In a cinematic landscape where spoilers often leak months in advance, Superman managed to pull off a twist that not many were expecting. Director James Gunn and his team kept one of the film's most impactful surprises under wraps, delivering a reveal that altered the entire movie. The most surprising part of this reveal was that it involves two characters no one could've seen coming.
Superman is off to a strong start, before opening on Friday, July 11, earning praise from critics for its heartfelt storytelling, staying true to DC Comics, and its sense of optimism. The film currently boasts an impressive 85% on Rotten Tomatoes, signaling an overwhelmingly positive reception.
David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, and Nicholas Hoult have all been singled out for their standout performances, each bringing fresh energy to iconic roles. But it's two supporting characters, buried deeper in the cast list, who delivered one of the film's most surprising and impactful twists.
The rest of this article will feature spoilers for Superman.
Eve Teschmacher and Jimmy Olsen Twist Explained
No one would believe that Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo) and Eve Teschmacher (Sara Sampaio) are the heroes of Superman, sort of.
In Superman, Lois Lane becomes increasingly convinced that Lex Luthor is up to no good, more than her colleagues at The Daily Planet, including Jimmy Olsen, are willing to believe.
As Superman has been trying to prevent the militaristic nation of Boravia from invading its smaller neighbor Jarhanpur, Lois uncovers a disturbing connection: Lex is secretly working with Boravia to benefit from the potential war. But when Lois hits a dead end with her investigation, Jimmy unexpectedly becomes the key to breaking the story open.
In this version of the character, Jimmy is a charming ladies' man, with a few women in the Planet eyeing him earlier in the movie. Jimmy tells Lois he has a source, which audiences quickly realize is one of his past flings, who turns out to be none other than Eve Teschmacher, Lex Luthor's girlfriend.
Throughout the film, audiences have seen Eve standing inside LuthorCorp or beside Lex, The Engineer, and Ultraman, posing for selfies with chaos around her. But beneath the surface, Eve is more complicated. While she's obsessed with Jimmy and eager to see him again, it's clear that the feeling isn't mutual, something the film plays for laughs (How could Jimmy not want Eve?!).
Eventually, Jimmy agrees to meet up with Eve, who offers him crucial intel as long as he promises to hang out with her more, including spending the entire upcoming weekend together. But the real breakthrough comes when Eve, fed up with Lex's manipulative and borderline abusive behavior, secretly tries to send Jimmy a series of texts before Lex discovers her hiding in a closet.
At first, the texts seemed useless; they were just more selfies. But when Jimmy and Lois take a closer look, they realize the backgrounds reveal incriminating details: blueprints, documents, and maps showing Lex's scheme to gain control over parts of Jarhanpur after Boravia's invasion.
This discovery sparks a media frenzy at The Daily Planet (while Metropolis is being split in half), as the team rushes to publish the truth in Mr. Terrific's T-Sphere ship and expose Lex's corruption, just as Superman, Krypto, and Mr. Terrific bring Luthor down in the film's climactic final act.
It's a surprising and satisfying twist, made even more impressive by how well it was hidden in the film's marketing. Still, there were subtle clues: a trailer showed Eve dressed in all white while standing beside Lex, Ultraman, and The Engineer, all of whom were clad in black.
The color contrast, paired with actress Sampaio's pre-release comments that her character has "a heart" and a line she won’t cross, hinted that Eve might be more than just another villain, and that's exactly what she turned out to be.
