Joe Hildebrand opinion: New Superman film is beyond the woke and right

Woke or not, one thing is for sure, Superman is the most unifying force we have seen on this planet since another man swung by two thousand years ago, writes Joe Hildebrand.

Superman 2025.

Wokeism is like fascism. Once you start looking for it you see it everywhere.

Thus posh socialists think that everything they don’t like is fascist, such as Israel, free speech and bodily hygiene.

Those on the right too can equally see wokeness in places where it isn’t, such as the planet Krypton.

And so it was that the world received the shock revelation that the latest thing to go woke was – horror of horrors! – Superman.

This was triggered by the bombshell dropped by writer-director James Gunn that his movie was ultimately a story about an immigrant who comes to America.

Soon the internet was on fire with apocalyptic warnings that Superman would go the way of Disney’s Snow White, which went down like an Italian soccer player.

Donald Trump as Superman. Picture: X/The White House

Even the White House got in on the action, posting a meme with Donald Trump as the Man of Steel – although these days man of steel tariffs is more like it.

And of course we all know what happened to Jaguar after it launched its, shall we say, “courageous” ad campaign that seemed to depict some kind of gender-fluid paintball match gone horribly wrong.

It was all good clean fun. Now that the right knows it too can do cancel culture, the whole spectacle has become a lot more popcorn-worthy.

There was just one problem. Unlike computer-generated dwarfs or non-binary EVs, I really like Superman.

I love him. For me and millions of others, he is a an almost Christ-like figure of moral strength and comfort.

And that is why with the advent of every new iteration of Superman there is an intensity of argument you don’t see with any other superhero and why Gunn’s offhand comments sparked a global backlash.

There was even a furious on-air debate about whether Superman was an immigrant or a refugee, which was presumably resolved when the participants reached for their dictionaries and realised that a refugee is a type of immigrant.

But that is what Superman means to us. It is just like the early Christian church in which bishops argued to the death over the precise nature of Christ and his relationship to God and humankind.

Every time a new incarnation of Superman comes out it is almost like a mini-reformation – not just for comic book geeks but also for mainstream Americans for whom he has been baked into popular and national culture for almost a century.

Pictured is David Corenswet as Superman.

By fighting for truth, justice and the American way, Superman presents a version of the American story that Americans can be unequivocally proud of, free from the taint of politics or compromise or any ideology more specific than “doing good”.

When he is at risk of being co-opted for a political side, people get very upset – especially when it isn’t the side they’re on.

Thus the anxiety of conservatives when they hear people tell them that Superman has gone “woke”.

This is fed by wokesters who try to claim Superman for themselves with equally little justification.

The BBC even published a think piece titled “He was a violent socialist: How Superman started out as a radical rebel” and The Guardian helpfully added “Of course Superman is woke, he fights injustice.”

But the really telling thing is that both outlets panned the movie.

It seems Superman wasn’t woke enough.

Scene from James Gunn's new movie Superman.

Yet despite people on the right warning people off it and the usual useful idiots on the left paving the way for them, Superman has been a hit. It has highest rating for any Superman movie since the 1978 original, as well as a record opening for any movie this year.

The vast majority of reviews, more than 80 per cent, are positive. And as at least two inner-city socialists were depressed to discover – as well as perhaps the odd shock-jock – it’s nothing like woke.

On the contrary, it is almost the opposite of the dour miserablism and strangled language of the woke worldview. It is a masterpiece.

In fact they actually map box office returns on to red and blue counties to see if films are more popular with one side of politics than the other. Superman sits almost uncannily dead on the average.

In other words the Man of Tomorrow is still the most unifying force we have seen on this planet since another man swung by two thousand years ago.

And yes, he is an immigrant.

Originally published as Joe Hildebrand opinion: New Superman film is beyond the woke and right