The rebellious, radical Superman was dangerous. He could inspire. And so he had to be coopted.
Even before the latest Superman film premiered, it was already deemed controversial. A rather innocuous comment by director James Gunn referencing Superman’s backstory as an “immigrant that came from other places” was enough to spark a backlash among conservatives who called the movie “woke” and vowed to boycott it.
Why all the anger when this is indeed Superman’s origin story? He is sent to Earth as a refugee from a planet that is about to die.
Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who created Superman in the 1930s, were both sons of Jewish immigrants to the United States and Canada, respectively. The two projected onto Clark Kent, Superman’s alter ego, their experiences, fears and longing as two shy young men of immigrant backgrounds who struggled to fit in. Like them, their hero does not quite feel he belongs – neither as Clark, who is timid and lacks the confidence to speak up or approach others, nor as Superman, who is feared by some for being an alien.
Growing up, reading the comics, I saw in Clark Kent someone I knew too well – a hesitant, modest man, shrinking himself to fit in. I saw myself. I too was an immigrant, and I too had had to leave my country before it started falling apart.
