Superman (2025)

Next July, it’s official—the Snyderverse iteration of the DC Extended Universe, and Henry Cavill’s Superman, is no more. In its stead arrives a decidedly more colourful and classic world that director James Gunn has envisioned, pulling from 1978’s original film starring Christopher Reeve—right down to the red trunks and hair curl. And beyond the visuals, the editors have opted to pair this with a brilliant comeback for John Williams’ iconic Superman theme of nearly a half century ago.

Though John Murphy is on tap to compose the main score, the inclusion of Williams’ theme is further proof of its staying power; in addition to appearing in the original trilogy, it would stubbornly reappear in 2017’s Justice League and 2022’s Black Adam, despite a new theme having been composed by Hans Zimmer for 2013’s Man of Steel.

The trailer opens on an ice cap, already featuring an array of blues and even purples in the colour grade. For the first thirty seconds or so we only hear a low synth as we see Superman down for the count—already showing him first in a state of vulnerability. This intensifies until 0:35, where at the blackout after a closeup of Superman we hear the Williams theme on a single electric guitar while we see the Gunn credit. Paired with scenes of Clark Kent and Lois Lane working at the Daily Planet, there’s a keen sense of surreality and whimsy about it that counters the more gritty and grounded take that Cavill’s Superman represented.

The theme continues with just the electric guitar, drenched in reverb and sounding nigh-patriotic (all rise for the Superman national anthem!) taking its time between melodic lines in a sort of freeform hymnal. Notice how at 1:04 Superman’s whistle (for his dog, Krypto—named long before Bitcoin, thank you very much) almost synchs with the soundtrack—if not melodically, at least in length and timbre. The long, reverberant tones of the guitar match wonderfully with the desolate yet somehow colourful arctic scene.

At 1:23, we hear an absolute contrast as the soundtrack now commits a whole orchestra to the monophonic theme, and to complement it we see Superman at the height of action—saving a girl from a monstrously large kaiju of some sort. Only at 1:31 with the reveal of Lex Luthor—made clear by the banner Luthercorp logo—do we hear any kind of harmonic embellishment, and at 1:33 we get a full-bore choir to match the wide-angle shot of Superman breaking through glass. What’s more—and this would be easy to miss on a first pass, almost a subliminal idea—we hear a boy’s voice praying for Superman offscreen, who appears later at 1:35. This is immediately contrasted with a scene at 1:38 where a can is thrown at the back of Superman’s head, illustrating the complex relationship he has with humanity (and more accurately, throwing into relief the complexity and contradictions of humanity itself, which is a large part of the point of the Superman mythos).

We then get a parade of cameos by Green Lantern, Hawk Girl, and others—a teaser of the bombastic scale that Gunn promises to deliver in this new versioning of Superman’s universe—one that is already fully inhabited by fantastic beings. Through this, we hear “Superman” being chanted in the background, and more of the synthesizer version of the theme comes through, all the while epic trailer percussion highlights action points. At 2:04, the theme’s extended climax falls away for a jet-like sound effect as we see Superman rocketing towards the sky, only to swell up at 2:08 with an intimate hug between Superman and Lois Lane.

Notice also, at 2:09, there is a clear whistle at the leading note (note right before the home note, the resolution of the melody)—clearly a callback to Superman whistling for Krypto at the outset of the trailer. One more the clarion rising-fifth call of the Williams theme rides out the trailer, with the studio card and release date.

Overall, the trailer paints a clear, articulated vision of what Gunn’s Superman is: Colourful, unabashed, classic. Leaning fully into Williams’ score extended throughout the trailer only emphasizes this vision, and between the electric guitar and orchestra with choir, the instrumentation effectively toes the line between fun and epic. Moreover, the whistle conceit and the calls by both individuals and crowds for “Superman” add narrative depth.

Superman lands in theatres July 11th.

— Curtis Perry