Superman is a Box Office Hit. But is it 'Woke'?
In James Gunn's reboot, the Man of Steel loves his girlfriend, cares about his dog, and treats people with kindness. Who could possibly object to that?
This weekend, Superman soared to the top of the box office, bringing in an impressive $217 million around the world. It’s a promising start for writer-director James Gunn as he attempts to revitalize the flagging DC Comics franchise, and for star David Corenswet, the latest actor to portray the quintessential American superhero onscreen.
The film’s success should—but probably won’t—silence the conservative naysayers who preemptively claimed the latest incarnation of the superhero, who first appeared in print 87 years ago, was too “woke.”
The controversy began when Gunn gave an interview to the Times of London.
“Superman is the story of America,” he told the paper. “An immigrant that 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 same piece, Gunn said he expected that the movie’s message would be received differently in red versus blue areas of the country. “But it is about human kindness,” he added. “Obviously, there will be jerks out there who are just not kind and will take it as offensive just because it is about kindness. But screw them.”
The folks at Fox News promptly did just that, with Kellyanne Conway complaining that “We don’t go to the movie theater to be lectured to and to have somebody throw their ideology onto us.” Jesse Watters chimed in with a racist joke that’s not worth repeating.
The discourse reached an inane low on Friday when the White House posted an altered version of the movie poster showing the president of the United States as Superman (then responded to criticism by defending its right to share “banger memes.”)
The ginned-up outrage was stupid for many reasons, starting with the fact that Superman is, quite literally, an alien. Sent to Earth by his parents back on the doomed planet of Krypton, baby Kal-El was adopted by farmers in Kansas, raised as Clark Kent, and became a reporter at The Daily Planet in Metropolis. An undocumented alien turned big-city journalist?? Truly MAGA’s worst nightmare.
It is not a stretch to describe Superman as a refugee; in fact, DC Comics has done just that.
And the character’s DNA is informed by people who saw America as a flawed place of refuge from persecution.
Superman was created in the 1930s by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, high school friends who both happened to be the children of Jewish immigrants. They brought their experiences as first-generation Americans to the superhero saga, which spoke powerfully to comic book fans at a dark time in history.
Superman was “wish fulfillment for readers who were dealing with the Great Depression in the ’30s, who were worried about their relatives in Europe with the rise of fascism,” author Bob Greenberger recently told The Ringer. Over the decades, both Superman and his motto have evolved to meet the times. He’s battled everyone from Nazis to hooded Klan members in the name of “truth, justice, and the American way.” (Or some variation thereof.)
Now, he’s taking on a maniacal billionaire stoking unrest across the globe. Sound familiar? Superman finds the Man of Steel once again at odds with his longtime archenemy, Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult), realized here as a ruthless tech oligarch. Luthor is working in cahoots with the despotic ruler of a quasi-Eastern European nation called Boravia, which has just invaded the neighboring country of Jarhanpur. Superman tries to stop the war, so Luthor—assisted by internet trolls, right-wing TV pundits, and an army of masked mercenaries—hits back with a xenophobic smear campaign.
This version of Superman—faster than a speeding bullet, yet sensitive enough to say “I love you” to Lois Lane first—feels like a conscious attempt to create a positive role model at a moment when, we are told over and over again, masculinity is in crisis. A creature of the manosphere he is not.
He is so bent on doing good that he goes out of his way to rescue a squirrel. He is devoted to his mischievous dog, Krypto, and his smart, career-oriented girlfriend (played by Rachel Brosnahan). He’s got rippling biceps, a perfect mop of inky curls, and dimples you could dive into. In what may be his most superhuman feat, Superman manages to wear those red undies on top of his blue tights without looking ridiculous. (Yes, the crimson briefs forsaken by Corenswet’s predecessor, Henry Cavill, have returned.) The only thing this Superman seems genuinely bad at is being a journalist, and even this shortcoming is understandable, given his workload.
But Superman is not completely lacking in terms of his internal struggle. A shocking discovery about his biological parents forces the superhero to consider what makes him fundamentally human despite his extraterrestrial origins.
In a climactic monologue, Superman makes the case for his own humanity: “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 is being human, and that’s my greatest strength.”
It’s possible to draw parallels between Superman and contemporary geopolitical conflicts, from Ukraine to Gaza. But the allegories are loose enough to invite numerous interpretations. (Some critics, for instance, think it’s not actually that pro-immigration.) Superman is only “woke” if you think that emotional maturity is a weakness, or that opposing indiscriminate suffering is a partisan position. (The last time I checked, Republicans were the ones getting mad about dead squirrels.)
Right-wing pundits speculated that the movie’s supposedly progressive messages would hurt its box office performance. But Superman’s first-weekend success suggests that, if anything, the conservative uproar brought more attention to the film. And, perhaps, that a hero who chooses compassion over cruel spectacle is appealing to a broad swath of the public.
“We’ve had a lot of ‘Super’ in Superman over the years, and I’m happy to have made a movie that focuses on the ‘man’ part of the equation—a kind person always looking out for those in need,” Gunn wrote on Threads over the weekend:. “That that resonates so powerfully with so many people across the world is in itself a hopeful testament to the kindness and quality of human beings.”
Meredith Blake is the culture columnist for The Contrarian
Of course it's woke. Anything reflecting a shred of decency is woke.
Woke is giving a crap about other people plain and simple. Looking forward to checking this out I am typically a Marvel guy but the DC movies are often excellent.