Journalism Is the Real Superpower in Superman

Warning! This piece contains spoilers for Superman! 

Superhero stories are often filled with idiosyncrasies that inspire deep conversations among those who gobble them up. From whether or not you believe Superman could really disguise himself with nothing more than a pair of snazzy glasses to the collateral damage of superhero showdowns, suspension of disbelief is must. In Superman, James Gunn drills into some of the biggest ethical questions at the heart of the Clark Kent mythos. Is it right for Clark (David Corenswet) to interview himself as Superman? Is Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) betraying her oath by not revealing who he is to the public? And why do you need good journalism in a world where superheroes can save you? 

From pretty much its opening moments, Superman wants you to know that this isn’t the corrupt, grim, gritty world of the more grounded DCEU of yore. Superman is a film that throws you into the action and quickly reveals its playful heart. After an establishing sequence that shows Kal-El’s vulnerabilities and introduces us to the scope and grandeur of his Kryptonian side, we’re thrown into Clark’s day-to-day where he publishes a frontpage “interview” with Superman about the hero’s fight with the villainous “Hammer of Borovia.” Some flirtatious and cheeky barbs in the office with Lois about his closeness to Supes, and how he gets those chats, paves the way for one of the film’s best sequences. 

In Lois’ apartment, Clark is cooking to celebrate their three-month date-a-versery, and after a quick makeout session they engage in an interview. But while Clark agrees to his girlfriend interviewing him as Superman when they’re wrapped around each other in an embrace, he seems to forget that girlfriend is an award-winning, fierce as hell reporter and it’s that Lois who begins to grill him about his recent actions in the fictional conflict at the heart of the movie.

It’s a deft two-hander where Corenswet establishes his Clark as someone who believes that the right thing to do is worth doing no matter what others think, and Brosnahan unleashes the kind of furious questioning that might get a girl a Pulitzer Prize or lose her a hot alien boyfriend. 

This is an iteration of Lois that many have fallen in love with in the comics but have rarely gotten to see onscreen. Lois questions Clark about the ethics of interviewing himself while also asking him some tough questions about the role he plays as an apparent representative of the United States. It’s a firecracker scene that also establishes the film’s unique emphasis on the very human career of investigative journalism that brought together a punk kid from Bakerline and a cosmic alien with the ability to fly through the sky and shoot lasers from his eyes. 

Outside of the leading romance, even the comic relief characters are wrapped up in the everyday work of being a journalist. A major subplot after Superman is trapped inside of an interdimensional prison is Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo) utilizing a source to get leaked documents from Lex Luthor. It just so happens that the source is his ex Eve Teschmacher (Sara Sampaio), who is a selfie-taking sweetheart and Olsen-obsessive. While the plotline is played for laughs and definitely has some ethical issues—relationships with sources, Jimmy how could you?—his ability to connect to Eve and convince her to help becomes a key part of saving the world. It’s his research and Eve’s strategic selfie-taking that finally allow Lois to connect Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) and the president of the fictional and cartoonishly villainous nation, Borovia. 

It’s not all flying around in Mr. Terrific’s spherical ship either—though the Daily Planet crew do join Lois in her new ride in a particularly fun moment. Even then the film is concerned with the editorial process, giving a little lightness and long-awaited representation to those of us who have to use CMS sites to build and publish our pieces. As the team is in the aforementioned cosmic transportation, Lois recites her article to Jimmy, Jimmy transcribes it, Perry White (Wendell Pierce) reads and approves it, and Jimmy publishes the page on the CMS of the Daily Planet. It’s a fun nod to the real life banalities of being a journalist that go alongside the rip-roaring adventure—and oftentimes extreme danger—of hunting down the truth.  
Although the film is called Superman, just like most of the best stories bearing that character’s name, it’s really a Lois and Superman film. And though she might not have gotten that titular name drop, she is the true hero of the movie, as it is Lois and the Daily Planet team who are able to discover the reality of Lex Luthor’s scheming plans, as well as thanks to Eve, the location of Superman in his pocket dimension prison. Lois is the person who actually saves the day by breaking the story that reframes Superman as a hero and Lex as a villain, thanks to sourcing and evidence. It’s an undeniable commentary on just how important James Gunn thinks that journalism, and uncovering an objective truth, is. He goes so far as to establish it as the moral center for the movie. And from that firm rooting, a hopefully better future for the DCU can grow.