Over the last few days, millions of Americans have gone to the movie theater to watch James Gunn’s new “Superman,” making it the No. 1 movie in the United States.
The movie’s success is another humiliating loss for the MAGA movement, which campaigned against the film’s pro-immigrant themes. But the film is also a resounding rejection of the bitter, cynical meanness that’s been a hallmark of President Donald Trump’s second term.
Since its release on July 11, the movie has earned more than $122 million and received a rating of 83% from critics and 93% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. That resounding success follows a full-throated meltdown from the right, slamming the movie as “woke” and predicting its failure. Conservatives were triggered after Gunn said that the film is about an “immigrant that came from other places.”
Actor Dean Cain, a Trump supporter who starred as Superman in the television series “Lois & Clark,” was representative of the ill-informed right-wing complaints about the film. Cain whined that the film was “woke” and said that calling the iconic character an immigrant would “hurt” box office receipts.
Similarly, Fox News pundit Tami Lahren predicted the “woke” film’s demise.
“The new ‘Superman’ movie went woke and will probably flop,” she said.
Not only were these predictions wrong, but the right’s comments about the superhero were also woefully misinformed.
I have been a fan of Superman’s for more than 40 years, and his origin has been consistent since he debuted in Action Comics #1 in 1938. Superman, the sole survivor of the planet Krypton, landed in Kansas and was adopted by a family who passed him off as their own child. Superman is an undocumented immigrant—and he has been for all 87 years of his existence.
And the character has been “woke”—that is, a champion of social justice—since the beginning as well. Superman is described in his debut comic as a “champion of the oppressed” and a “physical marvel who has sworn to devote his existence to helping those in need.”
In that comic, Superman also fights spousal abuse, an unjust execution, and political corruption.
These are notions that have been in place since 1938 and have been part of the character in the comics published every month since. Conservatives’ complaints have demonstrated how out of touch they are with one of America’s most well-known cultural icons.
In fact, the new movie is more in touch with the classic portrayal of Superman as a beacon of hope and optimism than the character’s grittier portrayal in more recent films like “Man of Steel.”
Related | Trump declares himself Superman amid MAGA meltdown over ‘woke’ reboot
The new “Superman” was written and filmed before Trump won the 2024 election, but audiences can see the clear contrast between the film’s embrace of kindness and the daily meanness of the Trump administration.
For Trump, cruelty is the point. But for Superman, that is absolutely not the way.
Superman stands for truth and justice—the complete opposite of what MAGA is all about. He is a fantasy, an ideal that doesn’t exist in the real world.
But at the box office, despite the right’s fuming, Superman—and his values—has triumphed once again.
Republished with permission from Daily Kos.