DC Film Society: Adam's Rib August 2025

Truth, Justice, and ...

Midway through Superman: The Movie, Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) asks Superman (Christopher Reeve) why he’s there. Superman replies that “I’m here to fight for truth, and justice, and the American way.” Lois scoffs at this reason, kidding Superman that “You’re gonna end up fighting every elected official in this country!” When Superman: The Movie debuted in 1978, only a few years after Watergate and the Vietnam War, I’d believe that many in the audience agreed with Lois. The film pokes gentle fun at, but mostly celebrates Superman’s old-fashioned sincere patriotism. Unlike Batman or many of the Marvel superheroes, Superman never had an angle. He cared deeply about his country and his fellow human beings. Earlier in the film, when Superman rescues Lois for the first time, he simply, genuinely, calls himself, not Superman, but “A friend.”

Superman’s long-time patriotic values made some of the recent discourse all the more jarring. Several political commentators slammed Superman for being “woke.” Superman, really??!!! What’s next on the hit list: Mom, baseball, apple pie, hot dogs? The griping started after James Gunn, writer-director of the new Superman movie, said “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.” That quote seems innocuous, but it was enough to prompt one cable news commentator to remark that people “don’t go to the movie theater to be lectured to and to have somebody throw their ideology onto us.” Another pundit joked that “Superman’s cape reads ‘MS-13’ (a vicious international terrorist group).” Dean Cain, who played Superman on TV in the 90s, asked “How woke is Hollywood going to make this character?" Still others maintained that Gunn was trying to insert some radical left-wing ideology onto what should be just a summer blockbuster.

Superman got caught in the larger debate about immigration policy. Adam’s Rib is a film column, not a political one, so I will not discuss these policy issues, as serious as they are, in this forum. I will address how Gunn’s views are not adding anything to Superman that wasn’t already there. This goes back way beyond the 1978 movie to 1938, when Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel created the superhero. Both Shuster and Siegel were sons of European, Jewish immigrants. They saw the rising antisemitism around the world, Nazi Germany in particular, and created Superman at least in part, as a hero who could defend the Jews and other oppressed people. One of their influences was the Golem, a centuries old tale about a Frankenstein-like creation protecting European Jews against pogroms and other terrors.

Superman’s values remained constant during changing times. During WWII, he fought against the Nazis. In 1946, he fought against the Ku Klux Klan. In the 1950s, a Superman comic had him telling young people that “Your school, like our country, is made up of Americans of many different races, religions, and national origins. So if you hear anybody talk against a schoolmate or anyone else because of his religion, race, or national origin, don’t wait. Tell him THAT KIND OF TALK IS UN-AMERICAN.” Eight years ago in Action Comics #987, Superman protected immigrants from hate crime violence.

So if Superman hasn’t changed, what has? The disputes about immigration devolved from a legitimate debate about policy into a warped mindset where even mentioning immigrants becomes radioactive. Not only can this narrow point of view hurt people, it also fails to hold up under even the most cursory examination. My great-grandparents immigrated to America in the early 1900s. My wife immigrated here from Israel. Unless you are of Native American descent, your family came over to America at some point from somewhere else. At what point, or at how many generations does one get to then look down at immigrants? If your family has been here 5 years? 10 years? 50 years? 100? If your ancestors were on the Mayflower? Any number and any cutoff point is arbitrary and ridiculous. It would be laughable if it weren’t so harmful.

While much of Superman’s backstory is science fiction and fantasy, his immigration experience has firm roots in real history. As a little baby, Kal-El’s parents send him to Earth to escape a dying planet. Whether it’s centuries ago or more recently, parents have sent their kids to America for their safety. Many others wanted their children to grow up where they would have opportunities, where they could practice their religion openly. At its best America serves as a beacon to people around the world. The Statue of Liberty, a symbol of hope, features an inscription including “Give me your tired, your poor. Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” The most patriotic American I will likely ever meet was a Holocaust survivor who spoke at my high school. She described her concentration camp liberation in such vivid terms that I could picture it clearly. Her world was gray, both figuratively and literally, after she had suffered so much. Slowly, off in the distance, she saw bright colors. As the brightness moved closer, she saw that those colors were the red, white and blue of the American flag. As she shared what that flag, and what it represented, meant to her I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room.

At its best America welcomed immigrants and enabled them to thrive. There are too many stories to include here, but I’ll just touch on some from film history. Most of the film studios were created by first- or second-generation immigrants. Frank Capra, Billy Wilder, Ernst Lubitsch, Fritz Lang and Alfred Hitchcock are a few of many immigrants that helped shape what movies became. What many consider the quintessential American movie, Casablanca, was directed by a Hungarian immigrant, Michael Curtiz, and featured many real-life refugees in its cast.

Superman’s fit with the very American immigrant tradition was set in the back of my mind as I finally saw the new film. While not flawless, Superman brought back the fun missing from the depressing Zack Snyder films of the last decade. David Corenswet fit the title role perfectly, with Rachel Brosnahan and Nicholas Hoult shining as Lois Lane and Lex Luthor. Contrary to the misplaced hype and fear, the film does not preach. It’s not a message movie. Audiences on the left wing, right wing and everything in between can enjoy Superman. Still, few people go into a movie with a completely blank slate. Audiences bring their own ideas with them, and I am no exception.

Superman features one exchange that, while very nonpolitical, struck a chord with me in light of the current discourse. After Superman tells Luthor that he’s driven by envy, the villain replies “I’m aware envy consumes my every waking moment. I know when they mention Galileo or Einstein or one of these other twits in the same breath as me, I feel a tide of vomit burn the back of my throat! But at least Galileo did something. He wasn't some dopey Venusian catapulted onto this planet just to have the world fawn over him! Because his strength illuminates how WEAK we all really are! So, my envy is a calling! It is the sole hope for humanity.” In some ways that’s a typical villain creed, but what resonates with me is the zero-sum game. If someone else is strong, the rest of us are weak. Or, maybe if people from foreign lands come here and prosper, that diminishes the rest of us. They will take our jobs, taint our gene pool, or drain our resources.

Superman’s response, while also nonpolitical, had a similar resonance: “I am as human as anyone. I love, I-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 that I can. I screw up all the time, but that is being human, and that’s my greatest strength. And someday, I hope, for the sake of the world, you understand that it’s yours too.”

Critic Rober Ebert once called movies “empathy machines.” Superman’s statement is about empathy, that he defines himself more by what he has in common with his fellow man than how he stands apart. Empathy, focusing on how we are similar, feels sorely lacking in the debate about immigration and so many other things. I’m not so naļve as to believe a movie will change any of that, but maybe some will take a second to think about Superman’s values. To me Superman still stands for truth, and justice, and the American way. His critics stand for something else.

Adam Spector
August 1, 2025