“An overstuffed movie in every way” — Ben Shapiro claims the new Superman movie's tone doesn’t align with superhero being “a central part of America”

American conservative political commentator and media host Ben Shapiro recently opened up about his experience of watching the new DC film, Superman, starring David Corenswet. The media personality took to his YouTube channel and dismissed the idea that the DC reboot film aligned with the superhero being a “central part” of America.

In the video released on July 12, 2025, Ben Shapiro said that James Gunn was “just wrong" person to be the director, writer, and creator for the new DC movie. Comparing Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy films, the media personality claimed that his first film in the DC Universe (DCU) was all kinds of a “mess.”

“It's an overstuffed movie in every way. It's visually overstuffed in terms of plot. The plot holes are big enough to drive a truck through them. There are character problems, and all of it is just kind of wrapped around this gauzy, fast-paced, jokey tone that doesn't mesh with Superman as central part of America,” Ben Shapiro said.

The political commentator also noted that his “overall problem” with the new superhero movie was that it took the most iconic American IP of all time. Reasoning that the superhero should always be treated with a certain level of respect, Ben Shapiro further added:

“My standard for Superman is not Man of Steel. My standard for Superman movies is 1978 Richard Donner, the best version of Superman. It just is.”

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Ben Shapiro claims the new Superman movie is “meh”

Ben Shapiro shared the review of the 2025 movie on his The Ben Shapiro Show dated July 12, 2025. He claimed that most people who watched the James Gunn-directed movie probably found it a “fun thing,” but he said he felt otherwise.

Although he praised the work of David Corenswet as the Man of Steel and Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, the media personality noted that the film was overall "meh".

“Superman is super meh. It's meh. I know all the people who are getting super exercised over the politics, and we'll get to the politics a little bit later on. I think that they are overestimating how much politics is in this. I think they're deliberately misinterpreting some of the politics that are in there. This is not a movie about illegal immigration”

The media personality, who is also an attorney, claimed in his video that James Gunn's sensibility was always “subversive." According to Shapiro, the director turned a comic book movie into a "potty-mouthed" sitcom.

"He does the same thing with Suicide Squad. He takes that same sensibility, and now he's doing that with Superman," Ben Shapiro explained.

Meanwhile, in an interview with The Sunday Times dated July 4, 2025, James Gunn discussed his DC superhero's immigration status and how his film might get interpreted differently among various political groups.

“I mean, Superman is the story of America. An immigrant that came from other places and populated the country, but for me it is mostly a story that says basic human kindness is a value and is something we have lost,” James Gunn said.

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As per Variety, the newly rebooted comic book film soared to $122 million in its first weekend of release. Besides David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan, the film also features Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl, Edi Gathegi as Mr. Terrific, and Milly Alcock as Supergirl.

Per the news outlet, the film reportedly cost a massive $225 million to produce, with Warner Bros. and DC Studios investing roughly $100 million in promotion. The superhero film is also the first movie in the relaunched DC Universe after James Gunn and Peter Safran took the leadership of the DC Studios under their wings in 2022.

Edited by Riya Peter