Crucially, the New Superman Understands That Jimmy Olsen Has Rizz

Spoilers ahead for the plot of Superman.

The moment that leads to Lex Luthor’s undoing in the new Superman movie is not the Man of Steel leaping over a building in a single bound. It’s a kinda goofy-lookin’ redhead sending the journalistic equivalent of a “u up?” text. Jimmy Olsen, as played by Skyler Gisondo in writer-director James Gunn’s Superman, is the kind of guy every babe in Metropolis wants. He doesn’t just steal the show — he steals Lex Luthor’s girl.

James Gunn’s Superman takes broad inspiration from the Man of Steel’s comic-book history, including some of its sillier side; this colorful Superman has a superpowered dog and says “gosh darn it” instead of swearing. Gisondo’s version of the character fits right into this tone. Boyish and enthusiastic, his Jimmy isn’t so much a hero in disguise as an average guy living in Metropolis. In a world full of metahumans and superbeings, it’s somehow this plucky normie whom women swoon over. And yet, watching an almost put-upon Jimmy brush off a woman’s attempt to flirt at a coffee shop while he tries to do his job, you don’t not get it.

Introduced in the film as a third wheel during one of Clark Kent (David Corenswet) and Lois Lane’s (Rachel Brosnahan) conversations at the Daily Planet and written off largely as an annoyance by Wendell Pierce’s editor-in-chief, Perry White, Olsen soon proves his worth when he reveals he has a secret source inside Lex Luthor’s inner circle. It’s Lex’s selfie-taking girlfriend, Eve Teschmacher, a total knockout played by one-time Victoria’s Secret Angel Sara Sampaio, who somehow dated Olsen and still has the hots for him even though he dumped her for having “shrimplike toes.” Later in the movie, Eve offers to send Olsen incriminating evidence on the condition that they hang out. He almost turns down the opportunity because he doesn’t want to spend a whole weekend with her. This sidekick is kind of a fuckboy. But longtime fans of Jimmy Olsen should know he’s always had a special sort of rizz.

Throughout his surprisingly storied comics history, Olsen has consistently been a winning character. In several comics, he tried and failed to capture the heart of Lois Lane’s sister, Lucy, but in the comic that most directly inspired Gunn’s movie, All-Star Superman, he won a girl back by writing a love letter on the moon. The game’s been there. In nearly every comics appearance, Olsen is inherently something of a dweeb; a hanger-on to Lois and Clark who looks up to them and doesn’t always get respect back. He can be petty, he can be dumb, and he’s very much the epitome of a secondary character in Superman’s life. And yet he has a cocky confidence that’s not entirely unearned. Olsen is a cad who time and time again shows that he deserves to be there, helping save the day through some combination of confidence, luck, and blithe guile.

No movie adaptation until now has figured out what to do with him. Marc McClure played Jimmy in 1978’s Superman, and McClure would reprise the role in all three sequels and the Supergirl spinoff, making him the only actor and character to appear in every film. McClure mostly leaned into the hapless side of the character; his Jimmy is a well-meaning fool whom Superman just needs to save. Zack Snyder’s grimdark movie series did Jimmy even dirtier. In Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Michael Cassidy plays a CIA agent who is killed in an explosion in an opening set piece. If you didn’t watch the “Ultimate Edition” director’s cut, you would never know that the deceased, who is nameless in the theatrical edition, was the Snyderverse’s Jimmy Olsen.

Thank goodness, then, for Gunn’s Superman, which saw Olsen’s potential and realized just how much of a catch he was — just like Lex Luthor’s hot girlfriend did. Here’s hoping that Jimmy gets a chance to flirt with Wonder Woman in some future DCU movie.