The new Superman is kind, brave and corny. He’s perfect.

James Gunn gives his DC universe a promising launch.

If there was any doubt that James Gunn was the right man to bring Superman back to the big screen, it’s eliminated when the new Supes utters the word “golly” in the first five minutes.

Whatever flaws this new Superman might have – and there are a few quibbles we’ll get to – Gunn understands what his hero stands for. While no one might be able to match Christopher Reeve’s iconic depiction, David Corenswet embodies the braveness, goodness and down-home squareness of the big Boy Scout and makes himself worthy of the blue tights and red cape.

Throughout the course of Gunn’s new movie, these are just a few of the things Superman does:

• Argues with other superheroes that a giant monster should be sent to an intergalactic zoo, not killed, after a city-destroying rampage

• After a skyscraper’s windows are blown out in the middle of a fight, pauses to make sure all the men and women inside are okay

• Cries when an innocent man is killed in front of him

• Says that maybe kindness “is the real punk rock”

• Tells the villains he’s fighting that it’s not too late to change their ways

• Saves a squirrel

After years of filmmakers thought the appeal of Superman was godlike abilities, Gunn restores his biggest asset: goodness. Corenswet might lack Reeve’s clumsy comedy – although we don’t really know; one thing I wish this movie had more of was bumbling Clark Kent – but he understands the assignment: This Superman truly believes he should do the right thing, even if he hasn’t thought through the consequences. While Brandon Routh’s Superman was too indebted to Reeve’s performance and Henry Cavill was given scripts that had him wrestling with whether or not he should help people – and a dad who suggested he shouldn’t – Corenswet gives his Superman a believable moral compass. He’s good and little corny¹ – exactly how Superman should be.

Giving the DC universe a theatrical kickoff after small-screen soft launches with Peacemaker and Creature Commandos, Gunn forgoes the origin story and assumes we’re all up to date on the basics: Superman was adopted by Kansas farmers after his planet exploded, he works at the Daily Planet and loves Lois Lane. By the time the film opens, we’re smack-dab in a world in which he’s been doing his thing for three years and superheroes have been around for much longer.

Most big superhero movies try to be graphic novels, delivering the final word on their characters with big themes and self-importance. Gunn’s film feels less like a graphic novel and more like a comic book I would have picked up for a buck at the local convenience store. We’re tossed into the middle of the action, in the middle of a universe that’s already formed. Superheroes like Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi) and Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion) warily team up with Superman. Lois knows Clark’s secret and the two have just started dating. Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) is well into his obsession and is a full-fledged super-villain, dedicated to using his money and technology to bring down the Man of Steel. Superman’s pal Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo) is a ladies’ man.

Some people might miss those old standbys, and I’ll admit that I prefer the flirtatious dynamic between Lois and Clark where she’s not aware of his alter ego. But Gunn’s approach is wise – why rehash something that’s already been done perfectly? Rather than watch as a universe comes to life, we’re thrown into a rich – and, yes, maybe overstuffed – world that suggests hundred of stories waiting to told. Gunn doesn’t seem to care about seeding future movies – even the film’s two post-credit scenes are just gags – but rather is happy to focus on his story, which takes place in a world where other heroes exist, and eventually we’ll get around to them.

There’s always been a wariness as to how much comic book to put into comic book movies. Admittedly, we’ve come a long way since X-Men 25 years ago, when executives were afraid to put superheroes into colorful, comic-accurate suits. Marvel took a big swing by pushing the genre into the fantastical, with aliens, spiritual realms and multiverses. But there’s always a sense of irony there; I enjoy the MCU quite a bit, but their quippy and vaguely snarky tone still suggests a discomfort with things getting too nerdy.

Gunn – who, of course, helmed three of the best Marvel movies – has no qualms about being nerdy. Superman goes head-on into its weirdness and silliness from its opening scenes, when Superman is taken to his Fortress of Solitude and healed by his private robot butlers. He doesn’t just have a dog – Krypto is a flying super-powered dog who wears his own red cape and likes to wreck the Fortress when his master is out². Green Lantern Guy Gardner has a dorky but comic book accurate bowl cut and at one point creates green oven mitts to put on a kaiju’s hands. How villainous is Lex Luthor? He creates a pocket universe to store his foes and ex-girlfriends, and he also has an army of monkeys whose sole job is to troll Superman on social media³.

The reason this Saturday morning cartoon silliness works is because Gunn’s a fantastic director who understands the right balance of fantasy and humanity. As he did with Guardians of the Galaxy and his Suicide Squad remake, he peppers each scene with sight gags and funny dialogue. But while he might be playing in a weird world, he’s serious about treating his characters as real people. Superman doesn’t always say the right things; Gunn treats him as a man who stumbles, screws up, argues with his girlfriend, and might just be a bit self-righteous. Rachel Brosnahan’s Lois Lane struggles with relationships and is also a damn good journalist – the film’s highlight has nothing to do with special effects but is instead a heated tete-a-tete where Lois interviews Clark as Superman. And Hoult might give the film’s best performance as Lex Luthor, presented as a bitter, jealous man who could have used his intellect and fortune to do great things had he not been overshadowed by Superman. Much love to Gene Hackman, but Hoult could be our best big-screen Lex.

Maybe now’s a good time to discuss the film’s politics, which seem to overshadow the discourse. There’s no question that Gunn has this film slanted toward a certain agenda – Michael Ian Black channels the smugness of Tucker Carlson as a news commentator, and Lex Luthor is both a bitter tech mogul and a man who wants to take over a war-torn area so he can develop real estate; it’s hard not to see shadows of Elon Musk and Trump in this depiction. But the truth is, aside from a few overt lines, none of this feels manufactured just to glom onto recent politics and none of it feels out of place in a Superman movie. Lex Luthor wanted to rule Australia in the earlier movies, and he’s always been an evil rich man. Superman thwarting an evil empire’s invasion into a smaller country might have illusions to the war in the Ukraine or the Middle East, but when is there not a larger country trying to invade a smaller one? Maybe the question that people need to be asking is not why is Superman suddenly political but when did we start putting comic book villains into real-world power⁴?

Gunn hasn’t made a Superman movie to deal with recent political issues but rather because Superman’s existence would bring up political questions. Who does an all-powerful alien have to answer to or align himself with? Should he check with the president to make sure he’s saving the right lives? Can someone that powerful really be as altruistic as they claim? Superman movies are always examining who this character is, what he stands for, and what he says about us. Zack Snyder’s movies fumbled because they never seemed to believe that Superman could be truly decent, good and kind; that it was an almost embarrassing aspect of his personality. Gunn’s film argues that Superman’s kindness is his greatest power (and yes, in a world that seems addicted to meannes, that actually is a bit punk rock).

It’s why I don’t mind Gunn overstuffing the movie with superheroes – how else do you show that Superman is special than by placing him alongside dysfunctional heroes? It helps that you have Nathan Fillion in smug jerk mode and Mister Terrific as the coolest super tech geek ever. But the reason they’re here is to show how the majority of superheroes in this world act – they want fame and fortune, they’re a bit insufferable, and they have no problem using violence. Superman is kind, wants to save all life, and believes in acting ethically. They see him as a dork; they’re not wrong, but that’s also what elevates Superman above other comic book heroes.

Listen, the film has flaws. It tries to fit a bit too much into its 130-minute run time. This is the rare movie that could have used another 20 minutes to breathe and, in particular, give us more time with Clark and Lois. Like every other superhero movie, it feels it needs to end with an orgy of CGI destruction. And I’m not sure that I love each of Gunn’s choices, particularly his yokel take on Clark’s farmer parents. Gunn largely manages the tone well, but there are a few moments where the silliness and the serious clumsily wobble.

But, candidly? I don’t care. Wanting more of a good thing is not a bad problem to have. I had fun with every swooping, colorful action sequence. I laughed a lot. And more than anything, I believed that David Corenswet was Superman, and I loved spending time in this world. Superman doesn’t exist to reinvent the superhero movie but to be a strong example of it and introduce us to a world we don’t mind returning to over a few films. In that way, it reminded me of Iron Man – a movie that also has its stumbles but understood its characters and world so well that an entire universe eventually poured out of it. Do I think that Gunn’s universe will definitely rival the MCU? It’s way too early to say. But he’s got a great hero as his center of gravity, and for the first time in nearly 20 years, I’m totally onboard with whatever the DC movies do next.

1. There’s a great quiet moment where Clark tries to convince Lois he’s hip by saying he listens to punk rock – she corrects him that what he’s really been listening to is pop-punk. And of course that’s what a young Clark Kent would think is cool.

2. Krypto has dominated the film’s marketing and with good reason – he’s in a lot of this movie, and he steals the show. This badly behaved superpup is a very, very good movie dog.

3. One of the movie’s best jokes is that Superman is very upset that #supershit is trending.

4. Gunn’s also brought up Superman as an immigrant story, which is has rankled the anti-wokers, but to be honest, the film’s a little less clear where it’s politics are. Yes, Superman is a refugee. But there’s information revealed about his parentage that makes this depiction a bit muddier.