For a standalone Superman movie, the upcoming 2025 flick is turning out to be massive in scale. Between the partial Justice League assembled behind Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion) and the numerous villains about to make Clark Kent's life a living hell, SUPERMAN 2025 is beyond immense. That said, all these characters will assist in establishing a world for the revamped DC live-action universe moving forward.
The villains deserve acknowledgment more than the others because they're clearly giving the Man of Steel a hard time. Glimpses of Krypto dragging him to safety suggest that Clark (David Corenswet) takes several beatings in the movie. He is going toe-to-toe with powerhouses like Ultraman, after all.
For now, let's look at all the antagonists who are making their presence known in SUPERMAN 2025.
Ultraman
While the parallel version of Superman is clad in all black, obscuring his identity, the character's not much of a mystery. Fans familiar with the comics know that Ultraman is practically a doppelganger to everyone's favorite Boy Scout. The only difference between them is that Ultraman is unaffected by Kryptonite. In actuality, Ultraman relies on the green meteorite to power himself—hence why he's the polar opposite of the central hero.
In the upcoming film, Ultraman's suit likely contains Kryptonite stored inside—similar to how Bane's serum flows through the pumps connected to his body. Perhaps exposing the inside will lead to both superhuman's downfall. Clark will be defenseless in the presence of Kryptonite, and Ultraman will slowly weaken.
What's up for debate is the face behind Ultraman's mask. Since he's the Counter-Earth version of Superman, in all likelihood, David Corenswet portrays both characters. It would be a twist that Warner Bros. could get away with, and no one on the set would be able to spoil it, either. Mind you, another actor might be portraying the evil version of Superman.
The Engineer
Maria Gabriela de Faria is playing The Engineer, a human who transformed herself into a cyborg using nanotechnology. Her appearance in the SUPERMAN 2025 trailer doesn't match up to the comic's depiction, but perhaps losing to the hero motivates Spica to experiment on herself. The upcoming film is creating a universe for all these characters, so it makes sense that at least one of them goes through a transformation into a villain. Angela Spica becoming The Engineer sounds like the ideal setup for her main adventure in a future project.
Lex Luthor
Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) doesn't require too much explanation after several versions of the character have appeared on both the big and small screen. On the one hand, though, this version seems more complex. He's working from the shadows, and audiences have yet to see him plot or scheme, so he could be bumbling in appearance until the right moment when he reveals his secret plot. Having a Luthor who seems incompetent until the final act would be a major departure from past iterations, which is what James Gunn is going for with his revamped DC Universe.
SUPERMAN 2025 opens in theaters on July 11, 2025