Filming for James Gunn's Superman has commenced in Norway, and the DC Studios co-head is teasing the first scene

Story exists because humans crave the catharsis of it. Story illuminates and highlights and casts perspective by creating circumstances and scenarios that expand something beyond your own mind.

I'm not a DC guy, but I know who Superman and Batman are. Batman represents the good intentions shrouded by the darkest methods angle, but Superman traditionally evolved to become the shining beacon of hope and compassion.

We need Superman right now. Everything in the world is just so Batman. So cynical and evil and full of greed and indifference. People step over the homeless, ignore those dying of treatable diseases, and shrug their shoulders at today's news of the latest politician or elite having been found out in yet another example of shocking corruption.

Even superhero stories have skewed into that. The Boys and Invincible are both full of cynicism, heartlessness, evil.

Homelander is literally designed to be the anti-Superman. He's a sociopathic narcissist who revels in his power and laments that even with all his ability he can't make people love him. Or at least pretend to while they just obey his every whim. And most characters in the Invincible universe treat the titular character like a clueless hayseed, and even he himself struggles with trying to find the good path. All while the storytelling is draped in gore and shockingly brutal violence at every turn.

I need Superman. Stories are a release for me. I'm not alone. When life gets you down, at least you can escape to worlds where good guys still exist.

In story, the good guys can still win. Not like in reality, where evil reigns and greed prevails. In story, hope and sticking up for what's right still counts for something. Someone can stand on principle and actually make that stick so long as they're willing to fight for it.

That's who Superman is to me. Someone who never backs down, never shirks his self-imposed responsibility to help.

Take the simplest, most classic Superman example. Saving the cat in the tree.

How many modern heroes would bother? Homelander would vaporize the little old lady who dared to suggest he might stoop to something so mundane. Invincible probably would, but some Bad Guy would turn up at that moment and even if the little old lady survived she'd witness blood and guts hanging out (probably those of her cat, to be honest) as all hell broke loose.

Superman can move planets. Literally. Yet he makes time to save the cat. That's why he's interesting. Why he's a character I want more of. He's hope personified. He cares, and he's never above demonstrating it. The modern sensibility is Superman should cash in, should bid his services out to the wealthiest buyer.

Captain America is the closest to Superman to me. Not in powerset, which honestly is one of the least interesting elements of Superman. Except for how his immense power helps put his caring and sense of responsibility into better context. If he's that powerful, and yet will help even the littlest person with the most insignificant problem ... what will he do when it's a really big problem? Against really big danger?

The MCU never really explored street-level Superhero stuff. Just on Netflix, in the Daredevil and related New York properties. We never got to see Steve Rogers dealing with the little things. But even despite that, you always got the sense that MCU Steve was exactly like Superman.

No matter the odds, no matter anything, he fought for, stood up for, what's right. Steve never played real-politic, never played "necessary evil" or anything else like that. The most powerful moment for me in the entire MCU is when Thanos has cracked Captain America's shield in half, while battering Steve savagely. Thanos stands there with his entire army assembled behind him, and Steve stands up one more time to face him. To continue the fight.

Because it's what's right. It's not about giving up. It's not about "let's be real" or "face the music." The right thing was to defy Thanos, and that's who Steve Rogers is. The guy who can do it all day.

That's what I want Superman back for. Not this bullshit Snyder was shoveling, with a mopey Superman who withdraws from the world and ponders giving up or letting go. I want the Superman who saves the cat.

I need that guy. I need those stories. Life isn't giving them to me except in fiction. Okay, fine. If that's all we get, then at least maybe some of us can dream a little while we lose ourselves in those better worlds. Universes where heroes still exist and will fight the good fight.

And sometimes dreams come true. Sometimes you just need to be shown that they can exist. Sometimes you just need a good story to light a fire under the right people, and maybe the world can change just a little bit for the better.