How are we feeling about Superman? (HEAVY SPOILERS)

[Saiya6Cit]

I don't go to the movies unless that it is for something extremely important, like the Sonic Movies.

Thanks for the spoirlers otherwise I would not know. It sucks they changed the reason why Superman came to Earth. I guess they are doing it to appeal the younger audiences that cheer for the Homelander and the superheroe guy that beats up his own kid. We are at the times where good is bad and bad is good after all.

We can't deny Toriyama got inspiration from Superman when he created the Saiyan Lore for DBZ, and with this change Goku and Superman are even more similiar to one another.

I might watch the new Superman movie once it hits streaming services in a couple of years, maybe.

Bardock the scientist.... hahha it is still funny in 2025.

[WittyUsername]

I just watched the movie (late, I know, but I don't do cinemas because I can't afford them), and I didn't like it at all. I'm not going to comment on the movie itself, and I'm not going to partake in the discussion about potential parallelisms to real world conflicts, because I don't like to bend the forum rules.

I'll just say that it indeed feels like Toriyama and Gunn have been dancing tango with each other. I don't know if this was intentional or not, though I wouldn't put it past Gunn to have thought "if Toriyama made the new Bardok similar to the old Jor-El, I'll just make the new Jor-El similar to the old Bardok", in an attempt to keep them different. You know, like a child who plays with a toy.

Now, in a couple of days I'll probably be able to watch The Final Reckoning as well, I wonder if there are going to be nods to Dragon Ball even there?

I’m not convinced that James Gunn is familiar enough with Dragon Ball to know that Toriyama retconned Goku’s backstory in the 2010s.

[MasenkoHA]

I just watched the movie (late, I know, but I don't do cinemas because I can't afford them), and I didn't like it at all. I'm not going to comment on the movie itself, and I'm not going to partake in the discussion about potential parallelisms to real world conflicts, because I don't like to bend the forum rules.

I'll just say that it indeed feels like Toriyama and Gunn have been dancing tango with each other. I don't know if this was intentional or not, though I wouldn't put it past Gunn to have thought "if Toriyama made the new Bardok similar to the old Jor-El, I'll just make the new Jor-El similar to the old Bardok", in an attempt to keep them different. You know, like a child who plays with a toy.

Now, in a couple of days I'll probably be able to watch The Final Reckoning as well, I wonder if there are going to be nods to Dragon Ball even there?

I’m not convinced that James Gunn is familiar enough with Dragon Ball to know that Toriyama retconned Goku’s backstory in the 2010s.

For what it’s worth, James Gunn is a tokusatsu fan (apparently a big fan of Ultraman in particular) and said his Superman was inspired by Godzilla Minus One.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/j ... elemetry=1

I think if Gunn was a Dragon Ball fan and it had any influence on him for Superman he would have said it. At best he knows what Dragon Ball is but like you said I doubt he’s familiar enough with the series to be aware of Burdock tv special to Dragon Ball Minus controversy and letting that influence his take on Clark’s Kryptonian parents

I still think Smallville is the more likely influence in that regard

[Koitsukai]

There's a parallel with DB, for sure. Alien sent to Earth to conquer it, but is raised by humans in a way that there's no way he'll do such a thing. Was it taken from DB? not necessarily. The theme of the movie being you are not who your parents want you to be but who they actually raise you to be. I have phrased it awfully, yes, but you can tell stories about that without having any clue what DB is.

And whether the conflict is about the middle east genocide, the stretch is not to see it. A US ally coming in with state-of-the-art military firepower against some black-skinned people armed with stones and machetes... and with legally not Palestine being just a strip in the desert where the invaders are planning to establish themselves. It wasn't that long ago either that Trump happily reposted an AI video showing luxury hotels built on Gaza after everything was said and done.

Now, I can see some people seeing it as Russia due to the "30 year alliance" with the US, although Russia was never an ally, not since Hitler was blowing b-day candles. But jarkupurians are much closer to palestinians than ukranians. And there is no genocide in Ukraine either, while quite an uneven dispute, it is still an army against another, a much bigger one, but not a child with a torn flag against fully armed commandos
You don't even need to be overly informed about this matter to see it.

[WittyUsername]

It’s been a while and this isn’t exactly Dragon Ball related, but I thought I might as well point out that James Gunn has recently insisted once again that his Superman movie isn’t specifically meant to be an allegory for Israel and Palestine. Sure, you could argue that he’s only saying that to avoid getting in trouble with David Zaslav or whatever, but he seems to be going out of his way to shoot down those comparisons, to the point where he’s replying to randos on social media about it.

Personally, stuff like this is why I’ve always insisted that the comparisons are overblown. The central conflict presented in the movie is a fairly typical “big country invades smaller country” situation. I just think people are giving a Hollywood superhero movie too much credit if they genuinely think it’s trying to directly comment and take a firm stance on a very contentious international conflict. I simply don’t think James Gunn is that type of filmmaker.

[JulieYBM]

It’s been a while and this isn’t exactly Dragon Ball related, but I thought I might as well point out that James Gunn has recently insisted once again that his Superman movie isn’t specifically meant to be an allegory for Israel and Palestine. Sure, you could argue that he’s only saying that to avoid getting in trouble with David Zaslav or whatever, but he seems to be going out of his way to shoot down those comparisons, to the point where he’s replying to randos on social media about it.

Personally, stuff like this is why I’ve always insisted that the comparisons are overblown. The central conflict presented in the movie is a fairly typical “big country invades smaller country” situation. I just think people are giving a Hollywood superhero movie too much credit if they genuinely think it’s trying to directly comment and take a firm stance on a very contentious international conflict. I simply don’t think James Gunn is that type of filmmaker.

James Gunn needs to put his phone down and just stop, because 1) he's being stupid by replying to people about this and 2) there's no way on this planet he didn't know people would make this comparison when editing the film and releasing it.

Like, Peacemaker Season 2 is literally dealing with white supremacy directly as a theme. He can cry all he likes about how Superman (2025) isn't an allusion to Israel's genocide of the Palestinian people, but he's only digging his own grave when he should be shutting the fuck up and hanging out with his wife and dog.