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“In a bid to kickoff a new era for DC Studios, James Gunn’s ‘Superman’ opened with $122 million in U.S. and Canada ticket sales over the weekend… As an American icon, ‘Superman’ also attracted political discourse at home. Some right-wing commentators criticized the movie as ‘woke’ after Gunn described the superhero from Krypton as ‘an immigrant.’ On X, the White House posted an image of President Donald Trump as Superman.” AP News
The left generally argues that Superman has always been political.
“Created by two Jewish American sons of immigrants, Superman’s origin was modeled after Moses. His birth name is Kal-El, which is Hebrew for ‘voice of God.’ Like the Biblical prophet, Superman’s parents sent him as a baby to a foreign land to escape certain death. He is literally an undocumented immigrant who crash-lands in Smallville, Kansas, and is given refuge by two farmers who decide to give him a secret identity and raise him with love…
“Although he’s never battled the Old Testament pharaoh, Superman has fought Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan, and Brainiac over the past 90 years. However, his greatest nemesis remains Lex Luthor, a self-absorbed, sociopathic billionaire whose immense privileges and wealth can’t compensate for his fragile ego and deep-seated insecurity. Sound familiar?… There’s no need to be shy, coy, or demure about owning Superman’s rich history of battling fascists and protecting the defenseless.”
Wajahat Ali, The Left Hook
“The Fox News uproar denouncing the film as ‘superwoke’ seems more like fauxtrage than actual outrage. Most of the network’s speculation about the movie is simply incorrect. The hero in Gunn’s Superman does not undertake any kind of left-wing activism, and the movie does not comment on divisive current events from real life. Instead, Corenswet’s Man of Steel could only be accused of overdosing on optimism…
“The smear campaign [also] misfired. ‘Superman Soars to $122 Million,’ Variety reported on Sunday… That was just the domestic gross; internationally, it pulled in an additional $95 million for a robust total of $217 million, which nearly covers the studio’s production cost.”
Anthony Breznican, Vanity Fair
Some argue, “[The film] has a Benjamin Netanyahu stand-in, who literally calls for the blood of every Jarhanpurian to spill. The line is the most shocking thing said in the film, so irrefutably aligned with the violent rhetoric that Israel has parroted in its genocide of the Palestinian people, that it took me aback…
“Superman stops a genocide of an entire people by a militant colonial state that has the support of billionaires who have the government in their pocket! An immigrant is the hero! Online trolls are depicted as monkeys in a lab!… This is a superhero film that throws punches and doesn’t care which conservative mouthpiece they hit. Gunn isn’t trying to change the minds of people who have made theirs up; he’s trying to change the hearts of people who haven’t had theirs grow entirely cold.”
Coleman Spilde, Salon
The right generally argues that the movie is not pushing left-wing political ideology.
The right generally argues that the movie is not pushing left-wing political ideology.
“Superman was thought to have carried [a woke] message thanks to Variety's red carpet reporter Marc Malkin, who was doing his absolute best to get the cast and crew to say something negative about MAGA and the fight against illegal immigration by tying superman to the immigrant crowd. Gunn wisely didn't bite on the question, but Malkin still grossly misrepresented his reply to fit his own narrative anyway…
“Conservative media bit on the bait, and before you knew it, talking heads were bashing the film as woke. I'm glad to say it's not. Not even a little bit. James Gunn did an excellent job of doing exactly what he said he did, which was make a film that everybody can enjoy.”
Brandon Morse, RedState
“After years and years of Hollywood films attempting to obliterate masculinity like bad underarm odor, Superman struck me as a relatively positive role model. The film was cheesy and sophomoric, but honestly, isn’t that what summer films for young people are supposed to be? This film seemed more like a ‘Star Wars’ or a ‘Jaws’ than like a ‘Snow White’—perhaps the most badly woke movie of modern times.”
James Carafano, Daily Signal
Some argue, “The new ‘Superman’ film would’ve been great if I didn’t know just how ridiculously liberal Hollywood was. In fact, if I could suspend my knowledge of our current ‘everything in entertainment must be political’ world, I would’ve really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, all of the ‘reading in between the lines’ commentary in the plot of the film ruined the latest in the reboot of the DC Universe for me…
“The movie starts with not only the fact that he’s an alien—did I mention that?—but that he stopped Israel from wiping out Palestine—or as they’re called in this film, Boravia and Jarhanpur. The evil U.S. government is so upset that Superman would unilaterally decide to stop a war and save the pure and innocent Pales… I mean Jarhanpurians that they’re quickly convinced by Lex Luthor and his band of bad guys to turn on Superman…
“The evil, rich, tech genius who is working with the evil U.S. government to help Isra…I mean Boravia also basically runs a massive social media company. It was at this point that I groaned and realized that they were trying to imply that Luthor was Elon Musk… This movie is fun if for some reason you can get over every single intentional passive reference to current politics. But in reality, it’s just an empty shell of a superhero film wrapped around nonstop political messaging.”
Tim Young, Daily Signal
