The 2025 Superman reboot, featuring David Corenswet as the iconic superhero, has been widely praised by critics and enjoyed by moviegoers, achieving strong box office results during its opening weekend. Despite its success, the film includes unsettling scenes of eye mutilation that are difficult to ignore—a shocking choice for a superhero movie that many audiences did not anticipate. The inclusion of such graphic violence aligns with director James Gunn’s known penchant for disturbing imagery, making these scenes stand out vividly.
Early in the film, Lex Luthor, played by Nicholas Hoult, unleashes a massive kaiju on Metropolis. This monstrous creature behaves more like an out-of-control natural disaster than a sentient foe, rampaging through the city and nearly harming a distracted dog. The Justice Gang—consisting of Guy Gardner/Green Lantern, Mr. Terrific, and Hawkgirl—arrive to assist Superman but find their usual attacks ineffective due to the creature’s nearly impenetrable hide.
Desperation leads the Justice Gang to target the kaiju’s eyes. Instead of a quick strike, Hawkgirl brutally swings her mace into one of them, resulting in a horrifying moment where the weapon becomes lodged inside the creature’s eye. Meanwhile, Green Lantern constructs a pointed weapon to repeatedly hammer the other eyeball. The violent nature of these moments made it hard for some viewers to watch, with the graphic depiction of eye mutilation being particularly distressing. The battle ends swiftly with the creature’s death, but this unsettling imagery is only a prelude to later, more intense scenes.
The Chilling Eye Attack on Superman by the Engineer
Near the climax, Superman faces off against Ultraman and the Engineer, portrayed by María Gabriela de Faría. In a disturbing turn, the Engineer uses her nanobot-based body to physically engulf Superman’s face, attacking his eyes and invading his lungs. This body horror sequence is notably nauseating and far more grotesque than typical superhero fight scenes, emphasizing a level of personal violation rarely seen in the genre. The assault on Superman’s eyes is a visceral reminder of the film‘s dark undertones.
Eye Trauma as a Recurring Theme in James Gunn’s Work
These gruesome eye injuries are part of a recurring theme in James Gunn’s films. The Suicide Squad, widely regarded as Gunn’s successful revitalization of the franchise, contains perhaps his most graphic depiction of eye mutilation. In the film’s finale, the anti-heroes, including Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn and Bloodsport, take on the massive psychic starfish Starro. Starro’s enormous eye is inherently unsettling, but the horror escalates when Harley leaps into the eyeball with a javelin, puncturing it deeply and swimming inside. Ratcatcher’s swarm of rats then invades Starro’s eye, consuming it from within in a grotesque visual that is difficult to forget.
James Gunn’s unsettling eye imagery isn’t limited to these two films. In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, a cybernetically enhanced walrus character is forced to keep its eyes painfully exposed, creating a chilling and disturbing image. The film also references how Nebula was subjected to eye removal and cybernetic replacements by Thanos, adding to the cycle of eye-related trauma prevalent in Gunn’s narratives.
Gunn’s Influence Extends Beyond His Directorial Work
Although James Gunn did not write or direct it, he produced Brightburn (2019), a horror film reimagining a young Superman as a terrifying villain. Brightburn features one of the most realistic and disturbing eye injuries depicted on screen—a character suffers a shattered glass shard embedded in their eye and must remove it themselves, a scene so harrowing it is often avoided to prevent nightmares. This contribution further cements Gunn’s association with eye-related horror in superhero and superhero-adjacent stories.
Personal Reflections on the Fear of Eyes in Gunn’s Films
Researching these violent eye scenes led to the discovery of ommetaphobia, the fear of eyes, which resonates with many viewers who share discomfort with eye imagery. While the writer does not experience panic attacks from these films, the sequences of eye mutilation cause significant unease, heightened by the common use of eye injuries as a horror trope. This anxiety is compounded by everyday triggers, such as close-up shots of bloodshot or injured eyes in other horror movies, indicating how powerful and disturbing eye-focused visuals can be.
Ultimately, the eye mutilation scenes in James Gunn’s movies, especially in Superman and The Suicide Squad, create lasting impressions that few fans will forget. The unsettling nature of these images adds a layer of intensity and horror uncommon in superhero films, marking Gunn’s signature style. Fans and viewers alike can expect Gunn’s work to continue pushing boundaries in visual storytelling, even if it means enduring scenes that many find deeply unsettling.
Given the reaction to these sequences, one might hope that future James Gunn projects avoid such intense focus on eyes; however, fans familiar with his style may already anticipate more shocking imagery ahead. Whatever the case, the eye mutilation scenes in these films are destined to remain some of the most haunting moments in recent superhero cinema.
Our Reader’s Queries
Q. What is James Gunn’s religion?
A. The updated, CGI version of Krypto the Superdog in Gunn’s 2025 Superman film was inspired by Ozu. Gunn, who grew up in a Catholic household, says that prayer is still significant to him. Despite this, he describes himself as being “in some ways, anti-religion.”
