Don’t let the new “Superman” trailer fool you: Krypto isn’t nearly the good boy the teaser will have you believe — at least according to James Gunn.
Released Thursday, this first proper teaser trailer shows DC Studios’ newest Man of Steel, played by David Corenswet, having a bit of a rough day as he crashes down into a barren, icy landscape looking worse for wear. Unable to get up on his own, Superman whistles and calls on his faithful companion Krypto to drag him home.
“[Superman’s] relationship with Krypto is complicated,” said the film’s writer-director Gunn, who also serves as one of the chief executives of DC Studios, during a recent press preview event. “There’s a lot more to Krypto than you see in this trailer.”
With no spoken dialogue outside of Superman’s words to Krypto, the trailer is the first extended look at the upcoming reboot starring Corenswet — which doubles as the first film of the new DC Universe.
“I knew that I wanted to have a Superman that stayed true to his origins of being the ultimate good guy,” said Gunn about his iteration of the superpowered last son of Krypton, adding that it’s “a movie about kindness [and] being good.”
Some may believe Superman’s innate goodness comes from a place of naivete, but Corenswet attributes it to the character’s “sort of blindness to the little imperfections and … the silly little things that we get caught up with as people.”
The upcoming movie, formerly known as “Superman Legacy,” is an exploration of who Superman “is as a person and as a person who’s struggling with his day to day life,” the filmmaker added.
The new footage also offers glimpses of Superman’s civilian persona, Clark Kent, bustling into the offices of the Daily Planet, as well as his colleague Lois Lane (portrayed by Rachel Brosnahan) and nemesis Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult). The film will also feature DC characters Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi), Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan), Green Lantern Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion) and Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced).
The Clark that is introduced in “Superman” is “early in his career at the Daily Planet,” said Corenswet at the event. “He’s established, but he certainly is no Lois Lane. He’s trying to make a name for himself as a reporter and he’s trying to fit in with the other exceptional journalists at the Planet.”
Brosnahan described Lois as “somebody who is ambitious and courageous and hungry and determined to get the greatest story almost at any cost,” noting that a key aspect of the character is how her portrayal “evolves to fit what it would mean to be an intrepid journalist of each decade that she’s presented in.”
She noted that the challenge for this film was figuring out how Lois would fit into today’s world, “where print journalism, to some, is perhaps an endangered art form [as] somebody who has dedicated her entire life to it.”
For Gunn, it is important that audiences will see Lois as aspirational a hero as they see Superman.
“I think it’s exciting to see this person who’s so committed to what’s true and the idea of journalism,” said Gunn. “To give little boys, and especially little girls, somebody to look at and [say], ‘She’s as cool as he is [and] she’s not wearing a cape. I can’t fly, but I can do that.’ ”
“Superman” is slated to hit theaters July 11. Watch the trailer here.