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\n A baby arrives in America from a home in turmoil. A family in Kansas raises him. And he struggles to balance two identities.\n <\/p>\n
\n Comic books, TV shows and films have repeatedly recounted these details from Superman\u2019s backstory over the past 87 years. But the director of the latest big-screen adaptation drew backlash recently when he stated something that\u2019s been said<\/a> many<\/a> times<\/a> before<\/a>: Superman is an immigrant.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI mean, Superman is the story of America,\u201d director James Gunn told The Times<\/a> of London. \u201cAn 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.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Coming as the Trump administration steps up its immigration crackdowns, the comments quickly sparked criticism from right-wing media personalities. A Fox News banner blasted the new movie as \u201cSuperwoke\u201d as pundits offered their takes.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe don\u2019t go to the movie theater to be lectured to and to have somebody throw their ideology on to us,\u201d said former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway.\n <\/p>\n \n Dean Cain, an actor who starred for years on TV in \u201cLois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman\u201d and is now a conservative commentator, told TMZ<\/a> he didn\u2019t like Gunn\u2019s comments and speculated that the director\u2019s decision to invoke immigration while promoting the film could be a costly mistake.\n <\/p>\n \n So far, it hasn\u2019t been. The movie, released by CNN\u2019s parent company Warner Brothers Discovery, finished No. 1 on its opening weekend<\/a> with $122 million in domestic ticket sales and continues to draw large audiences<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n And longtime fans and historians of the comic books note that Gunn\u2019s comments weren\u2019t superimposing a new storyline on the beloved hero.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe idea of Superman being an immigrant, or maybe a refugee, has been part of the character\u2019s mythos since the very beginning. It\u2019s not something he invented or tried to shoehorn in,\u201d says Danny Fingeroth, author<\/a> of \u201cSuperman on the Couch: What Comic Book Heroes Really Tell Us About Ourselves and Our Society.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The first Superman story, published in 1938, stated he was sent to Earth from Krypton, a fictional doomed planet.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt makes him not an immigrant of choice. It makes him an immigrant of necessity\u2026a refugee,\u201d Fingeroth says. \u201cHe\u2019s someone who comes to Earth and to America, to then blend in and become as American as mom, the flag and apple pie.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n And, Fingeroth says, there are a lot of good reasons why these details are such a key part of Superman\u2019s story.\n <\/p>\n \n Take the comic\u2019s creators, for example.\n <\/p>\n \n Artist Joe Shuster and writer Jerry Siegel were both the children of Jewish immigrants who\u2019d fled rising antisemitism in Europe.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cJust given their backgrounds and their sympathies, I think it\u2019s always been important that Superman comes from somewhere else,\u201d Fingeroth says.\n <\/p>\n \n The Cleveland-based duo wrote Superman\u2019s story as World War II loomed. The first page of his story describes him as \u201cchampion of the oppressed.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe clouds of fascism are rolling through Europe. There\u2019s echoes of it here in America \u2026 and Superman\u2019s early adventure are fighting for the little guy, fighting for abused women, fighting for exploited mine workers, fighting against corrupt politicians,\u201d Fingeroth says.\n <\/p>\n \n Even before America was fighting Nazis in World War II, Superman was fighting them on comic book pages, he says.\n <\/p>\n \n Through it all, \u201cSuperman is the immigrant embodying the best of American qualities, even though he\u2019s from somewhere else.\u201d\n <\/p>\n What advocacy groups and professors have seen in Superman<\/p>\n \n It\u2019s a connection historians and immigrant rights advocates have made, too.\n <\/p>\n \n More than a decade ago, comic book historian Craig This organized a panel at Wright State University highlighting the immigrant backgrounds of Superman and Wonder Woman. The idea resonated with the college students he was teaching at the time, he says.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cPeople were coming to this large public research university, maybe thinking that they were an outsider, and then said, \u2018Oh, wow, look, I can see these individuals as role models. I want to try and fit in. But really, it\u2019s going to be my differences that make me survive and be successful, not just here on a college campus, but also here in the United States.\u2019\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n In 2013, the organizations Define American and the Harry Potter Alliance launched a social media campaign inviting people to share selfies and their family\u2019s immigration stories with the hashtag #SupermanIsAnImmigrant.\n <\/p>\n \n Last week that campaign\u2019s creators pushed back against critics<\/a> who\u2019ve been accusing Gunn of politicizing his take on Superman.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cYou can\u2019t politicize the truth,\u201d Define American founder Jose Antonio Vargas and narrative strategist Andrew Slack wrote in The Hollywood Reporter<\/a>. \u201cSuperman has been an \u2018illegal alien\u2019 for 87 years.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n A one-time undocumented immigrant himself, Vargas says today he sees an even more important message in the superhero\u2019s story.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI think for the first time, because of this movie, because of what\u2019s happening in the country \u2026 I have people who have never talked to me about immigration talking to me about immigration,\u201d he says. \u201cSo we have people\u2019s attention. Now I think the question is, what are they going to do?\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Of course, Superman\u2019s origin is just one part of his story. And in the initial comic, it was also a convenient plot device, Fingeroth says, allowing the authors to explain his powers.\n <\/p>\n \n In some versions, Fingeroth says, \u201cSuperman\u2019s immigrant status is not mentioned.\u201d The hero could be from Metropolis or Kansas or anywhere, \u201cdepending on the era, depending on the creators.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Each version of Superman comes with its own plot twists. In the new film, for example, the backstory of the superhero\u2019s parents takes an unexpected turn.\n <\/p>\n \n Superman sometimes changes with the times. And sometimes different audiences perceive him differently.\n <\/p>\n \n Many superheroes are outsiders. And one common thread that gives them such staying power is that people from many different walks of life connect with the characters, says Fingeroth, a longtime editor of Spiderman comics.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cTheir mythos and storylines and origins speak to various aspects of the human condition, and that makes them appealing. Their adventures are enjoyed by people from a wide variety of political and social and religious backgrounds,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd yet, the myths are so powerful that they all take it as their own.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n In other words, all of us can see ourselves in Superman. And that may be a reason why so many people have such strong opinions about the character even today.\n <\/p>\n \n Last week the White House\u2019s social media accounts shared an AI-generated image based on the new movie\u2019s poster, depicting President Trump in the title role<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n A few days later, though, it wasn\u2019t the Man of Steel that the Trump administration referenced on social media when it drew a connection between a beloved sci-fi character and today\u2019s undocumented immigrants.\n <\/p>\n![\"Nicholas](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/rev-1-spmn-31173r-high-res-jpeg.jpg\")
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