Examining The Gunniverse Superman Sneak Peak

I’ll be looking at some trailers this week, but we’re starting with a sneak peak.

James Gunn and DC Studios recently dropped a scene from Gunn’s upcoming Superman, formerly Superman: Legacy until someone realized that wasn’t confusing as “Superman” could be a bunch of different shows and movies over the decades. The scene gives us a proper look at Krypto, based on Gunn’s dog rather than the labrador retriever he’s usually depicted as. Gunn’s rescue dog, Ozu, is a terrier mutt, and thus James wanted his dog to be represented. It doesn’t sound like much of a complaint, and if not for the fact that they’ve screwed up so many things from the source material over the years and there’s a reason only G.I. Robot is talked about from Creature Commandos in my circles I probably wouldn’t bring it up. Check Comic Drake’s video from earlier today about Krypto’s history and other breed swaps, but I know what I grew up with, even if I had to look up the names because I know nothing about dogs. I know Gunn’s Krypto isn’t the right breed, so I…think that means I’m not a breedist. Frankly who can tell what the internet crazies are thinking these days. It does mean a smaller dog, but he has the right fur color…which I’m sure I will get called something for bringing up.

Enough pseudo-culture war BS. Thus far the stuff I’ve seen and heard has kept me neutral on this movie, and given that Superman is my favorite superhero that’s almost as bad as being negative towards it. A resounding “meh” is not the reaction I want to have whether or not it’s an improvement over the Snyder incarnation. That’s where we are, and honestly…not really any different here.

I’ll address some of the odd negatives by critics. Superman in pain during the healing process? It’s not from the sun, it’s from his body reknitting itself back together. Superman does not have Wolverine’s healing factor, and even that is painful for ol’ man Logan. On the other hand…Superman does not have Wolverine’s healing factor. Sunlight will restore Superman’s strength but it doesn’t restore bones and internal organs. The robots, and we’ll come back to them, said he had numerous internal injuries. Sunlight alone isn’t going to solve that. I could fully believe that Kryptonians or one of the many alien races Superman has been given gifts from over the years have some kind of healing boosting ray. Amazonians used to have “the purple ray” that could heal the injured, and on this site alone we’ve seen everything from a device that lets you travel into people’s dreams so you can live their mental movies and get them to wear a seatbelt to one that turned Lois black for 24 hours so she could interview black people in the hood. Healing device? Quite possible.

As for Krypto jumping all over and trying to play with Kal-El? Yes, Earth dogs could do that. Earth dogs can also be smart enough to know something is wrong and run to their master’s aid. Krypto is not an Earth dog. We’ve seen he’s almost as smart as a human, with a bit more intelligence than just running on instinct. We’ve actually seen his thoughts in various continuities. Sometimes “being cute” needs to take a backseat to getting it right. It takes too long for Krypto to realize something is wrong and still has to be told numerous times to bring his injured owner home when Krypto, being Krypto and not just Kryptonian, would have realized something was up in a few minutes. Krypto is a dog with similarities to a labrador in the same way Kryptonians have similarities to humans. Still gonna sell a lot of plush toys.

Getting back to the robots, All-Star Superman is one of Gunn’s inspirations, and from what I hear that includes this being a series of stories rather than one long movie-length one. A discussion for another time the moment I have time. I have no issue with their design…but why 12 such a girl? Not just the voice, but the personality, which is also odd that she even has one. “Oh, he looked at me” should not be coming after 4 talks about how robots are machines who don’t feel emotions, though from the way the voice actor read his lines I don’t know if he was trying to sound sarcastic. Also, why is 12 new? Superman has always had a bunch of robots guarding the Fortress. She should have been built with everyone else. With Gunn’s style of humor, who knows? It’s just weird to be there…also a trademark of Gunn’s style of humor from what I hear.

Costume color looks brighter but it’s still that design and the wrong “S” shield.

Final comment: the Fortress Of Solitude. The rising up thing also comes from All-Star Superman and of course we have Richard Donner to blame for the glued-together crystal design. Personally, I just prefer the original idea of the Fortress disguised as just another large chunk of ice, whether the key follows All-Star‘s silly bit about a key under the mat being made of dwarf star matter and weighing tons or the secret flight path marker design I’m neutral on. The DCAU simply had a passage under the freezing cold waters, which has its own strengths and negatives. This is personal preference but I’m not into this take.

So we’re still back where were. The good and bad things all balance out. Krypto is the wrong breed but cute and I’m happy they actually tried to use him. The robots can’t decide if they have personalities or not, but they are traditionally there and not having them all look like Superman like when I was growing up is a good thing. The Fortress is purely personal taste, which I don’t hate but don’t prefer. Thus, I am still very much neutral when it comes to this movie…which is not where I want to be for my favorite superhero.