Those with even the most basic knowledge of the Superman story would not have been surprised to hear what filmmaker James Gunn — director of the highly-anticipated Superman reboot — stated plainly in a recent interview with The Sunday Times. “Superman is the story of America. 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,” he said.
Believe it or not, it’s true: Before there was Clark Kent of Smallville, Kansas, there was Kal-El from the planet Krypton, whose parents shipped him to Earth before their home planet was destroyed. Superman is now, and has always been, by definition, an immigrant refugee. Hell, unless there was border patrol waiting for him when he fell from outer space, that quite literally makes him an “illegal alien.”
And yet, Gunn’s comments to the Times sparked the expected backlash from the far-right, anti-immigrant MAGA set. Fox News and similar corners of the internet were ablaze with myopic insistences that any inclusion of, or even nod to, this rather essential, commonplace, and well-known part of the Superman backstory made the new movie, somehow, another piece of woke Hollywood nonsense. (Never mind the fact, too, that the iconic hero was created by the sons of European Jewish immigrants, writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster.)
Kellyanne Conway opined, “We don’t go to the movie theater to be lectured to and to have somebody throw their ideology onto us.” Jesse Watters blabbed, “You know what it says on his cape? MS13.”
And while Ben Shapiro did deign to acknowledge that Superman is an immigrant, he insisted the story is actually about a man “who assimilates to American values and then brings those classic American values to the big city” — as if the “classic American values” Superman learned in his adopted hometown of Smallville don’t all spring from the ultimate act of kindness, generosity, and faith that is embracing a stranger in a strange land. And not, you know, empowering unidentified masked goons to snatch them off the street and send them to detention camps in the Everglades.
Gunn and other members of the Superman cast were asked about the uproar at the Superman premiere in Hollywood Monday night, July 7. Gunn laughed off a question from a Variety reporter, saying, “I think this movie is for everyone. I don’t have anything to say to anybody. I’m not here to judge people. I think this is a movie about kindness, and I think that’s something everyone can relate to.”
Gunn’s brother, Sean, who plays the villain Maxwell Lord, also got a chuckle out of the red carpet question, but did offer a more blunt response. “My reaction to [the backlash] is that it is exactly what the movie is about. We support our people, you know? We love our immigrants,” he said. “Yes, Superman is an immigrant, and yes, the people that we support in this country are immigrants. And if you don’t like that, you’re not American. People who say no to immigrants are against the American way.”
And Nathan Fillion, who plays Guy Gardner/Green Lantern, gave the heartiest laugh and the quippiest response, saying, “Aw, somebody needs a hug. It’s just a movie guys.”
