that seems to be echoed in the actor tasked with bringing Gunn’s Superman to life. Pearl and Hollywood alum David Corenswet portrays a 25-year-old Superman more worldly and wizened than the new Super-New York version he replaced in earlier DC films. If his dual life as both Clark Kent and Superman is at the center of the movie, it’s evident in the way he engages with Lois Lane.

Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) stars as Lois Lane, an edgy and uncompromising news reporter. The film’s trailer immediately sets Lois on a collision course with Superman: The first scene in the trailer shows Lois in a faux-interview with “Superman” (that is, Clark Kent). The two seem to be flirting and tossing barbs at each other in equal measure, but the question hanging over their relationship is whether Lois knows Clark’s secret. “Ok, Clark,” she says at one point, seemingly taunting him, “did you just get your usual nerdy college boy’s self-actualization schpeel from Michael Shimer?” The message feels a little too pointed for an unknowing Lois, leading some viewers to insist she knows. Others, including this writer, aren’t so sure. Too much is left ambiguous in the trailer’s wording and the actors’ performances to say for certain, but this will almost certainly be an early throughline in the film.

Nicholas Hoult, perhaps best known for his work in Animal Instincts and X-Men: Days of Future Past, is another high-profile addition to the film’s lineup, taking on the role of Lex Luthor. He’s hardly the only one. Also on hand to serve the comic-book master of evil are Sara Sampaio as Eve Teschmacher and Terence Rosemore as Otis, Luthor’s right-hand (literally) weirdos.

Krypto, Kaiju, and World-Building

One surprise breakout character? Superman’s loyal white dog, Krypto. Fans first got a teaser of his co-star role in the trailer released last December, when he’s seen heroically dragging a bloodied and unconscious Superman back to the Fortress of Solitude. The full trailer doesn’t disappoint: It features even more dog glory, including a face-off between the pooch and Lex Luthor and a climactic battle with high-tech villain Angela Spica, also known as The Engineer (Maria Gabriela de Faria). Dressed in black spandex and wielding a high-tech shield with deadly rotating blades (courtesy of nanotechnology), The Engineer is the head of a full-scale invasion of the Fortress.

The trailer doesn’t skimp on the theatrics. In between big fights, kaiju flashes, and possible future Justice League team-ups, the trailer gives fans their first look at an eclectic collection of more obscure, but no less compelling, DC characters. Nathan Fillion (The Delivery Man) appears as Green Lantern Guy Gardner, a green-and-yellow spandex-wearing fellow sporting the character’s signature bowl-cut; Anthony Carrigan (Breeders) is Rex Mason/Metamorpho, a human turned elemental shapeshifter; Isabela Merced (Encore) is the winged warrior Hawkgirl; Edi Gathegi (Shotgun) is Michael Holt/Mister Terrific, a brilliant inventor who became a masked hero; and Milly Alcock (Loki) is Superman’s cousin Kara Zor-El, better known as Supergirl.

Introducing Kara Zor-El is a nice nod to a larger Kryptonian family story to come. Pruitt Taylor Vince (Film Noir) and Neva Howell (Loose Creek) round out the main character list as Clark’s earthly parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent.

DC Fans will recognize Frank Grillo, reprising his role as Rick Flag Sr. from the animated series Creature Commandos, and Sean Gunn, playing Maxwell Lord.

Acting the Hero

Visually, the trailer is filled with the classic Superman tropes. Rooftop leaps, costume changes, a possible cosmic threat, a World War II armored train—and plenty of running. The story promises to tell an old and familiar tale, but what feels different this time out is how it’s told. The stakes are in how Superman and Lois Lane interact, the reactions Clark Kent’s acts get from high-level political and military figures, and most importantly, what Superman’s actions are doing for the people he’s fighting to protect.

Lois is there to provide that spark, acting both as Superman’s on-the-ground representative and the voice of dissent to challenge his instinctual actions. “You don’t care about what other people think, do you?” Lois asks Superman in one of their earlier exchanges. He’s retorting that he’s more concerned with saving the people at risk than he is with anyone else’s feelings. “People were going to die!” he exclaims defensively. Lois sues him out: “Oh, ok, so now it’s ok to bomb us.” The sparring between Clark Kent and Lois Lane feels snappy, telling of their shared past and a world more complex than clear-cut ideas of good and evil.

Elsewhere in the trailer, Gunn’s film indulges in that high-concept comic-book quirkiness he’s become known for and that the character often is synonymous with. The unexpected heart of Gunn’s superhero story seems to be summed up in the scene capping off the trailer: Superman is in his bed, having gotten a moment of peace, with Krypto curled up contentedly on his chest. It’s an image that signals superheroics as usual—but in this case, in a way that’s anything but usual.