Kevin Smith's recent comments indicate why Superman might work

The world is extremely hyped for Superman, which is releasing this July. As of now, we have three videos from the movie, two trailers, and one exclusive clip, and all of them have been received well. Now, another nerd has joined the fray and hyped up for this DCU movie, Kevin Smith. Smith, who is also a director, appreciated what has been released of the movie.

He did so while being interviewed by Deadline. Smith was appreciative of the marketing strategy for James Gunn's directorial, Superman. Smith is regarded as an icon in nerd circles for his geeky personality and knowledge of the DC and Marvel lore. It must be noted that Smith also wrote the draft for the unmade Superman Lives, which would've starred Nicholas Cage as the Man of Steel.

Furthermore, Smith also later directed a few episodes of CW's The Flash and Supergirl, thus, he is someone whose opinions are respected in fan circles.

What did Kevin Smith say about Superman?

Deadline interviewed Smith a few days ago at the Cannes film festival after his 1999 cult classic Dogma won big. There, Smith took no time in bringing out his nerdy side and praised the last trailer of Superman, which was released on May 14, 2025. He praised the trailer as smart, saying:

“By showing it from the perspective of like a journalist grilling him, especially if it’s Lois Lane, that’s adorable. But making him answer for all the things that, when they created that character, nobody ever once thought about, but now we live in an era where you can’t just do something good without it being political as well, it’s a smart sell on the movie, man. I think it’s gonna make so much f*****g money.”

Smith further pointed out that the trailer shows the Last Son of Krypton's humanity while also retaining the comic book campy nature of the comics, saying:

“It feels more comic book-y is what it is. I mean, number one, putting his trunks on the outside again is just charming, and including the dog is not something we’ve seen over the course of the last 10 years, and I think that’s such a smart choice, man. Unless they hurt that f*****g dog, which, then can also be a strong choice, dramatically speaking. But it just looks so charming.”

Kevin Smith also props up a theory related to Batman and Superman:

In the same interview, Kevin Smith brought up an interesting theory out there. That of Batman and Superman's popularity is correlated to the world surrounding them. Meaning, Batman is popular when things are relatively calmer, while The Last Son of Krypton is popular during times of instability. Smith said:

“And there’s this theory that I didn’t come up with, it’s been around forever, where whether Batman or Superman is ascendant and dominant in the culture has everything to do with where we are as a country. So, when times are good for Americans and prosperous, oddly enough, Batman is the dominant character because Batman is a dark fantasy about everything going wrong. … And then the flip theory of that is Superman is ascendant whenever the country is doing poorly or it needs help, and that’s when that character plays strongest."

Smith continued:

“So, it would feel like based on that, like Superman, the stage is set for that movie to make so much f*****g money. People wanna hope right now. People just want to believe in a f*****g thing, man.”

This interesting theory is somewhat credible. In the early 2010s, as the world felt relatively hopeful and optimistic, Batman was the character who carried DC. Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy was the most critically and popularly acclaimed DC project until 2017's Wonder Woman. The Man of Steel was not as popular as Batman then.

But as the pandemic raged across the world and the political and social condition feels volatile, people are looking for something more hopeful. The Last Son of Krypton represents hope, setting the stage for the movie to make it big in July.

Trending

What do you think about Kevin Smith's comments?

×

Was this article helpful?

Thank You for feedback