Review: The Perfect Rift In The Man Of Steel’s Theme Song

The Ever Importance of the ‘The Perfect Fifth’ in a Hero’s Score like ‘Superman’

*SPOILERS AHEAD: For ‘Superman’ (2025)

It is in itself a sight to behold, however brief it may be when found: a little boy raising his Superman action figure into the air, as the epitome of a heroic reprise of the Man of Steel’s theme song surrounds him.

To give context, such can be viewed when perhaps doomscrolling through instagram’s ‘Reels’ tab, and you by chance happen to follow David Fleming, who took the helm of creating the score alongside John Murphy for 2025’s ‘Superman’, directed by James Gunn.

The reprisal of the theme in question is his own, and the aforementioned boy beside him – his son, no doubt fueling the auditory vision of the song as he does what all children have done since the very inception of Superman all those years ago, and that’s watch him soar on the very winds of hope.

However, just as naturally as it comes to a child, so does the swell of said hope and admiration come to any adult who has grown up with the originating iteration of Superman, and his original score, which was a gift given on to all of both cinema and music from none other than John Williams, who is equal parts veteran and legend in the film composition game.

We – as well as Fleming – have him to thank for the foundation of what we now have, and that is a stunning tribute to the superhero of superheroes, as well the continuation of a musical pattern that moves us as an audience to this day.

And that pattern is what is known as the perfect fifth.

The Perfect Fifth (noun): An interval of seven semitones (half steps) between 2 notes.

The above definition reflects that of the Music Theory Academy.

Perhaps, to put it in layman’s terms (for those of us who love music, but know very little about its  makings), the perfect fifth is the infamous lilt in a song that brings about that bright, sunny and unkempt joyous feeling within the nearest listener; or in this particular case, not just a listener, but a most nostalgic spectator.

Rather than provide the technical examples of what it may look like with the keys C and G on a piano, which may be to some an overwhelming amount of incomprehensible information, it may be better to show it in the way of what we have seen – and heard – in films instead.

Think Charlie in ‘Willie Wonka & The Chocolate Factory’, and the rewarding cacophony of strings and brass that envelopes the audience as well as the boy himself when he holds the very last golden ticket in his hands.

Then after that, remember just as quickly ‘Rocky’, when Balboa – though having not won the fight – won the evening and the hearts of all the world after holding his own against Apollo Creed, his theme song practically playing hand-in-hand with the chorus of his newfound fans.

And now, we have this newest version of ‘Superman’.

Here, we finally dissect what Fleming has ambitiously offered, and what audiences and listeners have all but devoured as a result. Especially when it came to not just the overall tributing score, but to one particular version of it within the film that steals all the hope and overwhelming salvation belonging to Superman for itself in a single scene; and in the best way possible.

The latter – when after struggling to start her car underneath a falling building, a woman beholds Superman, who swoops in and keeps it aloft just enough for her to make it to safety on the other side. And the song that plays as she looks back, and sees him suspended victoriously amidst the dust like a beacon – apparently called ‘The Rift’.

Rift (noun): A crack, split, or break in something.

For something that is named after what could be defined as an innately negative term, what it stands for in that moment of heroism would – with the utmost certainty – mean absolutely nothing without the score that holds it up.

In listening accordance, the song hints at the original perfect fifth given to us by Williams for but a brief second amidst its somewhat militant and ominous beginning (1:15 in listening order), and it evades us still as the tension of the scene recalled progresses.

For those who have seen it, it resurfaces the giddy expectancy of Superman, who is bound to come on screen. As for those who have only listened, it evokes a feast for the eyes behind closed lids, wherein imagination takes hold, and pure memory flies alongside it with no doubt the mixture of colorful visages of Superman in the comics, as well as his likenesses in the films.

Especially when 4:15 of the song comes to pass, and perhaps both the viewer and the listener’s imaginations combine within the uproarious splendor of the sudden major chords, coming in after a rumble of silence that feels like the rocks trickling from an impending avalanche of good fortune, all upon the vigorous mainstay of the minor, which was at first dominant.

Superman is here! You can see it if you are there, and even hear it if you aren’t yet. And then, proceeding on to 4:35, it once more – as it does throughout the film – makes itself known: the original perfect fifth.

Gifted by Williams, polished and made victoriously pristine by Fleming with staccato bursts of percussion alongside the practically choral brass and strings. This reprisal is singular amidst its worthy predecessors, in that it influences while it showcases. 

It showcases that our Superman – as superhuman and otherworldly as he may be – rises above the wreckage and destruction as not only a testament to his impenetrable nature, but as a proud statement of his earthly humanity.

Rather than shoot off into the sky to immediately pursue Lex Luthor, there is a pause; just as the score itself pauses, as if waiting most excitingly to show the audience, and even its blind listeners, what comes next. And what it suddenly unveils, it emerges from a stifling stillness as Superman does from the dust – he stayed just long enough to see that the one woman he meant to save made it to the other side, safe and sound. 

And that, in result, influences one of the centermost sensations that is essential in viewing Superman, no matter the iteration; no matter the key – Hope.

Hope (noun): A feeling of expectation or desire for a certain thing to happen.

‘The Rift’ stands out amidst its lovingly orchestrated family of reprisals that surrounds it by way of taking on the mantle of reminder, rather than just a repeater of what has already been heard.

Be it throughout the film or throughout time, each different take of Superman comes to pass, and is henceforth deliberated upon by the ever critically growing mass that is several generations of Superman fans. With each of those generations, there’s an expectation to be the better, truer, more loyal adaptation of the hero who is synonymous – if not the epitome – of the word hero itself. 

What better way, then, to cease such potential infighting, than to ring true the wordless and yet epic anthem known to all in a new form that yet still harkens what is unanimously loved by all those who still believe in the Man of Steel?

What better way to split from the established assumptions of what Superman apparently should be, than evoke in the universally understood medium of music, the idea of what he could be now – and that is what he thematically always has been? And that is the major swell that swoops in triumphantly, when all feels dark and hopeless.

An immortal perfect fifth within a song, belonging to one storied hero, who is himself, the perfect fifth of all superhero themes. Both in this generation, and may it be witnessed in the form of a young boy and his action figure, in the ones to come.