Well, I guess it’s safe to say James Gunn‘s Superman, the first official movie in his revamped DC Universe, is a hit. Most critics and fans thought it was a fantastic movie and has more than made a profit since its release. I personally liked it a lot as I do feel James Gunn nailed how Superman is in the comics. Whenever I think of Superman, I think of him as a beacon of hope. Someone who does good things because he’s a good guy. A good guy with superpowers, sure. But a good guy nonetheless. And James Gunn’s take on DC‘s greatest superhero is just that.

However, I know this because I am a geek. I’ve read the DC comics growing up so I’m more than familiar with his various iterations from the Golden Age, Silver Age, Bronze Age, Modern Age, etc. I’ve noticed how Superman’s lore has changed from the Pre-Crisis Era to the Post-Crisis Era and how his power levels have changed throughout the years. But I do realize a lot of fans were coming in to this new Superman movie kind of blind. They were not really familiar with the almost century’s worth of lore.

For a lot of them, their only reference would be Zack Snyder‘s version of the character as this is the most recent live-action Superman. So, James Gunn actually had to make a Superman that does double-duty. First, give them a basic introduction of Superman’s general lore that hasn’t really been tackled by the previous live-actions iterations of the character. Second, introduce audiences to more characters they may not be familiar with but are a part of DC’s pantheon of characters. And third, get them to fall in love with a new Superman when they may have already been enamored by Zack Snyder’s version. It was a tall task but, from a lot of the reactions I’ve seen from people watching the film, James Gunn seems to have succeeded.

The reason why he succeeded is because he did a lot of subtle and not-so subtle foreshadowing throughout the movie. He would introduce something that fans who haven’t read the comics or are not too familiar with Superman’s lore early before demonstrating showing it again. James Gunn did manage to weave in all of these moments in creative ways and I’m honestly surprised how fans are not really talking about it.

I guess this would be the best time to mention that I will be revealing SPOILERS from Superman. After all, I will have to be talking about specifics moments of the movie where James Gunn does do all of his foreshadowing. So, yeah. SPOILERS incoming!

Anyway, an example regarding Superman’s lore is how James Gunn showed off the importance of the yellow sun to Superman. Comic book readers know that Superman gets his powers from the yellow sun (as well as Earth’s comparatively weaker gravity) but I don’t really know if the fans who’ve only seen the live-action movies are. It’s never really mentioned in the previous movies as far as I can remember. But James Gunn really emphasizes it here in the opening moments of the film.

In the first few minutes, we see Superman crash land close to the Fortress of Solitude after losing his first fight against the Hammer of Boravia (actually Ultraman taking commands from Lex Luthor). He’s so beaten up he has to call Krypto to drag him back to the Fortress of Solitude. When he makes it there, the Superman Robots put him in a chair and manipulate the lenses on top of the structure to beam a strong dose of yellow solar radiation on him to heal Superman up.

This may just seem like a neat bit of Superman lore but this does come back into play later in the film when Superman turns himself in and is imprisoned in the pocket dimension. Once he’s there, Metamorpho is forced to change his body into kryptonite to prevent Superman from breaking out. After Lex Luthor shoots someone, Metamorpho is shaken up by that and asks Superman if he can indeed save his son if he stops infecting him with kryptonite. Superman says he can and Metamorpho obliges.

However, even after this, Superman, according to Metamorpho, is still “gross looking.” This is because, despite not being exposed to kryptonite anymore, he’s still suffering from the effects and he needs to heal. The problem is he can’t heal quickly because the pocket universe doesn’t have a sun, forcing Metamorpho to create something like a sun to recharge Superman a bit. Not to full-strength but strong enough to bust out of the cell and save his son and Krypto, who Lex Luthor also captured.

The introduction, where Superman is all beat up and healed by an focused beam of yellow sun energy, does a good job of showing viewers who may not be familiar where he gets his powers that Earth’s sun has a lot to do with it. So, when we get to the pocket universe, a location that has no yellow sun, viewers can quickly understand why Superman would have a lot of trouble fighting off humans in armor despite him previously being able to fight a kaiju off with no problem.

James Gunn also did a good job of revamping Jonathan Kent, Superman’s adoptive father on Earth and he does a wonderful job of foreshadowing his style of parenting without you really noticing. First off, none of the live-action versions of Jonathan Kent were done right. Either they were an afterthought like during Christopher Reeve‘s tenure as Superman or this weird father who wanted to keep Superman a secret as with Zack Snyder. So, James Gunn had to show viewers unfamiliar what Jonathan Kent was like in the comics and he did it in a really great way.

The first time you see him is after the fight with the Hammer of Boravia. Martha Kent, Superman’s adoptive mother, calls Superman/Clark Kent on the phone to congratulate him for getting the front page for his “interview” with Superman. During the call, Jonathan Kent seems almost apathetic as he just asks Martha to tell Clark to “don’t be a stranger” and doesn’t even bother talking to his son. Kinda sounds like an uncaring father, huh?

Later on, after Superman is taken to the Kent Farm to recover after escaping the pocket universe, Jonathan Kent has a heart-to-heart with Clark. Clark is disturbed that his biological parents actually wanted him to grow up and rule the planet instead of protecting it. This is when Jonathan Kent tells Clark that parents aren’t supposed to tell their kids what to do when they grow up. They’re supposed to give them the tools to make the right choices.

While it may seem like a contradiction as Jonathan Kent seems so uncaring for his son the first time you see him, it actually showcases that he was letting Clark live his own life. He wasn’t imposing anything on him as he wants Clark to make his own decisions without trying to influence him. He’s already did the hard part as he was the one who raises Clark and he can only hope that he did a good job in teaching him to do good in the world… which Superman does.

There are other examples of foreshadowing James Gunn employed, like how Krypto attacking Mister Terrific‘s flying T-Spheres so it would come natural for him to go after the floating cameras Lex Luthor uses when controlling Ultraman. Or how the ladies at the Daily Planet find Jimmy Olsen irresistible so, when it’s revealed that Eve Teschmacher is willing to betray Lex Luthor to spend a weekend with him, you understand the motivation. There are many more but those are just the more obvious ones.

I do have to applaud how James Gunn crafted a script that never really makes viewers jumps to conclusions. He introduces something that may seem innocuous and unimportant at the start but it works as a callback when it does become important. That’s a lot of work but, by doing so, the viewers can ease into this version of Superman and become much more familiar with him. I actually think aspiring screenwriters should look at what James Gunn did here because, not only did he craft a really good superhero movie, he just wrote a very tight script.

What other instances of foreshadowing did you see in Superman? Let me know in the comments section below!