I think James Gunn misunderstands the true nature of Superman

[ad_1] Within the opening pages of All-Star Superman, Kal-El flies into the solar to avoid wasting a scientific expedition gone awry. In the meantime, again on Earth, Lois Lane is already writing up the story of his heroic rescue mission for The Every day Planet. When one other journalist calls out her questionable techniques, Lane responds bluntly: She all the time writes Superman headlines earlier than they occur, as a result of, irrespective of the obstacles, Superman all the time succeeds.

James Gunn has repeatedly pointed to All-Star Superman because the inspiration for his personal tackle the Man of Metal, even calling it “the factor that we borrow probably the most closely from” at a press occasion earlier this 12 months. Nonetheless, as a longtime fan of the character, I’d argue Gunn’s Superman is the farthest any story may very well be from that supply materials as a result of it misunderstands the true nature of Superman.

<img width="2666" height="2048" loading="lazy" decoding="async" alt="Superman glides past the surface of the sun in All-Star Superman, DC Comics (2005)." data-img-url="https://static1.polygonimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/21998196/Screenshot_2020_10_23_at_11.22.15_AM.png" src="https://static1.polygonimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/21998196/Screenshot_2020_10_23_at_11.22.15_AM.png" style="display:block;height:auto;max-width:100%;"/> Picture: Frank Quitely/DC Comics

Superman has existed for nearly a century, so it may be onerous to pin down precisely what defines him. Like all nice fictional characters, he means various things to completely different individuals, relying on how (and when) they got here to know him. Nonetheless, additionally like all nice characters, Superman maintains a core of existential that means — a shining, immutable mythology just like the purest, strongest alloy.

Superman is powerful. That’s one thing we will all agree on. DC famously saved making him extra highly effective over the many years, piling up astonishing feats till there was no restrict to what he may do.

It may be tempting for storytellers to negate Superman’s power (usually via his one weak spot, kryptonite) as a story shortcut. In any case, to maneuver the plot ahead, you generally have to sideline your unstoppable hero. However finally, Superman is all the time going to be the strongest man within the room.

<img width="1238" height="921" loading="lazy" decoding="async" alt="A tattered Superman clobbers Doomsday with an uppercut on a variant cover for The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (2022)." data-img-url="https://static1.polygonimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24092814/Death_of_Superman_Ivan_Reis.jpg" src="https://static1.polygonimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24092814/Death_of_Superman_Ivan_Reis.jpg" style="display:block;height:auto;max-width:100%;"/> Picture: Ivan Reis/DC Comics

After all, there are some exceptions. Seeing Superman get thrashed by Doomsday within the iconic comedian e book occasion Demise of Superman (1993) was efficient as a result of it was new. It was additionally the type of factor that superhero tales can solely get away with so many occasions.

All-Star Superman leans straight into his godlike power. The comedian exhibits us a Superman on the verge of loss of life on account of overexposure to Earth’s solar however nonetheless able to conducting heroic feats, together with the "Twelve Labors of Superman.”

By comparability, James Gunn’s Superman shies away from the character’s unimaginable power. This can be a Superman who loses his first combat initially of the film and recurrently struggles to defeat even minor enemies. (Some sci-fi nonsense like a “proton river” shouldn’t be an issue for the Man of Metal.) Gunn will get round this by making Superman combat a clone of himself, however his intelligent loophole undercuts one of many character’s most basic traits.

Nonetheless, the director’s method to a different core part of Superman’s id is much more irritating.

Picture: Warner Bros. Photos

Superman can be an alien, and that is the place issues can generally get difficult. Within the Superman mythos, being “alien” doesn’t simply imply coming from one other planet. It means being essentially completely different from human beings — and most significantly, superior to them.

Superman is trapped between two worlds, represented by his two units of parental figures: Jor-El and Lara (his useless Kryptonian mother and father who despatched him to Earth), and Martha and Johnathan Kent (two Kansas farmers who adopted him and taught him to be human). He's each the final son of Krypton, a world that doesn’t exist anymore; and the adopted son of Earth, a world that can all the time, by its nature, be alien to him. That is the core of Superman’s id, but it surely performs out in another way relying on who’s telling the story.

This duality is central to Gunn’s Superman, however the director makes a shocking selection. He reveals that Kal-El’s mother and father really supposed for his or her son to not solely defend the Earth, but additionally subjugate humanity. Ultimately, Gunn’s hero rejects his alien mother and father and embraces his adopted human ones in what seems like an outright denial of Kal-El’s standing as an alien.

Superman himself vocalizes this narrative selection when he confronts Lex Luthor, saying, “That's the place you have all the time been incorrect about me, Lex. I'm as human as anybody.”

Examine that to All-Star Superman, the place a dying Superman has a dream-like dialog along with his father Jor-El. As Superman laments that he left one labor unfinished, his father solutions, “Your work is completed. You may have proven them the face of the person of tomorrow. You may have given them a perfect to aspire to, embodied their highest aspirations. They'll race, and stumble, and fall, and crawl, and curse… and eventually… they'll be a part of you within the solar, Kal-El.”

That is maybe the most effective and most correct description of the that means of Superman ever put to phrases. And it’s vital that Grant Morrison, who wrote All-Star Superman, entrusts this message to Jor-El, to not Jonathan Kent. Morrison understands that Superman’s standing as a logo of power, goodness, and hope is inextricably tied to his nature as an alien.

<img width="1277" height="1520" loading="lazy" decoding="async" alt="The cover of All-Star Superman issue 4 with Superman flying in the sky with a beam of light behind him" data-img-url="https://static1.polygonimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/superman_all-star_superman_004_cover.jpg" src="https://static1.polygonimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/superman_all-star_superman_004_cover.jpg" style="display:block;height:auto;max-width:100%;"/> Picture: Frank Quitely/DC Comics

Morrison sees his hero as a god able to inspiring us all, whereas Gunn chooses to tug Superman down from Mount Olympus and produce him to our degree. It makes the character extra relatable, however at what price?

Personally, I’ll all the time choose the All-Star Superman method, epitomized in a single line of Grant Morrison’s dialogue. When Superman says he solely has moments to avoid wasting the world, Lois solutions: “That’s greater than you ever wanted.”