Gunn’s most striking idea is to start his story not at the beginning, but somewhere around the middle, as if this were the third or fourth film in the series. When we first meet Superman, played by the suitably handsome and wholesome David Corenswet, he’s already been protecting Metropolis from supervillains for three years. He’s already dating his go-getting colleague at the Daily Planet newspaper, Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), and he’s already loathed by a fanatical bald billionaire, Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult). What’s more unusual for a Superman franchise-starter is that he’s not the world’s only superhuman – or “metahuman”, to use the in-universe jargon. DC’s other A-listers – Wonder Woman, Batman, The Flash, Aquaman – are apparently being saved for their own films, but Superman is helped and hindered by the ethically murky Justice Gang, consisting of the arrogant Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), the unflappably cool Mr Terrific (Edi Gathegi) and the sullen Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced).
