Tag Archives: james-gunn

2025 Year in Review: The Christopher Reeve Memorial Comic Book Movie of the Year

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I think this is a difficult one to give out this year, and I do think that my decision is different than I have ever done before.

There are three possible films: Thunderbolts, Superman, and Fantastic Four. I usually give this award to the superhero film that is highest on my Best Films list. That is not the situation this year. In fact, of the three, this one is my least favorite of the three. They are all awesome, but it just felt right to give this award to this certain film.

The Christopher Reeve Memorial Comic Book Movie of the Year

Previous Winners: Batman (1989), Dick Tracy (1990), The Rocketeer (1991), Batman Returns (1992), Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993), The Crow (1994), Batman Forever (1995), The Phantom (1996), Men in Black (1997), Blade (1998), Mystery Men (1999), X-Men (2000), From Hell (2001), Spider-Man (2002), X2: X-Men United (1993), Spider-Man 2 (1994), V for Vendetta (2005), 300 (2006), Superman: Doomsday (2007), The Dark Knight (2008), Watchmen (2009), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), Captain America: First Avenger (2011), The Avengers (2012), Iron Man 3 (2013), Captain America: Winter Soldier & Guardians of the Galaxy [tie] (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Logan (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Birds of Prey (2020), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), Deadpool and Wolverine (2024)

So, in 2025, The Christopher Reeve Memorial Comic Book Movie of the Year goes to….

Superman.

This film brought the character of Superman back to the big screen and did it in a way that truly paid homage to the Christopher Reeve version back in the 1978 movie.

Director James Gunn placed this new Superman smack dab in the center of his new DCU where Superman had been around for awhile. No origin story here. We all know it.

It’s not perfect, but it is the best rendition of Superman since Christopher Reeve and that is why I gave Superman this award, despite the fact that both Thunderbolts and Fantastic Four are higher up the list for me than Superman.

Peacemaker S2 E6

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“Ignorance is Chris”

So the truth of the other world is finally revealed and the answer was just what I thought it was… although they take it another step .

Seeing that swastika on the American flag where the stars were supposed to be was a rough visual. Earth X? Some form of it? James Gunn is a wild man.

Harcourt noticed the fact immediately. As soon as Adebayo, Harcourt, Adrian and Economos arrived in the alternate earth, Harcourt spotted that there were no people of color.

It was a popular theory that had been going around the internet over the last several weeks, but it makes perfect sense. White Dragon, Chris father, a racist scumbag in the DCU, is still racist scumbag, but now… so is everyone.

The reveal of the truth was really well done and I am seriously concerned for Adebayo. Running from a mob of racists chasing her (including Keith) is shocking. It takes a big swing and sets things up for the final couple of episodes.

Economos spilling the beans to Chris’s father was very funny. Seeing Adrian go face to face with himself was also a hoot. I liked how the alternate earth Vigilante is a member of the Sons of Liberty, and now, you’ve got to reexamine everything we had thought about this world before.

Biggest surprise this episode though is easily… Lex Luthor! Rick Flag Sr. going to Luthor to make a deal to help him find the dimensional portal. I was thinking it was going to be Chris’s father, not dead, in the DCU, but when Nicholas Hoult sat down in his orange prison jumpsuit, I literally shouted out loud. I did not expect Superman’s arch enemy to make an appearance on Peacemaker.

There was a great scene between Chris and Harcourt too, as they try to figure out their relationship. Of course, there is only a limited time as this earth’s Emilia showed up demanding that Harcourt was arrested.

This has been great and now that we got this twist, I can’t wait to see where it goes next.

Superman (2025)

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The DCU is finally here as James Gunn revealed his huge blockbuster to officially kick off the DC Universe films, in a reboot that has been in the planning stages for years. They started off with their classic character, Superman.

I can state, without a doubt, that James Gunn has done an amazing job with a film that soars to remarkable heights and is loaded with a ton of comic book-y fun.

It seems as if you can’t do a comic book movies these days without a ton of controversy, and Superman is not an exception. There have been complaints flying around about the use of the term immigrant in reference to Superman as well as the movie being “woke.” Despite these criticisms and talking points looking to drum up hatred, Superman (2025) is a wonderful movie and a great time in the theater.

No origins here, which is a great thing. We all know where Superman came from and how he wound up in Kansas, so why waste time showing it once again? Gunn is right in that we do not need to see baby Kal-El land, Bruce Wayne’s parents shot or Uncle Ben be killed ever again. We know these stories.

The world of this movie is fully encompassed with metahumans already and the dangers of the world are quite clearly shown.

The opening info tells us that Superman has stopped a war between a couple of countries and this is one of the big sticking points for a lot of people involved. This is the back drop of everything that goes down.

David Corenswet played Superman and he does an unbelievable job at it. He approached Superman with the right amount of heart and joy, even if he seemed to have a bit of a temper. It is really refreshing to see a Man of Steel concerned with saving people around him. There are a bunch of scenes showing that Superman cares for the people of earth, even after they turn on him.

I won’t give away why they turn on him, but it feels like it absolutely could happen in the world we live in today.

Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan’s Lois Lane are already dating, and she knows about his true identity. There is amazing chemistry between these two and they bring sparks to the screen. Lois Lane is shown as an intelligent and strong woman who will take whatever risk she needs to take for her passions, whether that be the story she is pursuing or the man that she loved.

Superman’s iconic enemy, Lex Luthor, was played by Nicholas Hoult. This is my favorite version of Lex Luthor to ever appear in live action (or animated, btw). Hoult gave him such an evilness, but he did it without creating a cartoon. I understood Luthor’s motivations, even if they were horrendous. Nicholas Hoult was sensational in the role.

There were several other heroes appearing in the film, inside the Justice Gang, which included Guy Gardner, the Green Lantern, played with that slimy perfection by Nathan Fillion. Isabela Merced (from season two of Last of Us) as Hawkgirl, who did not have as much to do, but was pretty cool when she was involved. Mister Terrific, played by Edi Gathegi. Mister Terrific had a major part to play in this movie and he was awesome. I loved how they used these group of heroes instead of pulling out some of the more heavy hitters of the DCU.

The film looked really good, especially any scene with flight involved. The score was decent but James Gunn, who is well-known for his needle drop songs in some of his other movies, did not have many here. That did not distract me. In fact, I did not even think about it until the end credits.

When we first meet them, I was not a fan of Ma and Pa Kent (Neva Howell and Pruitt Taylor Vince), but I have to say they grew on me later in the film.

Krypto the dog was well used, even if I thought maybe he was used too much. Krypto has some solid scenes in the film. He is important and not just there to make everybody “awww” over a cute dog.

Some of the jokes did not land, which made a few scenes a touch awkward, but most of the humor worked fairly well. There were not as many jokes as some of James Gunn’s previous films, but there definitely had some humor in it.

I don’t think there is any other way to look at this other than as a triumph for James Gunn’s new rebooted DCU. Superman was colorful, exciting, dramatic, funny at times, and had so much heart that has been missing from Superman in other recent iterations. Outside of a few nitpicks (such as some of the workers at the Daily Planet… what was up with those characters?), I think this was a smashing success.

4.9 stars

Creature Commandos S1 E5

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Spoilers

“The Iron Pot”

The Creature Commandos focused on Frankenstein this week, seeing some back story on him that turned out as tragic as one might expect.

This series has been up and down for me. This episode was good, but it really felt too quick, as if it rushed through. I would have said inconsequential, but Rick Flag Sr. sure looks like he is dead. I have a hard time believing that, but he sure seemed dead, and that would be clearly consequential.

However, the word was that Rick Flag Sr, as played by Frank Grillo, was playing a part in future DCU projects, and that the animation was all cannon, so I can not believe that I just saw him killed by this Clayface-looking monster.

Perhaps this is my own personal taste too, but the animated blood that is done so much here is overkill. I think the blood loses its impact when it is used as much as it is. It is the same way I feel about Invincible. I would rather keep the bloodshed to a minimum to keep it feeling special. When you just see bloody kill after bloody kill, it desensitizes the viewer and minimizes the effect. That is my opinion, but I thought the blood use in X-Men ’97 was much more effective than it has been in Creature Commandos.

Twenty-two minutes feels less than this show should have. At the very least, it should be 30 minutes, but this just felt like it was over and it had just started.

Creature Commandos

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Spoilers

“The Collywobbles”

“The Tourmaline Necklace”

The DCU is officially underway!

James Gunn’s DCU kicked off with an animated series on MAX based on one of the strangest properties in the DC Comics, The Creature Commandos.

That is a bizarre choice to kick off the DC Studios, aka the DCU. Still, DC animation has always been a strength and perhaps this will play into that well.

These two episodes, which both dropped on MAX were fine. They may not have been as awesome as I thought it could have been, but with a bunch of basically unfamiliar characters, the show was entertaining.

I think my favorite character so far is The Bride, and so I did think more of episode two, which looked at her history and her back story with Frankenstein (voiced by David Harbour). Of course, the backstory does twist the Bride of Frankenstein movie around a bit and it does take some chances with the story.

The feel of this was more like Invincible than it was any of the other DC animated projects. That may be about the blood, violence and sex (this is not a show for the kids). I thought that Invincible became too needy with the blood and went over the top with it. X-Men ’97 had some blood too, but I thought that was a much better use of it than Invincible. I may not have too many people agree with me, but I felt as if the blood in Invincible goes too far. Creature Commandos is not too bad, but feels as if it would be more like Invincible with blood.

Of course, at some point, G.I. Robot must kill some Nazis.

It did have a definite Suicide Squad feel to it, but I do think this has a lot of potential. The episodes were short, but packed quite a bit into them. I think the show has room to grow and I do believe that James Gunn is going to bring the goods.