Spoiler warning
Some Superman fans are torn after discovering the post-credit scenes reveal nothing about what’s next – a break from the tradition of teasing future films. But director James Gunn insists that was always the plan.
The first post-credit scene is a shot of David Corenswet as Superman and Krypto the dog sitting peacefully on the moon and looking at Earth – an homage to the comic books. Meanwhile, the second post-credit scene features a light exchange between Superman and Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi), as they survey the damage to the city of Metropolis following incidents in the film.
There are no new characters or cameos, or any plotline teases.
The decision aligns with the strategy of the newly-formed DC Studios, of which the reboot of Superman is the first big-ticket release. Films from the DC Comics franchise were previously released under the DC Films banner.
“I have a philosophy about post-credit scenes. It's somewhat related to my own mistakes in my time with Marvel," Gunn, who is also the co-chairman and chief executive of DC Studios, told Entertainment Weekly in an interview published over the weekend.
He said he has decided to no longer use post-credit scenes to tease new characters or storylines without having a solid plan for them down the line, he said.
“I did not like what I did in Guardians 2 where we set up Adam Warlock and we set up the Guardians of the Galaxy and we set up all this that I didn't necessarily plan on.
"I guess I kind of planned on fulfilling that promise, but you want to be careful about that. It was not easy to work Adam Warlock into Guardians 3. I loved working with Will [Poulter, who plays Adam Warlock] and I liked dealing with the character, but at the end of the day, was he kind of fitting a weird square peg into a round hole? A little bit, yeah."
Superman has received rave reviews since its release on Thursday, with many praising the film's cast, as well as Gunn's mix of reverence for the character, which first appeared in comic books in 1938, with reinvention.
The film opens with Superman, an alien, now a longtime resident of Earth, thwarting an invasion by Boravia – a powerful US ally – of the weaker nation of Jarhanpur. But when the scheming Lex Luthor uncovers explosive details about Superman’s origins, public opinion begins to shift, forcing the hero to stand firm in his convictions as the world turns against him.
The film has also courted controversy among right-wing commentators and supporters of US President Donald Trump's sweeping anti-immigration policies, after Gunn likened the superhero to an immigrant and called his film "the story of America".
On social media, some have even suggested the film was critical of Israel and its ongoing war on Gaza, namely the plot regarding the Boravia-Jorhanpur conflict. Boravia’s plan, it is later revealed, is a settler-colonial project that aims to displace the indigenous Jarhanpurians and expand the Boravian state.
In an interview with The Times before the film's release, Gunn acknowledged that his film does delve into politics, but that it was ultimately "about human kindness".
“This Superman does seem to come at a particular time when people are feeling a loss of hope in other people’s goodness,” Gunn said. "I’m telling a story about a guy who is uniquely good, and that feels needed now because there is a meanness that has emerged due to cultural figures being mean online.”
Besides Corenswet, Superman stars Rachel Bornahan as his love interest Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult as villain Lex Luthor. The film also features a number of cameos by stars such as Bradley Cooper, John Cena and Milly Alcock, who is set to play Supergirl in a new film set to release in June next year.
Quick facts on cancer
- Cancer is the second-leading cause of death worldwide, after cardiovascular diseases
- About one in five men and one in six women will develop cancer in their lifetime
- By 2040, global cancer cases are on track to reach 30 million
- 70 per cent of cancer deaths occur in low and middle-income countries
- This rate is expected to increase to 75 per cent by 2030
- At least one third of common cancers are preventable
- Genetic mutations play a role in 5 per cent to 10 per cent of cancers
- Up to 3.7 million lives could be saved annually by implementing the right health
strategies
- The total annual economic cost of cancer is $1.16 trillion
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
World Cricket League Division 2
In Windhoek, Namibia - Top two teams qualify for the World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe, which starts on March 4.
UAE fixtures
Thursday February 8, v Kenya; Friday February 9, v Canada; Sunday February 11, v Nepal; Monday February 12, v Oman; Wednesday February 14, v Namibia; Thursday February 15, final
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
- Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000
- Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000
- Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
- HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
- Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
- Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000
- Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000
- Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000
- Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000
- Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
The Africa Institute 101
Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.
European arms
Known EU weapons transfers to Ukraine since the war began: Germany 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger surface-to-air missiles. Luxembourg 100 NLAW anti-tank weapons, jeeps and 15 military tents as well as air transport capacity. Belgium 2,000 machine guns, 3,800 tons of fuel. Netherlands 200 Stinger missiles. Poland 100 mortars, 8 drones, Javelin anti-tank weapons, Grot assault rifles, munitions. Slovakia 12,000 pieces of artillery ammunition, 10 million litres of fuel, 2.4 million litres of aviation fuel and 2 Bozena de-mining systems. Estonia Javelin anti-tank weapons. Latvia Stinger surface to air missiles. Czech Republic machine guns, assault rifles, other light weapons and ammunition worth $8.57 million.
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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UAE
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Canada
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
