Even before the movie’s release in the United States this month, the Superman reboot received criticism from conservative commentators for allegedly pandering to liberal values and “wokeness”.
Director James Gunn calling the superhero character an “immigrant” and speaking about the movie displaying “human kindness” in an interview set off the comments. But despite the outrage, it has become the most commercially successful Superman film to date, surpassing $220 million at the global box office already.
However, it has prompted a broader question: Is the franchise diverging from its roots, or simply rediscovering the inclusive spirit that defined Superman from day one?
The meaning of ‘wokeness’
The term ‘woke’, now used in common parlance in the US, has evolved from its origins in African American Vernacular English (AAVE) when it was used as slang for ‘awake’. The idea of awakening has been associated with the Civil Rights Movement in the US, and was referenced by civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
It has been featured in Black artists’ music, with political references in the lyrics. It also became associated with discussions around police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement.
In recent years, conservatives have criticised the concept as an identity-driven way of driving change. ‘Woke’ ultimately stands for maintaining vigilance, where some feel it needs to be stronger in its message, others question the very need for doing so.
Superman and the Gaza-Israel angle
For a long time, Superman was the archetype of a superhero, decades before the Marvel superheroes captured the popular imagination. For the uninitiated, the DC Comics hero came from the doomed planet of Krypton. His parents sent him to Earth to ensure his safety, and he was raised in Smallville, Kansas, by his adoptive family.
His alter ego is Clark Kent, a reporter who often gets exclusive stories on Superman’s antics for The Daily Planet newspaper. “Superman is as much a legend as he is a man: the gold standard of heroism, compassion and responsibility,” the DC website says.
Right-wing commentators have criticised the latest movie on two fronts. First, the storyline has drawn parallels with the ongoing war in Gaza. It opens with Superman (played by David Corenswet) being interviewed by his love interest and fellow Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan). Superman has just stopped the country of Boravia from invading its neighbouring Jarhanpur.
Boravia is shown as a well-armed nation with US support, while Jarhanpur lacks such resources. Some moviegoers have interpreted this as referencing Israel’s military attacks on Gaza and viewed the film’s messaging as being anti-Israel.
Gunn said in an interview, “When I wrote this, the Middle Eastern conflict wasn’t happening. So I tried to do little things to move it away from that, but it doesn’t have anything to do with the Middle East… It really is fictional.”
Moreover, the countries of Boravia and Jarhanpur originated from the comics, with Boravia first being mentioned in Superman #2 in 1939, and Jarhanpur first appearing in the JHLA#62 issue in 2002, according to the DC Comics blog.
Superman as an immigrant
Second is the immigration issue, which has been front and centre in US politics in recent years. Gunn told The Sunday Times in an interview, “I mean, Superman is the story of America. An immigrant who came from other places and populated the country, but for me, it is mostly a story that says basic human kindness is a value and is something we have lost.”
In the movie, Superman’s archnemesis, Lex Luthor, screams “ALIEN!” at him. The term “illegal alien” is often used in real-life conversations as a pejorative against immigrants, but it is also literal in Superman’s case. He responds, “I’m as human as anyone. I love, I get scared. I wake up every morning and, despite not knowing what to do, I put one foot in front of the other and I try to make the best choices I can. I screw up all the time, but that’s being human. And that’s my greatest strength…” Other similar instances depict Superman as an epitome of kindness who does not promote violence or killing.
Conservative critics argue that the character has undergone a politically charged transformation. The right-wing media organisation Fox News called the film “Superwoke,” saying it featured “pro-immigrant” themes. Kellyanne Conway, former adviser to US President Donald Trump, said, “We don’t go to the movie theatre to be lectured to, and to have somebody throw their ideology onto us.”
Actor Dean Cain, who played Superman in the 1990s, questioned whether the approach distracts from the story’s core values of “truth, justice and the American way,” calling Gunn’s statement a “mistake”. “The ‘American way’ is immigrant-friendly, tremendously immigrant-friendly. But there are rules… We can’t have everybody, society will fail. So there have to be limits,” he added.
Can Gunn be said to have made Superman “woke”?
To suggest that the latest iteration of Superman is a result of supposed excessive championing of progressive values ignores his origins in 1938, a year before World War 2. Jewish creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster crafted the “Man of Steel”, partly in response to rising fascism, an ultranationalist and authoritarian political ideology, in Europe.
1938 Action Comics #1 introducing Superman (DC Comics)
From the beginning, Superman was more than a vigilante against street crime; he represented hope and resistance against hatred. In 1940, Nazi party-owned publications like Das Schwarze Korps, of the paramilitary group Schutzstaffel (SS), even condemned the character.
Superman initially fought corrupt politicians, gangsters, and oppressive systems, but by the 1940s, he directly opposed fascist villains. The 1940 comics story How Superman Would End The War sees him bringing the villain, Adolf Hitler, to trial.
Gunn’s film also explicitly draws on classic sources that celebrated Superman’s moral backbone. A DC Comics website article says he has cited some older comics, like Superman: Birthright (2003–04), which redefine Clark Kent’s immigrant experience. Gunn has also expressed his love for the early comics, when Superman “was just punching down walls and didn’t have any heat vision or X-ray vision.”
In fact, the film harks back to the classic, more playful nature of the early comics in many other ways. The inclusion of Superman’s pet dog, Krypto, and moments like Clark cooking breakfast for Lois, or the nostalgic score referencing the iconic music composer John Williams, subtly reinforce the original’s earnest charm. This was something missing from the darker recent revivals, such as Man of Steel (2013) and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), both of which failed to impress the critics and audiences alike.
Notably, immigration reform organisation Define American launched a campaign in 2013 to coincide with the release of Man of Steel, titled “Superman is an immigrant”.
The writer is a summer intern at The Indian Express.
To suggest that the latest iteration of Superman is a result of supposed excessive championing of progressive values ignores his origins in 1938, a year before World War 2. 
1938 Action Comics #1 introducing Superman (DC Comics)
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