At a press event in Manila for Superman, fans got to hear a longer cut of the film’s theme. It’s essentially a remix of John Williams’ iconic Superman: The Movie score, now charged with a subtle electric guitar that adds some modern bite while still honoring the legacy of the original.
We’ve heard small pieces of it in the trailers, but this new version gives us a fuller taste of what director James Gunn and composer John Murphy are aiming for in DC Studios’ big reboot.
Gunn has never been shy about his love for Richard Donner’s original films and the legendary score that defined a generation. In fact, he’s been upfront about making the Williams theme a cornerstone of the reboot from the start:
“I knew from the beginning what I wanted to do with the music. I thought about it a lot, ‘Are we going to do something completely different? Are we going to use the [John] Williams’ theme?’
“That soundtrack is one of my favorite soundtracks of all time, and when I was a kid, really… the thing I loved the most about the movie was the music. That was the thing I took home with me more than anything else.”
Rather than going full retro, Gunn and Murphy aimed for something that threads the needle between reverence and reinvention:
“But I knew we were doing something that was harkening back to the past but also looking forward to the future, and so it was about finding that balance.
“John Murphy is a composer who I love working with, and he started working on the music before the script was even finished… I said, ‘I want to use a version of the Williams’ theme, but I want to do our own version of it.’ So, that’s what you hear.”
The decision to remix instead of reinvent may not satisfy everyone, but it’s undeniably effective at evoking the feeling of classic heroism and nostalgia with a fresh coat of paint.
Superman is “set in a world very different from ours and far removed from the DCEU. Heroes have been around for ages, and we’ll see how it affected this world’s history and has shaped the DCU.”
Superman flies into theaters on July 11, 2025.
