Lois Lane Has Been Appearing In Superman Movies For Decades, But James Gunn’s Reboot Has Already Delivered My Favorite Moment With The Character
As with any adaptation of the Superman mythos, there are going to be points that people highlight as either exciting or foreboding. In terms of writer/director James Gunn’s 2025 movie schedule adventure, that spectrum is going to be wilder to explore than most other DC heroes. And for every complaint about what we know about Superman, there’s going to be something to balance things out.
In my case, that more positive balance comes from Rachel Brosnahan’s Lois Lane. More specifically, as we saw in the latest Superman trailer, I need to highlight how I think this incarnation of the Daily Planet’s intrepid reporter may be the best. But to really get into that, check out the footage for yourself below:
If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that the whole point of this new reel was to show off The Marvelous Ms. Maisel’s vet’s iteration of Ms. Lane in action. Using Lois Lane’s interview with Clark Kent “as Superman” (David Corenswet) as a framing device for this upcoming DC movie, we’re given big action beats accompanied by some pretty tough questions.
As Lois escalates her line of questioning, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s comic creation gets even more upset as he tries to defend his actions. It’s a far cry from Margot Kidder’s more casual/romantic interview with Christopher Reeve in 1978’s Superman: The Movie, which isn’t a knock at that previous scene. I’d rather people see my praise as something that showcases Ms. Brosnahan’s work with actual journalists to prepare for her role as a very huge advantage.
A huge reason why I love this Superman scene so much is because of the fact that Lois Lane has always been shown as a reporter worth the ink she’s printed on. However, we’ve rarely (if ever) seen her put the screws to her Kryptonian squeeze in a newsworthy chat. Even when broken up by the top-notch visuals teasing the comic hero action we’re accustomed to, Rachel Brosnahan’s voice keeps you grounded and intrigued in following her inquiries.
I found myself so glued to the conversation at hand that by the time the Superman theme music kicked in, I was really hoping to hear Superman deliver an uninterrupted answer. Upon subsequent viewings, you can see that Clark Kent did not expect this talk to get that heated.
What’s more, Lois Lane is asking questions that comic fans and people who nitpick bureaucracy in such fictional settings have probably already asked. Only she does it in a manner that’s devoid of malice, to the point where you can still feel sympathy for the caped Kryptonian when he shouts, “People were going to die.”
Superman’s journalistic confrontation isn’t meant to be a “gotcha” similar to Doctor Manhattan getting grilled on national TV in Watchmen. But it is meant to show us another dimension of Lois Lane, as she’s not just going to lob softballs when being given this interview of a lifetime.
Just as Superman is a symbol of truth, justice, and hope, Lois Lane is representative of what we’d consider to be an ideal journalist. She does not compromise, staying on message even when being interrupted by the man she loves, and the results are hard hitting.
In a world where even paragons of journalism experience setback, like the recent shocking 60 Minutes resignation, a woman with a digital recorder and notepad can be as heroic as a humanoid extraterrestrial who flies around with a cape. And I’m shocked to realize that up until this trailer, I’d never really thought to examine Rachel Brosnahan’s character through this specific lens.
I was already excited to catch Superman’s July 11th debut in theaters, as James Gunn seems to have crafted the most unabashedly optimistic comic film since Richard Donner’s classic origin story. Now that I’ve had this eureka moment connected to Lois Lane’s character, the wait ahead feels even more unbearable.
