{"id":1256369,"date":"2026-03-02T09:06:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T09:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=613996"},"modified":"2026-03-02T09:06:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T09:06:15","slug":"supermans-2-second-squirrel-gag-is-core-to-how-james-gunn-sees-the-superhero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/supermans-2-second-squirrel-gag-is-core-to-how-james-gunn-sees-the-superhero\/","title":{"rendered":"Superman\u2019s 2-second squirrel gag is core to how James Gunn sees the superhero"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The moment that got the single biggest reaction at the packed screening of Superman<\/em><\/a> that I attended was when Superman saves a squirrel. It takes place during the kaiju battle<\/a>, it\u2019s over in seconds, and it\u2019s composed of two shots. In the first, we see a wall of debris roaring toward the innocent creature, and a streak of blue and red whisking it away. In the second shot, Superman (David Corenswet) flies into the frame in a peaceful spot away from the battle, gently sets the squirrel down, then returns to the fray.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s played for laughs, and it got a huge one at my screening. It\u2019s a perfectly executed visual gag. The timing is immaculate. The contrast with the scale of the monster disaster engulfing Metropolis is absurd. It\u2019s a joke at this Superman\u2019s expense, consistent with the movie\u2019s portrayal of his niceness and wholesomeness as adorable and kind of dorky, almost to the point of being na\u00efve and short-sighted. This is a Superman who likes cheesy pop-punk, lets a dog bully him, and can\u2019t tell when an interview \u2014 or a talk with his girlfriend, or both at the same time<\/a> \u2014 is going badly. He has godlike powers, but he\u2019s also kind of ridiculous.<\/p>\n

Thanks to the charm of Corenswet\u2019s performance and the warm tone writer-director James Gunn brings to the movie, though, the audience\u2019s laughter at him is never mocking or mean-spirited. It\u2019s affectionate and delighted. Such scrupulous goodness is absurd, but it\u2019s still good, and in a world of many other metahumans, it\u2019s what makes him special.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a meta layer to the joke, too. It\u2019s one of several barbs Gunn directs at the previous cinematic incarnation of the character, as portrayed by Henry Cavill and conceived by Zack Snyder in 2013\u2019s Man of Steel<\/em><\/a>. In that film, Superman allows his rageful personal battle with Zod to trash Metropolis at the presumed cost of many human lives. In this animal-loving movie, Superman won\u2019t allow an existential battle with a giant monster to claim the soul of a single rodent. It\u2019s the stake in the heart of the Snyderverse.<\/p>\n

Alternatively, you can read it as a tribute to a more innocent era in superhero cinema. The 1966 Batman<\/em> movie has a wonderful comic sequence in which Batman runs around trying to dispose of a bomb, but everywhere he turns there is a marching band, or some nuns, or a stack of butane canisters, or a family of ducks. 2025\u2019s Superman can relate: Some days you just can\u2019t get rid of a massive kaiju.<\/p>\n

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