Superman Movie: Handling Side Characters Amid High Expectations

The man of steel is back — almost, at least. The latest trailer for James Gunn’s upcoming film *Superman* has been released ahead of its July launch, and it's brimming with excitement. Between lead David Corenswet’s compelling performance and the dynamic action scenes featuring Superman’s beloved dog Krypto, there’s plenty to unpack. However, the main topic of discussion among fans after the trailer's release is the sheer number of elements introduced and how the film plans to weave them into a cohesive narrative.

"Strong start to the trailer," one Redditor commented on an r/Superman post shortly after its release. "But then practically every shot introduced a new character, and I started worrying about how the movie was going to tell a coherent story." Another fan added, "I’m going to love it; he looks great as Superman, he looks great as Clark Kent, but the movie looks like it might be a bit busy, there's a lot going on here."

"Now this, I love this trailer. As someone who never really liked the dark DC vibe, I’m excited to experience a true comic superhero movie. But am I the only one who is worried about all the cameos in the trailer?" another fan commented. "I swear I counted like eight friends and foes in this movie. I know they want to set up James Gunn’s DCU with this, but I would prefer it to be less heavy on cameo fodder and take more time to develop the characters needed to tell the story they’re trying to tell."

To be fair, the trailer does showcase a vast array of characters, including Clark Kent’s Earth parents, his love interest Lois Lane (played by Rachel Brosnahan), and several formidable villains, with the central antagonist being Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult). While there are fans worried about the film being potentially overstuffed, many others are thrilled about the prospect of these character introductions.

All the characters revealed so far in *Superman*:

• Superman
• Lois Lane
• Lex Luthor
• Mister Terrific
• Guy Gardner
• Hawkgirl
• Metamorpho
• The Engineer
• The Hammer of Boravia
• Ultraman
• Rick Flag Sr.
• Supergirl
• Maxwell Lord
• Kryptonian robots, including Kelex
• Krypto
• Jonathan Kent
• Martha Kent
• Perry White
• Jimmy Olsen
• Steve Lombard
• Cat Grant
• Ron Troupe
• Eve Teschmacher
• Otis

"I'm glad there's a lot going on. We've seen him fight Lex & Zod countless times at this point; I want to see him completely overwhelmed and emerge as a symbol of hope," one user responded to the concerns, while another added, "It’s side characters, less cameos. Like Iron Man had several side characters."

A third fan noted that this level of character inclusion is quite typical. "I don't feel like it's such a big deal honestly. Movies usually need secondary/side characters," the person commented. "Gunn here is just filling in those spots with rather big names, but I doubt he'll give them more than what they need."

Superman: Behind the Scenes Cast and Character Images

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Despite concerns about the film being potentially overstuffed, fans are still eagerly anticipating its release. "It looks good, but I'm wondering how they’re going to shoehorn so many different characters into one movie," one user wrote, to which another fan replied, "It's not any more characters than the average comic book movie. It's fine." A third user even quipped: "Kinda like Guardians of the Galaxy…?" Honestly? Touché.

Ultimately, Gunn has emphasized that the film is not an ensemble piece. "At the middle of everything is Clark, Lois, and Lex," he stated at the beginning of 2025 during an Instagram Live session. "It’s about these three characters." How he plans to pull this off remains to be seen.

*Superman* flies into theaters on July 11, 2025.