David Corenswet made his debut as the Man of Steel and Clark Kent. What are your thoughts on Corenswet’s portrayal of both Clark and Superman?
Michael A. Burstein: Corenswet nailed it. Not since Christopher Reeve have we seen an actor who could make us believe that people would see Superman and Clark Kent as two different people. When he leans forward to be interviewed by Lois Lane as Superman, he changes his manner completely. His Superman is earnest and heroic, and his Clark is competent but a little, well, mild-mannered, as he’s supposed to be.
Peter Briggs: I can preen about this one. If you go over to my Twitter page, you can find a quote from me from May 2020, long before this movie was even a glimmer, predicting that Corenswet was born to play Clark Kent. So, I had skin in this game. Did I like Corenswet? Sure. But I would have liked him more with some amendments to the script. I had issues with Gunn’s portrayal of Kal-El losing his cool and raging at times. That’s not Superman to me.
Will McGuire:I think the really bracing change from Corenswet’s performance is how emotionally vulnerable he was, and not just in moments of crisis.
He loses his temper, he actually tells Lombard to “Shut up,” he is amused at times with his own cleverness, he’s someone’s boyfriend in this film not just a pure romantic fantasy and he’s definitely got swagger to him. All of this works in service to the theme of the movie: Superman’s emotional vulnerability is in service to his humanity and the film is really trying to sell a mass audience that might see the character as passe, that there’s an emotional inroad to relating to Superman.
Alex Grand: I thought he came off as humble and genuine. This Superman was concerned for humans in danger, but at the same time, seemed to love being there for them. I’m still a Chris Reeve fan, but he did as good as anyone can do with that role.
Josh Marowitz: Corenswet was wonderful. He was convincing as Superman and as Clark. He has a gravitas and presence of Superman. Even though Superman is only one of five heroes we meet in the movie, Corenswet’s performance makes me believe that Superman is the guy everyone looks to. At the same time, he never lost the boyish charm — the innocence, the purity of heart — that the best Superman actors are able to convey. I do wish that he’d had more to do as Clark-the-reporter. I hope there’s more footage to be released in some special edition. I think I liked his take, but it’s hard to say based on the few lines we got.
Jon Bogdanove: David Corenswet is probably the best actor to ever assay the role—just in terms of chops. He’s got tremendous range and an unparalleled mastery of nuance. He has the tenderness and kindness of Tyler Hoechlin—who I think came the closest to our triangle era Superman, and who ranks a very close second with Henry Cavill. Cavill was equally capable as Hoechlin plus he has the nerd creds and deep understanding of nuance—but he was wasted in his films, IMO. He never got to show the range of the character the way Hoechlin and Corenswet did.
George Reeves will always be my childhood favorite. His kind, patient, endlessly forbearing fatherly portrayal of the Man of Steel was and always will be the foundation of who I am—but Corenswet’s Superman has all those same qualities of kindness and forbearance in a young Superman. Plus, he really looks the part.
BTW: in case anyone with Gunn’s ear is reading this—this is my pitch to cast Henry Cavill as Batman!
Jerry Ordway: I liked Corenswet a lot, and think he falls between Chris Reeve and Smallville’s Tom Welling in his portrayal of Superman. Reeve commanded the screen in his Superman films, and was good in all of them, though I only really like the first, Donner directed one. But his attitude reminded me of Welling’s teen portrayal, as did Nicholas Holt’s Lex Luthor remind me of Smallville’s Lex grown up. No way this film would exist in this way without Smallville, or Byrne’s Man of Steel.
Peter Briggs: Agreed, Jon. The Welling comparison occurred to me, also.
Lenny Schwartz: I am so glad we didn’t get a major star here…it almost felt like Corenswet needed to prove to us and to himself that he deserves to be here. And he does exactly that. He is wonderful as Superman, and is instantly accessible in a way that we haven’t had since Reeve. We needed more time with his Clark Kent, but he proves he can handle the dual role and can do so in future work.
It doesn’t feel like an introduction to a cinematic universe. Characters are brought in effortlessly, without the usual grandeur. It works really well for general audiences (imperative for this DCU to flourish), and serves the core base with enough to want more.
Dave Jackson: He came across as very human and even vulnerable, when necessary, which is a big part of it. I look forward to seeing him in the cape again– sooner rather than later, I hope!
Vito Delsante: I was asked to pick my favorite Superman actor, and I’m not ashamed to say that Corenswet is at the top with (Christopher) Reeve. The same sense of wonder that I had in ‘78 is the same sense I had with this one. Maybe more so, as Reeve had, I think, only George Reeves to kind of erase from the collective consciousness of viewers; Corenswet had more, but somehow, his delivery of his “humanity” monologue seemed to tie all iterations together, with touches of Alan Moore’s “Man of Tomorrow” and, certainly, Morrison’s All-Star.
Thomas Lakeman: I’m clearly an outlier on the casting. Corenswet has that boyish charm everybody’s talking about, and he comes across as sincere and self-deprecating—very much what you’d imagine a superhero raised in Kansas would be like, football trophies and lame band posters and all. However, for me that was part of the problem. He’s all farm boy and not enough Last Son of Krypton. Kal-El’s loneliness is what defines him. He’s got to be warm and approachable but also perpetually aware that he can’t just be another person on the planet. In that sense, Corenswet is almost too good at playing well with others.
I’m having the same problem other people seem to: I found my guy when I was 12 and I see no reason to move on. Christopher Reeve casts a long shadow as Superman. His chemistry with Margot Kidder is the gold standard for Superman and Lois. It wasn’t just that Reeve could be disarming one second and screaming around the planet at lightspeed the next. Corenswet has that part nailed—but he does it in a very abrupt way. Reeve could handle the tonal shifts without your even knowing it happened. In his scene with Gene Hackman, Reeve is having a friendly conversation about the San Andreas fault, and then he’s got to flash controlled rage with “I’ll mold this box into your prison bars.” That’s a heck of a shift, but he pulls it off. You always believe what his Superman is saying because you know he believes it. Corenswet is still figuring that part out. It’s like he’s never had to be angry before so he doesn’t do it very well. Honestly, he’s probably too boyish. Superman’s a leader, and this guy does not lead.
Peter Briggs: I don’t know, Thomas. The “My Guy” scenario is a bit like “Doctor Who”. I started with Jon Pertwee, loved Tom Baker…but then didn’t really strongly respond to another Doctor until Tennant hit his stride. And I’m hard pressed to choose between Baker and Tennant in that show as my favourite. I think, to stretch-out that comparison, Henry Cavill’s Superman is like Peter Capaldi’s Doctor. He had the potential to be th= I think we all love Reeve because he’s cemented in our formative years, and his performance in the role transcended the negatives of those films. But I still like Cavill as much as Reeve. And although I’ve had skin in the game for Corenswet for five years now, and much as he convinced me in the role (as I hoped he would), he’s just not quite to their level yet for me. Maybe with the next movie. Material-dependent.
Andre Bennett: Superman is a tough character to nail down. He’s strong, assured and authoritative, but also sweet, charming and a little dorky. He’s everyone’s best friend, but yearning for connection deep down.
David Corenswet embodied all of that.
We didn’t get a ton of his Clark Kent, but what we did get was physically distinct without tipping into caricature or aping anyone else. It was a strong debut performance, and perhaps the best big screen Kal-El since Reeve.
Robert Greenberger: I don’t have more to add, other than I agree with my esteemed colleagues. He sold being both Clark and Superman very well.
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