A Brief History of Superman

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For many historians, the U.S. officially entered WWII in 1942, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, but Superman got there much earlier. In the February 1940 issue of Look magazine, the Man of Steel nabbed Hitler and Stalin, dropping them into the League of Nations to face justice, and ending the war faster than a speeding bullet.

From the moment he was created by two Jewish immigrants in 1938, Superman has embodied a moral imperative at the root of what many would consider the American way: Empathy for all people and justice for those who don’t respect basic human rights. Such idealism was ubiquitous in America in the midst of Nazi Germany, as Superman even beat Charlie Chplin to the punch, with his own Hitler takedown The Great Dictator hitting theaters a few months later.

Since then, every generation has clamored for its own Superman, an invulnerable being committed to goodness at all costs. In writer-director James Gunn’s latest iteration of the character, Superman embodies the conflict between moral imperatives and personal gain. He looks like a lot of other Supermen, but lives squarely within modern conundrums.

In contrast to the stoic figure brought to life by Christopher Reeve in the 1977 film, the Superman played by David Corenswet is an overly self-assured celebrity who lurks on social media and broods over his relationship with fellow reporter Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), whose dual interest in caring for her boyfriend Clark Kent and landing a great story is the ultimate conflict of interest.

Gunn has been humanizing superheroes for a while now. His zany 2010 satire Super starred Rainn Wilson as a wannabe caped crusader whose attempts at crimefighting largely amounted to reckless violence. His messy journey proved to be a dry run for Guardians of the Galaxy, which brought a unique blend of silliness and soul to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With Superman, Gunn – who now serves as co-CEO of DC Studios – injects the same flawed, believable characteristics in a character who has generally been regarded as infallible and beyond the abilities of any normal human. In the movie’s opening scene, Superman literally comes crashing down to Earth, which plays like Gunn’s mission statement.

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But 28 Years Later is a different beast. While the first two movies revolved around an attempt to stop the virus from spreading, the new movie shows the bleak aftermath of those efforts, with the UK existing in an ongoing quarantine limbo, while the rest of the world has moved on. It’s here that 12-year-old Spike (Alfie Williams) lives in a gated community on an island with his alpha-male dad (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and ailing mom (Jodie Comer). Spike’s view of the world shifts from his father’s domineering guidance to a new sense of autonomy as he takes charge of his mother’s fate. Ultimately wandering the rage-infested countryside, Spike learns how to grow up in a broken world by gradually navigating it on his own terms.

His journey takes several tense and gory turns, but the second half of the movie shifts into more of a melancholic, lyrical mode as it transforms into a deeper meditation on loss and the maturity necessary to overcome the alienating power of grief. It then arrives at a zany, unexpected finale that sets up the upcoming sequel, while extending the commentary of the movie to a final target that won’t be spoiled here. Needless to say, it’s a funny and strange tonal shift that only a filmmaker with complete confidence in his material could pull off.

Boyle has always excelled at injecting flashes of dark comedy into unexpected situations, from Shallow Grave to 127 Hours. His latest is pretty grim, but not afraid to mine humor from the unseemly circumstances of a chaotic world. 28 Years Later is as much an auteur film as Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme. It has all the hallmarks of Boyle’s filmmaking going back to his Trainspotting days: gritty characters, a relentless pace, and needle drops of the highest order. It’s thrilling, intense, and rich with meaning: a zombie movie to die for.

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