The Superman film franchise will be rebooted once more in James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy, but there are elements of Zack Snyder’s iteration that should be retained. The DCEU began with 2013’s Man of Steel, a film that was unfortunately quite divisive, despite Snyder’s love of the Superman character and mythos. The DCEU never quite found its footing, outside of occasional successes, such as Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Shazam!, yet Henry Cavill’s casting as Superman is quite popular among viewers. James Gunn is sure to bring a unique vision to the Superman movie franchise, but not everything from the Snyder and Cavill era should be jettisoned.

James Gunn entered the pop culture-dominating superhero film genre with the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Guardians of the Galaxy movies, which are among the MCU’s biggest critical and commercial successes. Between the second and third Guardians films, Gunn also wrote and directed 2021’s The Suicide Squad and its 2022 spinoff TV series Peacemaker. With Gunn’s tenure at Marvel over, he now co-leads DC Studios alongside Peter Safran, overseeing DC’s film adaptations. Gunn will personally write and direct Superman: Legacy, where he will, hopefully, keep the elements of Zack Snyder’s iteration that worked.

10 A Mature Superman & Clark Kent (Like Henry Cavill's)

James Gunn is well-known for his idiosyncratic sense of humor, often writing adult protagonists as emotionally immature. As both the Man of Steel and the reporter Clark Kent, Superman must not be written in such a way. Despite their controversial elements, the Zack Snyder Superman films depicted Clark Kent as a mature adult, even when he was plagued with self-doubt and uncertainty about his place in the world. James Gunn has stated that Superman: Legacy will not be a comedy, which, while promising, does not guarantee that his iteration of Superman will be more emotionally mature than Star-Lord or Peacemaker.

9 Superman's Incredible Powers & Abilities From Man Of Steel, BvS & Justice League

While it is impossible for a Superman movie to not depict its titular hero’s incredible superpowers, Zack Snyder explored the intricacies of Superman’s powers and their limitations. Clark Kent’s enhanced senses overwhelmed him as a child, and thus he spent years learning how to focus on only what he wanted to perceive. Superman’s flight and heat vision is similarly shown to be difficult abilities to master at first. Even Superman’s durability has its limits, with a nuclear blast incapacitating him for a time until he was revived by sunlight. James Gunn will hopefully take a similar route in Superman: Legacy, honoring the comics while portraying Superman’s powers naturalistically.

8 Clark Kent's Ordinary Heroism As A Journalist

Both Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne are manipulated by Lex Luthor throughout Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, with Kent’s subplot having him investigate the increasing brutality of Batman in Gotham City. Clark is depicted as striving to help people as a journalist as much as he does in his Superman identity, an irable element of his character in Zack Snyder’s movies. Superman: Legacy will feature a younger Clark Kent who will likely still be working as a journalist for the Daily Planet, giving James Gunn the perfect opportunity to revive this side of Superman.

7 A Fully-Characterized Lois Lane

Similarly, the best portrayal of Lois Lane’s tenacity and altruism as a journalist is found in Amy Adams’ iteration. In Man of Steel, Lois Lane’s investigation of Clark Kent’s humanitarian activities (and self-discovery) makes her as much an audience surrogate as Kent himself, and she continues to play a major role in Dawn of Justice, uncovering Lex Luthor’s conspiracies. Lois Lane is sure to be a prominent character in the Superman: Legacy plot, where she will, ideally, be a well-realized character whose personality and career are prioritized.

6 Exciting Superman Action Scenes

Before Man of Steel, most Superman movies struggled to effectively capture the excitement of Superman’s fight scenes in the comics and animated adaptations, but Superman’s conflicts with Faora in Smallville and General Zod in Metropolis finally changed this. Even against ordinary human opponents (such as the well-equipped Batman), Superman’s fight scenes in the DCEU made for high-octane cinematic sequences that simultaneously felt straight out of a comic book. James Gunn has already proven more than capable of depicting intense fight scenes in his previous superhero films, so Superman: Legacy will hopefully follow suit.

5 The Symbolism Of Superman

Superman’s creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, already imbued his character with a collection of metaphors, largely of American-Jewish immigrants and their metaphorical dual identities in American society. Zack Snyder’s Superman films further added to this, creating a clever metaphor for Superman’s status as an immigrant by having him literally carry the future of his people within him. Ideally, James Gunn will give Superman’s symbolism a prominent place in Superman: Legacy, particularly Clark Kent’s often-underutilized Jewish metaphors.

4 Exploring The Societal Implications Of Superman

Zack Snyder’s Superman films also make Superman the subject of controversy in-universe, with people from all walks of life reevaluating their place in the universe now that a near-omnipotent alien lives among them. Superman’s actions are given political and religious meaning, but one line in Dawn of Justice notably states that it is all, ultimately, projection, as Superman is simply a man trying to help people when all is said and done. This would be a welcome addition to James Gunn’s Superman, as it would realistically depict how humanity would react to such a being’s existence while reminding viewers that Superman’s humanity is his most important trait.

3 Superman's Unsteady Relationship With The Authorities

In the comics and Zack Snyder’s films, Superman is incorruptibly altruistic, which inevitably puts him at odds with the morally-questionable actions of corrupt corporate entities and authority figures themselves. In Golden Age Superman comics, Superman opposed the prison-industrial complex and sought to break the revolving door of incarceration, protecting people rather than property and becoming an outlaw for a time. Zack Snyder’s Superman, similarly, destroys US government drones when they attempt to spy on him or wipe out innocents abroad, yet he also willfully surrendered to them for the good of humanity. A similar approach should be taken for James Gunn’s Superman.

2 A Heartfelt Romance Between Clark & Lois

Superman and Lois Lane’s romance has been a constant throughout the comics and their various adaptations, and Zack Snyder’s Superman films include one of its best portrayals. Snyder opted to have Lois Lane know Clark Kent is a superpowered alien from the start, and had their romance play a key role in both Lois and Clark’s respective character arcs across multiple films. A Superman and Lois Lane romance is sure to be depicted in Superman: Legacy, in which James Gunn hopefully makes it as character-driven as Zack Snyder did.

1 Superman's Humanity Needs To Shine Through In Superman: Legacy

Beneath all the allegory and fantastic abilities, Superman is, ultimately, just someone who wishes to help people. Zack Snyder made sure to note this in his films, balancing out their often heavy-handed christ imagery. Clark Kent’s doubts and insecurities and occasional difficulty in using his powers properly reminded viewers of his fundamental humanity, and a pivotal moment in Man of Steel has Kent specifically choose his human side over a potential future for Krypton. Superman’s humanity is occasionally misunderstood in stories like Alan Moore’s For the Man Who Has Everything, but James Gunn will, ideally, that Superman’s humanity must be his strongest trait in Superman: Legacy.