Everybody’s a critic these days, but even in these divided times, James Gunn’s new Superman seems to be garnering excellent reactions online. For Kellyanne Conway, though, the movie is trying to “throw their ideology on us.”
Official reviews are still embargoed, and there’s no critical consensus yet on Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes. But if the early social media reactions are anything to go by, fans can expect something more elevated, sincere, and lighthearted. Comic book movies these days don’t exactly attract high expectations. Most fans, honestly, are just hoping the movie is good—and that it somehow ties into the much-delayed, Robert Pattinson-led The Batman.
However, while on a UK promo tour, Gunn said something that might have raised eyebrows in conservative circles. The DCU boss explained that unlike past entries in the genre, his Superman won’t shy away from today’s politics. Gunn told Times UK, “I mean, 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’s the ideology Kellyanne Conway seemingly had a problem with. The supewoke “ideology” being thrown at her was the concept of human kindness. Of course, that’s not surprising considering how deeply dehumanizing immigrants have been woven into the MAGA base. When you’re joking about immigrants being eaten by alligators or posing for photo ops in cages, human kindness is about as far as you can get from what you’ve accustomed yourself to.
But that wasn’t even half of it. As Conway was rejecting this alien ideology of human kindness on Fox News’s The Five, the show’s co-host Jesse Watters joked, “You know what it says on his cape? MS-13.” Maybe they’ll photoshop that too and present it at the White House. At this point, that dangerous criminal group only gets mentioned by them when it’s time to circumvent laws anyway, so why not use it to tank a movie because you don’t like how Gunn answered an interview question.
Kellyanne on Superman: We don’t go to the movie theater to be lectured to—
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 7, 2025
Watters: You know what it says on his cape? MS13 pic.twitter.com/F1PBPeE9nf
Gunn was also asked whether his Superman would be “about politics.” Gunn clarified that it’s not just about politics, it’s about morality. In the Guardians of the Galaxy director’s eyes, Lois Lane and Superman’s moral beliefs will clash, with Superman holding onto idealism like never killing under any circumstance, while Lois pushes him to question whether there are ever exceptions.
The movie sounds excellent. During all the talk about “superhero fatigue” — a phrase that became a buzzword without meaning — nobody addressed the real issue. These films stopped being ambitious. They turned into mindless profit machines and escapism. The world is too fragile for that now; nobody feels like they can afford to zone out. For Gunn to place the apex of his career on a film that stands for something he believes in is commendable, and exactly what we need from Hollywood.
If you don’t mind the ideology of “human kindness” being thrown at you, Superman is out on July 11. Go judge it for yourself.
