After being hit with a swathe of legacyquels over the past several years, it’s pretty clear that as an audience, nostalgia is our kryptonite. Then again, a return to a franchise can silence naysayers the second they hear a few notes from a familiar score that’ll have us sitting up in our seats and our chest involuntarily swelling. That’s what many fans undoubtedly felt when, while checking out the stunning new poster for James Gunn’s “Superman” (a film that really needs to work), they caught the gentle breeze of John Williams’ unmistakable theme for 1978’s “Superman: The Movie” sounding out. “Superman” (to our knowledge) isn’t a legacyquel, but it absolutely would not matter if it still uses Williams’ music.
Given the amount of fire emojis and praised heaped upon the one-sheet’s unveiling, people are happily expressing their joy over the beloved composer’s work getting reapplied to this all-new iteration of DC’s poster boy. Other folks, however, weren’t so pleased. Over on X, one user wrote, “The fact that they are using John Williams’ theme from the Christopher Reeves films already confirmed to me that this movie is gonna be dead on arrival.” Others have expressed hope the theme is being reused purely for the trailer; as another user put it, “Can we please retire John Williams’ ‘Superman’ theme.”
Why, though? What unwritten rule exists that says a reboot of a familiar hero has to come with an all-new musical theme? Sure, it might send us on a musical trip down memory lane, but that’s a risk franchises shouldn’t be scared of taking. Superman shouldn’t have to get entirely new music every time a new actor plays him, not least of all when a certain secret agent with a license to kill hasn’t changed his own theme song since 1962.
James Bond has never changed his tune, so why should Superman?
Just like a few blows of the trumpet from John Williams’ “Superman: The Movie” theme song immediately bring chills, so too does hearing the brass section blast out a bit from John Barry and Monty Norman’s iconic theme for James Bond. In a musical microcosm, a property reusing the same theme song over and over is the kind of thing fans hate to see. That only makes it all the more impressive that the James Bond franchise had gotten away with doing just that for over 60 years now.
Prior to Daniel Craig’s stint as the secret agent, the connections between every Bond film were wafer thin. James Bond himself was played by various actors, as were all the Qs, Ms, and Moneypennys. Even Blofeld, Bond’s longtime nemesis in the franchise, has been played by different actors ranging from Donald Pleasance to Telly Savalas, and yet audiences have never been shaken (nor stirred) at hearing the classic Bond theme tune whenever they check in on James. If the iconic member of His Majesty’s Secret Service gets a pass, then there’s no reason that The Last Son of Krypton shouldn’t either.
Factoring in the composer that’s working on Gunn’s “Superman,” it’s entirely possible Williams’ classic score will, in fact, be incorporated into the movie. Gunn announced earlier this year that his “The Suicide Squad” and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” collaborator John Murphy will be handling the music for the Man of Tomorrow in his film. As a composer who doesn’t play by the rules, Murphy could very well integrate some of Williams’ work in whatever way he deems fit. This would also set a precedent for other franchise reboots to follow suit and make this sort of approach more common going forward.
More franchise reboots could end up using old theme music
Listen up. Tom Holland’s wall-crawler has swung in on a grander version of the ’60s “Spider-Man” cartoon theme. “Ms. Marvel” set the stage for the debut of the X-Men in the Marvel Cinematic Universe when it used the ’90s theme from “X-Men: The Animated Series.” They weren’t the first to do something like that and they certainly won’t be the last, simply because those theme songs all absolutely slap. In fact, I’d bet my broomstick that whenever Max’s “Harry Potter” series comes around, Williams’ work from the “Harry Potter” movies will be incorporated to add some extra magic to that reboot as well. That’s not to say that new composers shouldn’t dare to add their own contribution to whatever iteration of a franchise they’re helping bring to life, but just like some characters and their worlds get revisited, the same should hold true for the music that helped start a property’s journey on the screen in the first place.
As for “Superman,” if anything, using Williams’ music should, along with the gorgeous color scheme harking back to the original poster for Richard Donner’s film, sway fans to the idea that Gunn has a winner on his hands here — one that keeps the memory of one of the best and most beloved iterations of the Man of Steel close to its chest. Just like Kal-El himself, Williams’ Superman theme is invulnerable, so don’t bother trying to fix what was never broken.
“Superman” opens in theaters on July 11, 2025.
