This year’s adaptation of the classic Superman story not only changed the vision that society has for the character, but the movie’s presented themes have influenced society itself. “Superman” presents subplots and themes of unity, indiscriminatory acceptance and questioning parallel events in modern society. These parallels to modern experiences of the events in Gaza, the questioning of rights with recent ICE tensions, and the influence of billionaires on society forces audiences to think about their beliefs in relation to these situations and challenges their predetermined viewpoints. These thought-provoking moments throughout the movie and the lighthearted approach to these topics created a widespread buzz among audiences making this movie, which audiences can now stream for the first time at home, the most influential of the year.
Superman is portrayed by David Corenswet, with this iteration being more personable and vulnerable than the last recognizable adaptation from Zack Snyder. The man of tomorrow has reverted back to the roots of his original characteristics, presenting a nerdy kindhearted attitude, a nondiscriminatory value in the life of others and an appreciation of the human experience, all while sporting the classic red briefs from the original design.
After James Gunn’s success directing “The Suicide Squad” and his work on “Peacemaker,” Gunn was appointed co-chairman and co-CEO for DC studios in 2022. Gunn is now working to reinvent the DC cinematic universe with new characters and castings, which is introduced with his starting project, “Superman.”
In this iteration, Superman presents a theme of acceptance and the nondiscriminatory validity of everyone’s human rights. These ideals are emphasized throughout the movie, starting with the identity of Superman himself. The city of Metropolis faces societal divide over its support for Superman, especially due to anti-Superman propaganda being spread. One of the main bases for this backlash is Superman’s origins, as he is continuously called an “alien” which is used to question the validity of his human rights.
This choice of diction may be easily overlooked; however, it holds representational value to many people’s experiences in society, especially as people’s rights are being questioned on the basis of their origins.
As a Mexican American who fears for my own community as they endure the current discriminatory treatment from ICE and the U.S. government, I found Superman’s continuous defense of human rights regardless of their origins to be a subtle but powerful message that is reflective of the rights communities fight for today.
These themes force audiences to evaluate parallel situations in society, and influence them to reflect on ways they can show resistance and prevent compliance with these societal actions inflicted upon specific communities. As a big portion of superhero movie audiences are children, presenting morals of indiscriminatory equality is a necessary influence, and provides hope for children experiencing similar hate as they navigate their place in society during the U.S’s immigration tensions.
Similarly, themes of indiscriminatory acceptance are displayed through the political conflict presented as a subplot. This conflict presents a fictional country called Boravia, which is working to annex the territory of the neighboring country, Jarhanpur, by means of invasion and occupation.
Clark Kent’s viewpoint is made clear when he debates his newsroom colleagues about the ethical nature of “Superman’s” involvement in the political affair. Superman is under fire from the city’s leaders for his involvement when he inserted himself by forcing the leader of Boravia to have a conversation, where he strongly discourages the occupation of Jahranpur, without his country’s approval.
As the war continues, tensions rise leading up to a battle where Boravia invades Jarhanpur with tanks and military while citizens fight back with makeshift weapons. As they prepare to protect their home, one kid braves the frontlines by holding up a Superman flag in the hopes of help from his hero, while he silently chants his name like a prayer, even as a gun is pointed in his face.
Although these countries are fictional and not confirmed to be a direct parallel to current political tensions, many people made the comparison between these countries and the current occupation of Gaza, Palestine, by the Israeli government. This powerful depiction of the little boy putting his life on the line in the hopes of help from heroes like Superman displays the power that hope can bring to those fighting to survive similar situations. Representation of these emotions, and the realities of life and death situations, forces audiences to become aware of parallel experiences like Gaza, even if it wasn’t the creators’ initial intentions, and makes society think about how they can provide the superman-like hope to communities in need.
In Jarhanpur’s case, Superman wasn’t the one who came to their rescue. Instead another group of heroes, “Justice Gang”, who at first ignored the situation in fear of political tensions, arrived last minute motivated by the child’s bravery and Superman’s nondiscriminatory savior ideals.
I believe Gunn intentionally used these heroes instead to display an important message to audiences, especially as many people endure similar instances of their own. This message being that it doesn’t take being Superman to feel compassion and desire to save those in need, and that society can become the Superman for each other.
In addition to these reflected beliefs, Superman is portrayed with a strong moral compass on the ideals of kindness, creating an influential mindset for audiences of all ages. Superman’s empathy for life is displayed from his concern for the Jarhanpurians to the act of saving a squirrel mid-battle. This attention to detail creates a vision of Superman who’s aware of his strength but also hyper-aware of life around him and its value.
During the face-off between Superman and his antagonist Lex Luthor, the hero is insulted with the title of “alien,” which is used to question his humanity. Superman’s response was the most influential line of this movie as he claims, “I’m as human as anyone, I love, I get scared, I wake up every morning despite not knowing what to do, I put one foot in front of the other and I try to make the best choices I can,” he then validates this statement in stating, “that is being human, and that’s my greatest strength.” This monologue holds power to audiences as it frames him relatably, making his “heroic nature” attainable to anyone and places value to the vulnerability and unity of the human experience.
These details are essential to creating well-rounded role models and portraying positive masculinity that places the value of physical strength after the value of kindness. Superman emphasizes this concept in conversation with his partner Lois Lane, played by Rachel Brosnahan, about whether he is “punk rock.” Lane states that Kent trusts everyone and thinks everyone in life is beautiful, to which Kent replies, “Maybe that’s the real punk rock.”
In Gunn taking an invincibly strong character and highlighting the vulnerabilities not just in the character but the beauty of it in others is one of the most influential choices in this iteration, as it presents a morally sound and inspiring mindset to audiences.
Superman’s notorious villain Lex Luthor is presented in Gunn’s iteration with destructive billionaire influence which holds value to current audiences, as they experience the heavy influence of billionaires today. The deviant actions of Lex Luthor throughout are exposed in the end by The Daily Planet.
His crimes include: anti-Superman propaganda spread through cybernetically enhanced monkeys, the use of dangerous technology to create a pocket universe to conduct illegal experiments and engineering the war alongside Boravia’s corrupt leader by gaining wealth through weaponry sales and obtaining a portion of Jahanpur’s territory.
These actions were perpetrated in hopes of creating a public and political climate that would turn society against Superman. Although they’re the actions of a fictional supervillain, the morals and mindset behind his self-serving actions are reflective of what people see from billionaires today.
This mindset of putting financial gain above the lives of others, the manipulation of political situations to gain wealth and like-minded support and the will to justify your actions against specific groups because of their unwillingness to concede to actions are something I believe resonates with people, especially in the U.S.
The scary accuracy of Luthor’s actions paralleling modern-day disinformation campaigns, social media manipulation and the dangers of unchecked power forces audiences to evaluate the extent of billionaires’ power and deliberate amongst themselves how these actions impact them. By displaying these actions as accurate to the billionaire mindset, and the effect they had on people, Gunn has influenced people to evaluate unchecked power and bring awareness to the effects.
As a journalist, the accuracy which Gunn displays the journalistic mindset and process is refreshing and necessarily informative. At the beginning of the movie, when the newsroom debated the ethics of Superman’s political involvement, they mentioned Kent’s recent article where he conducted an interview with “Superman.” This leads to Kent and Lane having an argument about the journalistic ethics of interviewing himself, where Lane calls him out for his unethical actions.
In a society where the idea of modified news is a prominent perception about journalists and their work, it’s important to accurately portray the ethics that good journalists hold themselves to in order to educate the public on our role and diminish this wave of distrust many members of the public have with journalistic media.
While Kent works to physically fight Luthor’s actions, Lane uses journalistic investigation to expose his actions of engineering the war and personal gains. When she comes to an informative conclusion, the world is suffering from a literal tear in the earth created by Luthor’s technological negligence, creating a chasm that spreads through the surface at a rapid pace.
At this moment, Lane pitches the story revealing Luthor’s injustices to her editor-in-chief and team as they flee the newsroom while simultaneously organizing, writing and publishing the story. It’s emphasized that the speed of their work is necessary to publicly expose Luthor’s actions so he can be brought to justice. They must do all of these journalistic steps and run for their lives in the span of no more than a couple of hours.
Although the situational aspect was unrealistic, the nature of fast-paced stories is representative of how journalists must work to publish important stories, especially when they have a timely impact. The accuracy of the journalistic process of pitching, writing and ethics portrayed provides a healthy outlook on journalism. Influencing the way people view the impactful roles of journalists as they become watchdogs for society. With the environment of the traditional newsroom expected to “die,” representation like this will hopefully influence people’s outlook on the essentiality of journalism and help bring awareness to save the future of our career.
Even smaller characters exerted influence, including Krypto the “super dog” that fights beside Superman. Gunn’s iteration of Krypto is based on his own rescue dog, Ozu, in looks, short attention span and unruly habits. Although these behaviors may not be the stereotypical desired traits of a dog, this realistic depiction inspired people to adopt a Krypto of their own. In a partnership between Warner Bros and Best Friends Animal Society, an initiative was enacted to waive adoption fees to coincide with the movie’s release. This led to 454 dogs adopted nationwide in the first week of July 2025 leading up to the movie premiere. This adoption rate proves that the movie had an effective influence on audiences to adopt, as well as changing their viewpoint about the adoptability of stereotypically badly behaved dogs.
As the movie introduction into Gunn’s new DCU, “Superman” creates a lighthearted and comical adventure with subplots that force audiences to reflect on their own morals, beliefs, and predetermined knowledge. With the movie earning $217 million during its global opening weekend, and earning the title of the highest-grossing superhero movie of 2025, there is no denying that it has accumulated a widespread audience. Now, audiences can continue to experience this influential action-packed movie with its recent streaming release on HBO Max.
