Between this week’s release of the highly anticipated Captain Marvel and the forthcoming debut of Shazam!, the comic book movie renaissance has shown no signs of slowing down. While many of these titles (both new and old) are beginning to become a bit repetitive, however, some filmmakers are finding new ways to explore familiar stories. Like producer James Gunn’s Brightburn, which according to its latest trailer, looks like a horrifying new take on the Superman origin story.
Starring Elizabeth Banks and David Denman as the adoptive parents of an alien child whose ship crashes in rural America, Brightburn asks a rather pertinent question about the Man of Steel’s well-known origins:
What if a child from another world crash-landed on Earth, but instead of becoming a hero to mankind, he proved to be something far more sinister? In this horrific take on the classic superhero trope, a couple (Elizabeth Banks and David Denman) adopts a baby who came from the stars. While they attempt to raise the boy (Jackson A. Dunn) to use his powers for good, an evil begins to grow inside that he unleashes.
Directed by David Yarovesky and written by Brian and Mark Gunn, Brightburn imagines a truly terrifying answer to these questions. After all, there was never really any guarantees that Jonathan and Martha Kent would have been able to teach Clark the right lessons. In the case of Banks and Denman’s parents, it seems they just weren’t able to steer Dunn in a positive, let’s-not-go-out-and-kill-all-humans direction.