Glass Onion is my favourite Superman film just like Attack The Block is my favourite Spider-Man film. Some small spoilers as to whyā¦
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Spoilers for Glass Onion lie headā¦
What does Superman stand for? What do his fans want the character to represent? And will they find it, quite unexpectedly, in
Glass Onion?
To explain what Iām getting at, Iāll need to dip into spoilers for Rian Johnsonās new
Knives Out follow-up. Hopefully youāve been able to see this remarkable film in the cinema this week; otherwise I recommend checking it out on Netflix in December and then reading this post only after that. But first, a little recap of recent Superman sentiment.
The incumbent cinematic Kal-El, son of Krypton, is Henry Cavill. Very recently he talked up possibilities of shooting some new Superman projects and expressed his desire to capture some āhope, optimism, and joyā with the role.
Some might say this is a far cry from Cavillās first turn under the S-shield and spandex, if not his subsequent appearances too. Many have criticised
Man Of Steel especially, with its rendition of an angry, city-devestating, neck-snapping Kal-El, for ābetrayingā the characterās comic book origins.
Several times now Iāve bumped into the very same exemplar of what Superman can ā and, according to hordes of his fans,
should ā be a paragon of. Itās a single page of
All-Star Superman #10, written by Grant Morrison, pencilled by Frank Quitely and inked and coloured by Jamie Grant, and it ripples back and forth across social media like an echo of one, extremely powerful, superheroics-shaped sentiment.
In this section of the comic, Superman overhears a cry for help and flies several miles to the side of Regan, a young girl standing on a rooftop. Sheās considering the worst, but Superman tells her that, despite her fears, her doctor really
has been held up, that sheās much stronger than she thinks, and that she can trust him. In the final panel of the page, they embrace. Talk about Superman landing a punch.
Something similar takes up many more pages in the
Superman: Grounded story arc, published a few years later. There may also be many other examples I donāt know about. Thereās more than enough potency here for several renditions.
These versions of Superman
care. Heās there. Heās listening. And heās going to do whatever he can to help.

All Star Superman #10
To tell you how this relates to Benoit Blanc and
Glass Onion, Iām going to have to spoil some things. Once again, if you have yet to see the film, I suggest you turn back nowā¦
So. Thereās a beautiful scene in the middle of the film. For several reasons itās my favourite scene in the whole story. If youāve seen it, youāll remember the impact it has. This is the scene that makes this, for want of a better way of putting it, my favourite Superman movie.
Thereās a character in
Glass Onion ā and I wonāt spoil which one, again youāll know if youāve seen it ā who finds themselves in a very bad place. Something truly terrible has happened, and there seems to be no justice to offset this tragedy even slightly. Theyāve been so horribly mistreated it almost breaks my heart just to think of it.
This character has turned to Benoit Blanc for help. And how did they find him? A single line of dialogue suggests a truly beautiful answer.
āGoogle says youāre the worldās greatest detective.ā
āWorldās greatest detectiveā is an honorific thatās normally associated with Batman, I know, but in this context, I thought immediately of Superman.
The world portrayed in the Superman comics is special because of Superman. Need him, and heās there. Heāll do the incredible thing you canāt do ā however incredible, or even just something entirely simple but perfect, as demonstrated above.
The world of
Knives Out and
Glass Onion is special too. Itās because of Benoit Blanc. Google āworldās greatest detectiveā in your hour of need and up he comes. Find him and heāll listen, and heāll care, and heāll help.
And, in the situation we see in
Glass Onion, heāll even go on to tell you that he needs you to help him. Imagine that! You get Supermanās ear and he tells you that, yes, heāll put his superpowers to work righting your wrong, chasing your justice, honouring your loss, but heās going to need you to help him out. He wonāt be able to do it without
you because
youāre special too. He makes you believe you can do it ā and so you can!

Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc
Looking back at
Knives Out, something entirely similar happens with Marta. Not in the same way, but with these two stories together, the Superman-status of Benoit Blanc has been confirmed for me. These movies happen in a world where somebody is going to search for the worldās greatest detective online in the same way a character might mutter āhelp me Supermanā under their breath when theyāre alone and defeated in Metropolis or Smallville.
For a mystery hound like myself, it was almost too exciting to see the great detective Benoit Blanc raised to the status of superhero ā with all of the integrity and hopefulness youād associate with Superman. That one line of dialogue, āGoogle says youāre the worldās greatest detectiveā, conjures up a whole world where justice and truth is just one sincere chat with Benoit Blanc away. It made my heart explode with joy in just the way that the best stories of Good vs Evil do. I was overjoyed that the light of Blancās world is an eccentric sleuth ā my own idea of a movie superhero!
There are other comparisons between Blanc and Superman too, I think.
These are bigger spoilers so really donāt read on too far from here if you havenāt seen the film.
I mean it!
Thereās a swimming pool scene in the film in which Blancās attire show him being just as loosey-goosey about what constitutes outerwear and what are actually, you know, swimming trunks of some kind. Very Superman, right? Right? Okayā¦
I think the plot of
Glass Onion was inspired more by
Five Dolls For An August Moon than Superman, and by Rian Johnsonās desire to comment on reality even more than that, but the story definitely has a real Lux Luthor of a villain. Anagram fans will tell you that comparisons to one Mr Musk are woven into
Glass Onion's character names ā Elon brims with Miles Bron ā but the craven, immoral entrepeneur-type has been Supermanās nemesis for more than eight decades now.
And what a great class of villain it is. Just as despicable and worthy of our contempt as the virtues of Superman and Benoit Blanc make those characters worthy of our aspirations.
Glass Onion is my favourite Superman film much like
Attack The Block is my favourite Spider-Man film, or at least Spider-Man origin story, but maybe thatās a different story for a different time. Johnson has made a truly wonderful film here, and from the pivotal scene discussed in this post onwards, itās something even better than that.
Itās still in cinemas now (at time of writing, at least) and will be streaming on Netflix from 23 December.
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