Superman

This might be the quintessential superhero comic book movie. It understands what defines the super hero comic and adapts it exactly to the medium of film as close as you can get without making literal comic panels on the screen (although I would be interested to see Gunn play with something like that à la Ang Lee's Hulk). And because it is such a direct adaptation of comics as a medium it adopts its flaws too.  The biggest problem with comic books (specifically stories in the main canon) is that you simply, as a writer of a massive character like Superman, cannot make a story that is consistent with every action the character has made or every relationship they have built. You can't give every character in the story the complexity, depth, and continuity that is necessary when they've existed for decades and have been written and drawn by hundreds of people. However the important thing you can get from a new story of a long established character is exploring the core of what makes that character who they are in your way. Thus, punk rock Superman. It's the artists' cumulative additions that creates the long tapestry that is a character's lore and persona in comics and the audience's eyes. Superman as a character is the sum of every person who has picked up the pen and wrote a Superman story or drawn a Superman cover or created an evil alternate Superman or adapted him to film and television. He is the sum of all pop culture has made him so it's impossible for Gunn to make an adaptation that will be what every person envisions as being the Man of Steel.  But Gunn tries his best. He adds to the long legacy of Superman in comics, television, movies, video games, and all other media. He picks out the pieces of the character and mythos that matters to him (pulling from silver age sci-fi DC and the great, mature "graphic novels"). The actors portray the characters in ways that are personal to them (i.e. Carrigan identifying with Metamorpho because of his alopecia). The filmmakers showcase his story in a way that looks and sounds to them how a Superman story should look and sound (homages to Donner's Superman and Williams' score). And what we end up with is James Gunn's punk rock, comic-accurate, colorful, bold, earnest, and hopeful Superman (2025). Which works perfect for me: a lover of comics, punk rock, and Gunn's signature style.