Tens of thousands of men online have made being performatively furious about superhero movies their entire personality. It must be exhausting to have to live this way, endlessly filtering content aimed primarily at younger audiences through your woke/not-woke filter and then yelling into a webcam about it.
What’s especially amusing is when these depressing creatures clash with the reality that many of these characters have been “woke” for more than half a century. I’m thinking of criticizing the X-Men for being a metaphorical oppressed minority, Captain America punching Hitler in the face or, perhaps y’know, the entire backstory of Superman?
It’s that last one that currently has furious nerds’ panties in a twist. James Gunn gave an interview to Deadline in which he explained his Superman movie will be about: “An immigrant that came from other places and populated the country” and will focus on preserving “basic human kindness” in an unfriendly world.
Sadly, that sentiment is controversial in today’s world of Alligator Alcatraz, CECOT, and Libyan detention hellholes. Gunn anticipates the haters but has already dismissed them: “obviously there will be jerks out there who are just not kind and will take it as offensive just because it is about kindness. But screw them.”
The famously woke 1930s
Gunn was right, and these fake comic fans are united in disgust that Gunn’s Superman will be about an illegal immigrant hiding out amongst regular people as an evil billionaire does his best to hunt him down and destroy him – i.e. the same story Superman has had since literally the 1930s.
Are you kidding me…
— York_Max
They somehow made the Superman Movie woke…Hollywood is a joke pic.twitter.com/K0nNaRW19r(@maxekpunobi) July 6, 2025
It probably should also be pointed out that Superman isn’t “just” woke, he’s turbowoke. In his earliest adventures, he’s fighting crooked landlords, getting revenge on abusive husbands, and taking on the Ku Klux Klan:
Before people start saying "this is so woke", I'd like to remind you that Superman is an immigrant from the stars raised by an adopted family, hoping to change the world, all while fighting a narcissistic, egotistical, capitalist billionaire…
— Milkias Samuel (@milkias_samuel) July 6, 2025
SUPERMAN HAS ALWAYS BEEN POLITICAL! https://t.co/uvUmZ1ftYC pic.twitter.com/gaePAXjH0R
Perhaps it’s telling that an immigrant who stands up for the downtrodden, for minorities, and who fights back against corporate greed could once have been a symbol for “Truth, Justice and the American Way”. Perhaps it’s a little too obvious to point out, but modern-day America is less Superman and more Homelander.
