Superman: Man of Tomorrow (2020)
The film follows young Clark Kent during the early days of his career in Metropolis as he works as a Daily Planet intern while learning to use his powers as Superman. He faces escalating threats from Lobo and the alien Parasite, which push him toward becoming the hero the world needs.
Narrative Score
Full Plot & Ending Explained
Intro
In early Metropolis, Clark Kent is still an inexperienced Daily Planet intern and secretly operates as the “Flying Man,” using his powers in public while trying to understand his Kryptonian identity. He attends a LexCorp rocket launch with Lois Lane and others, and Lex Luthor’s negligence is exposed, while Clark also meets S.T.A.R. Labs janitor Rudy Jones, who warns him about strange extraterrestrial activity at the lab.
Turning Point 1
When a LexCorp rocket loses control and crashes toward the city, Clark rushes in as the Flying Man and stops it before it destroys Metropolis. Soon after, a mysterious trench-coated observer is revealed to be watching him, and a UFO alert brings Clark face-to-face with the alien bounty hunter Lobo, who announces that Clark has a bounty on his head because he is the last Kryptonian.
Turning Point 2
The battle with Lobo turns brutal at S.T.A.R. Labs, where Rudy is caught in the destruction and is fused with unknown substances, while Lobo learns Clark is vulnerable to kryptonite. At the height of the fight, the trench-coated figure intervenes and reveals himself as J’onn J’onzz, a Martian who distracts Lobo long enough for Clark to recover through solar energy and defeat him.
Turning Point 3
That night, J’onn tells Clark’s adoptive parents Jonathan and Martha Kent the truth about Clark’s Kryptonian origin and warns Clark to remain hidden because humans may fear aliens. Meanwhile, Rudy awakens in the hospital with a horrifying new power: he can drain life from others, turning them into empty husks, and his transformation sets off the next major crisis.
Turning Point 4
As the “Parasite,” Rudy begins feeding on people to grow stronger, and Clark tries to stop him while still learning how to be a hero. The conflict escalates as Rudy’s power increases through every attack, forcing Clark to confront both the danger Rudy poses and the fact that his own public identity is becoming more difficult to control.
Turning Point 5
Clark eventually commits more fully to being Superman, no longer just the uncertain “Flying Man,” and he takes J’onn’s warnings seriously while still refusing to hide from helping people. With Lois’s investigative work and Clark’s increasingly direct involvement, the story moves toward a final confrontation in which Clark accepts that he must stand openly as Earth’s protector.
Ending
Clark defeats Rudy/Parasite in the climactic battle and protects Metropolis from the full consequences of Rudy’s life-draining powers. By the end, Clark has embraced the Superman identity as a true public hero, while J’onn’s presence and Clark’s choice to keep helping humanity mark the close of his early origin story.
Cross-checked against Wikipedia and other public film references. View on Letterboxd ↗ The Narrative Score above is an experimental 5-axis rating, not a critic score.