Superman: Man of Tomorrow

Logo for the Film

Michael Ward

Dacre Montgomery

Uriah Shelton

Mitchell Hope

**Superman: Man of Tomorrow** is a 2021 American superhero film produced by WarnerBros. Pictures and DC Entertainment. It is the first installment in the DC Universe (DCU). The film serves as a reboot to the DCEU and the Superman film series that covers the character’s origins. The film chronicles the life of Clark Kent, early in his career as Superman. The film was released on April 16, 2021 and received positive reviews from critics.

## Film Info

### Synopsis

Meet Clark Kent. Sent to Earth as an infant from the dying planet Krypton, he arrived with as many questions as the number of light-years he traveled. Now a young man, he makes his living in Metropolis as an intern at the Daily Planet – alongside reporter Lois Lane – while secretly wielding his alien powers of flight, super-strength and x-ray vision in the battle for good. Follow the fledgling hero as he engages in bloody battles with intergalactic bounty hunter Lobo and before fighting for his life with the alien Parasite. The world will learn about Superman…but first, Superman must save the world!

### Plot

Following his homeworld of Krypton's destruction, Kal-El is sent by his parents to Earth, where he is adopted by Jonathan and Martha Kent, who named him "Clark", and raised in Smallville, Kansas. Growing up, Clark became isolated from humanity due to his superhuman abilities which he had developed overtime due to Earth's yellow sun. In the present-day, Clark works as an intern for the Daily Planet in Metropolis where he brings coffee to the reporters covering the launch of an orbital rocket telescope at S.T.A.R. Labs by billionaire Morgan Edge. There, he meets S.T.A.R. Labs janitor Rudy Jones, who informs Clark about extraterrestrial experiments being conducted inside the lab. The launch party is then interrupted by Lex Luthor, a young genius billionaire who has recently taken over his father’s company. Luthor introduces Edge to Lois Lane, a recent college grad and budding journalist who was the recipient of a LexCorp scholarship. Lois presents evidence of Edge’s gross negligence in front of the entire press conference, resulting in Edge’s arrest. As Luthor smirks on, Edge’s rocket malfunctions and misdirects, heading towards Metropolis. Clark quickly changes into his costume and flies the rocket into space, where he learns that he’s healed and empowered by the sun. All the while, he’s watched by a mysterious figure in a trench coat.

After exposing Edge, Lois is offered a position as an investigative reporter at the Daily Planet where she meets Clark, who forms a crush on her. Lois reveals that Lex Luthor helped her get access to evidence to incriminate Edge and thus remove his competition, but she further details how she’s actually using Lex in turn to investigate his own suspected corrupt behavior. Lois also begins converting Clark’s costumed adventures and dubs him ‘Superman’.

S.T.A.R. Labs reports a UFO heading towards Metropolis at an extremely fast rate and Clark goes to investigate, only to find himself face-to-face with an alien bounty hunter called Lobo. Lobo reveals that Clark is the last of his kind and has a bounty on him, which Lobo is after, leading into a fight between the two across Metropolis. Clark takes the fight elsewhere to S.T.A.R. Labs causing an explosion with Rudy caught in the crossfire and gets covered in an alien substance. Lobo discovers Clark's weakness is Kryptonite that was forged in his ring and uses it to beat him up with it. The figure arrives, exposing himself as a Martian, and intervenes in the battle. As the Martian distracts Lobo, Clark uses the sun to heal himself, returning to finally defeat Lobo. Afterwards, Clark faces a dilemma of whether he should reveal himself to the world or keep his identity a secret despite the consequences.

That night, a hospitalized Rudy awakens and discovers he has the ability to drain energy from life and turn people into husks. The Martian visits Clark in his home in Smallville and properly introduces himself as J'onn. J'onn reveals to Clark his true origins and that they must keep themselves a secret to humanity due their history of xenophobia. He then helps Clark activate his device, which contains a recording of his biological parents, telling him about his family and homeworld and giving him the coordinates of an old Kryptonian scout ship in the Canadian Arctic sent to Earth a century ago to observe the humans.

Clark enters the ship and encounters the ship’s A.I., who tells him more about Krypton’s history and demise and gives him a new suit made of indestructible Kryptonian material.

A monster attacks S.T.A.R. Labs to find answers but frees Lobo in the process after draining the energy from his cell. However, due to draining energy, the monster is converted into a parasite-like being and begins attacking Metropolis, endangering its civilians. Superman and J'onn head to battle the Parasite. While battling them, the Parasite manages to extract information from them; although as a result, Superman's abilities are drained and J'onn is burnt to death. A powerless Superman turns to Lex Luthor for help to gain him access to space so he can use the sun to restore his abilities.

Through S.T.A.R. Labs CCTV footage, Superman realizes Rudy is the Parasite thanks to Lobo's grenade which allowed Rudy to be absorbed with the purple liquid from the lab. The two formulate a plan to defeat the Parasite by shutting down Metropolis' power and lure him to a power plant so that the Parasite can absorb its power, which would kill it if it absorbed all of it. Luthor also reveals he had recruited Lobo to his cause to use his Kryptonite ring in an attempt to weaken the Parasite's absorbed Kryptonian abilities.

As their plan commences, the ring fails and the military intervene, only to make the Parasite stronger. Luthor equips the ring to a LexCorp magnifying pulse rifle and shoots Parasite with it, taking it down. The Parasite resurfaces and attacks Luthor but is stopped by an alive J'onn, who reveals his death was just a projection he created. With the plan failed, Superman then attempts to calm the Parasite down by using his morality against him. While doing so, Superman properly introduces himself to the world. Suddenly, the plant's reactor begins to overload. With Superman still weak, the Parasite sacrifices himself to stop it. The following day, Superman and J'onn part ways before Lobo reveals there might be more Martians and Kryptonians out there.

In a mid-credits scene, Superman is visited by a masked speedster called the Flash. In a post-credits scene, Lex goes down to a hidden lab where his chief scientist, Dabney Donovan, is seen experimenting with the Kryptonite ring and a sample of Superman’s blood.

### Cast

* Tanner Buchanan as Clark Kent / Kal-El / Superman
* Isabela Merced as Lois Lane
* Michael Ward as John Jones / J’onn J’onzz / Martian Manhunter
* Dacre Montgomery as Lobo
* Mitchell Hope as Lex Luthor
* Uriah Shelton as Rudy Jones / Parasite
* Blair Underwood as Perry White
* Madelyn Cline as Cat Grant
* Trevor Jackson as Ron Troupe
* Robbie Kay as Dr. Dabney Donovan
* Ciara Riley Wilson as Mercy Graves
* Daniel Gillies as Morgan Edge
* Neil Flynn as Jonathan Kent
* Lauren Graham as Martha Kent
* Matt Lanter as Jor-El
* Allison Williams as Lara Lor-Van
* Drew van Acker as Dr. Emil Hamilton
* Jordan Elsass as Barry Allen / The Flash (cameo)

### Production

After the disappointing box office performance and critical reception of the DECU’s Justice League, as well as the same failures of previous films Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman, DC Film’s division began redeveloping it’s plan to reboot their film universe and focus on younger and more comic-like versions of their characters and chronicle the early days of each of their careers as superheroes. In January 2018, Walter Hamada was appointed the President of DC Films and co-runner of the DCEU, replacing Berg and confirmed they would be focusing on younger characters and fresh stories going forward. It was first reported in July of 2019 that a new Superman film was in development focusing on Clark as an intern at the Daily Planet and when he first became Superman. The film was officially announced in September and the casting process went underway shortly after. In December, it was announced that Tanner Buchanan, Rhys Matthew Bond and Cleo Demetriou had been cast as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman respectively. The rest of the cast was announced in January and pre-production began the next month, with filming expected to last until July of 2020. The film was released on April 16, 2021.

### Reception

The film grossed over $582 million in the United States and Canada and $754 in other territories, for a worldwide gross of over $1.3 billion, making it the highest grossing Superman film of all time.

The film received mostly positive reviews, with praise going towards the actors, action sequences, character development and revamped/more comic classic style of the DC Universe, with some criticism going towards the script “playing it safe”. IGN’s review stated “Superman: Man of Tomorrow a safe and largely predictable take on the Man of Steel's iconic origin story. While that lack of narrative ambition is disappointing at times, there's a reason this particular story has endured so well over the years. Man of Tomorrow gets to the heart of Clark Kent and the emotional journey he has to experience before he can truly become Superman. With a revamped visual style and a strong cast, Man of Tomorrow serves as a solid start for this new universe.” On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 83% based on 113 reviews, making it certified fresh.

### Sequel

The film is planned to be the first in a trilogy of films centered on the character and his supporting cast. The character is also expected to appear in a Justice League film further down the line, with Tanner Buchanan having signed a six-picture deal with WarnerBros. The second film is set to focus on Clark’s personal and mental struggles as Superman, as well as his growing relationship with Lois Lane and rivalry with Lex Luthor. The film is also expected to introduce Clark’s childhood love, Lana Lang.

The second film in the DC Universe, titled Wonder Woman: Justice Society was released on July 2, 2021.