
There are so many things about Superman I get tired of hearing because it’s wrong. He’s not boring. He’s not a “boy scout”. He’s not too powerful (in the right hands). He’s not “Supergod”, he’s SuperMAN. He can be defeated without getting beat up or killed. He is doing more than wearing glasses as Clark Kent. He and Lois have a fine…love life. The list goes on forever of stupid takes on Superman. Not personal tastes, mind you. That too powerful thing…if superpowered superheroes aren’t your thing, that’s fine. He is not the most powerful being in the universe, and he doesn’t have to be, though his powers can lead to good stories if you understand the characters and the world he lives in.
The one we’re talking about just got spit out by James Gunn, of James Gunn’s Superman By James Gunn fame. I hear he’s directing a movie with “Superman” in the title.
Because Kal-El comes from a little piece of space debris that used to be a planet called Krypton, there’s this annoying opinion, usually among activists easier to claim the most famous superhero as “one of us” but not limited to that, treating Superman as some immigrant allegory. They even try to say it goes back to the very beginning, except that Jerry Siegel was born in the US and Joe Shuster was born in Canada, which is still North America and rarely is anyone from Canada treated as an “immigrant” the same way other countries are. Possibly because our cultures are similar enough, but this is a storytelling site. Treating Clark Kent like he’s South American or something is a storytelling issue, though, because these people try to cast Superman’s story as that of an immigrant. Except that was never the case. “Krypton” was just an excuse to explain his superhuman abilities before the Silver Age leaned heavily on sci-fi and started showing us more of the place pre-explosion.
That didn’t stop James Gunn from going to UK news site The Times and trying to convince everyone that Superman has “always been political” and that it’s the story of an immigrant. Gunn didn’t want to do a Superman movie initially because he said he didn’t know what to do with the character. Days away from James Gunn’s Superman By James Gunn hitting theaters, and we have more evidence he still doesn’t.
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No, James Gunn, Superman Is NOT An Immigrant! (but I’ll tell you who is)
There are so many things about Superman I get tired of hearing because it’s wrong. He’s not boring. He’s not a “boy scout”. He’s not too powerful (in the right hands). He’s not “Supergod”, he’s SuperMAN. He can be defeated without getting beat up or killed. He is doing more than wearing glasses as Clark Kent. He and Lois have a fine…love life. The list goes on forever of stupid takes on Superman. Not personal tastes, mind you. That too powerful thing…if superpowered superheroes aren’t your thing, that’s fine. He is not the most powerful being in the universe, and he doesn’t have to be, though his powers can lead to good stories if you understand the characters and the world he lives in.
The one we’re talking about just got spit out by James Gunn, of James Gunn’s Superman By James Gunn fame. I hear he’s directing a movie with “Superman” in the title.
Because Kal-El comes from a little piece of space debris that used to be a planet called Krypton, there’s this annoying opinion, usually among activists easier to claim the most famous superhero as “one of us” but not limited to that, treating Superman as some immigrant allegory. They even try to say it goes back to the very beginning, except that Jerry Siegel was born in the US and Joe Shuster was born in Canada, which is still North America and rarely is anyone from Canada treated as an “immigrant” the same way other countries are. Possibly because our cultures are similar enough, but this is a storytelling site. Treating Clark Kent like he’s South American or something is a storytelling issue, though, because these people try to cast Superman’s story as that of an immigrant. Except that was never the case. “Krypton” was just an excuse to explain his superhuman abilities before the Silver Age leaned heavily on sci-fi and started showing us more of the place pre-explosion.
That didn’t stop James Gunn from going to UK news site The Times and trying to convince everyone that Superman has “always been political” and that it’s the story of an immigrant. Gunn didn’t want to do a Superman movie initially because he said he didn’t know what to do with the character. Days away from James Gunn’s Superman By James Gunn hitting theaters, and we have more evidence he still doesn’t.
Continue reading →
Tell others about the Spotlight:
Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on July 8, 2025 in DC Spotlight, Movie Spotlight and tagged Clark Kent, commentary, DC Studios, James Gunn, James Gunn's Superman, Superman.
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