The superhero genre continues to be wildly popular, and the genre is going throughout big changes thanks to co-CEO James Gunn crafting a brand new DC Universe. The first slate of projects is titled Gods and Monsters, and Superman was the premiere entry in theaters. Gunn directed and wrote that blockbuster, and recently addressed one truth about the blockbuster that the internet simply wont believe him on.
Moviegoers who watched the DC movies in order were brought to a new shared universe with Superman, one where metahumans are known and accepted. A big story in that movie is how Clark Kent go involved in the international conflict between fictional countries Boravia and Jarhanpur. In an interview with Variety, he clarified that he wasn't inspired by the ongoing war between Palestine and Israel when writing the DC flick. In his words:
I’m not so narcissistic as to think of the world in relationship to my TV show. I mean, there’s weird things with this show. There were weird things with Superman. Absolutely 100% of that movie was written and done before anything ever happened between Israel and Palestine, and everyone continues to refuse to believe that that’s not what it’s about. It’s not. It just isn’t. You can take whatever you want from that, to mean what you want, but I didn’t write it to be a stand in for Israel and Palestine.
Obviously the issues between these two countries is complicated and goes back years, but it looks like Superman was written before things escalated between Israel and Palestine. And Gunn maintains that he wasn't trying to offer commentary on that particular issue when crafting Boravia and Jarhanpur's story. Alas, it doesn't sound like folks believe him.
Upcoming DC movies take years to finally arrive in theaters, so Gunn's comments do make sense. And since Superman was the first DCU movie to hit theaters, James Gunn was doing some very specific storytelling and world-building. And he maintains the story with Boravia and Jarhanpur was in motion before thing escalated in the Middle East IRL.
Superman did well at the box office, and now can be re-watched with a HBO Max subscription. As the conflict between Palestine and Israel continues to make headlines and inspire activism, it tracks that audiences might see the connection with the international storyline at the center of the DC flick.
Of course, Gunn also isn't opposed to addressing real-life issues within the DCU. The most recent episode of Peacemaker Season 2 had a huge twist, revealing the alternate universe was actually full of Nazis. Only time will tell how things will shake up in its final entries.
Superman and Peacemaker are both streaming on HBO Max. The next DC movie hitting theaters will be Supergirl on June 26th as part of the 2026 movie release list. We'll just have to wait and see if the internet ever believes Gunn's above comments.
