7d ago

James Gunn, Nathan Fillion and more on MAGA outrage over director saying Superman is an immigrant: ‘I don’t have anything to say to anybody’ spreading hate

James Gunn, Nathan Fillion and More on MAGA Outrage Over Director Saying Superman Is an Immigrant: ‘I Don’t Have Anything to Say to Anybody’ Spreading Hate

The team behind “Superman” is responding to the backlash after director James Gunn said the DC tentpole is the story of “an immigrant that came from other places.”

When asked about the reaction to his comments, James Gunn explained that the movie is for “everyone” and that he doesn’t have “anything to say to anybody” spreading negativity around “Superman.”

“I’m not here to judge people,” he told Variety at Monday night’s “Superman” premiere at Hollywood’s TCL Chinese Theatre. “I think this is a movie about kindness and I think that’s something everyone can relate to.”

177 comments

I mean... He's literally an alien that came here illegally.
Is MAGA stupid? Don't answer that, it was rhetorical.
- Asmongold. Enough said. Also, most conservative men are opposed to bathing. Something something washing assholes is gay.
  They are stupid, useless, and gross.
  
  You mean the guy who lives like a pig and has cockroaches climbing on his shirt while live streaming his newest rage fit should not be listened to?
  Seriously, what is wrong with his viewers? The content is shit brought to them by someone living in his own literal shit.
  
  I don't understand why anybody watches a dude who lives in filth and go, "Ah yeah this guy has good opinions on things!"
  
  I had to block all the channels related to this guy a few years back because he is nothing but a garbage take factory.
  
  Hey, assholes are important!
  
  This can’t be true. Please say this isn’t true. Blech
- Bible: "Jesus says to love your neighbor."
  MAGA: "Why do you have to make it political?!"
- Technically he was "born" in the US in most versions going back a few decades. His pod was retconned from one they put a whole living baby into in earlier stories, to an artificial womb "birthing matrix" that combined DNA. Was even a storyline that dealt with if he was eligible to be President based on that (may have even been the reason for the retcon, can't remember). So he'd be an "anchor baby" to use their racist term, and someone Donald wants to invalidate an amendment with an executive order for
  
  Nah, that was true from 1986 through 2009, but it went back to him being born on Krypton in "Secret Origin." The standard born-on-dying-Krypton story has persisted through New 52 and Rebirth.
  
  Is thst still canon? I know it was officially changed at least by New 52 to be baby Kal-El in the ship from Krypton again. And then Post-Crisis canon was merged with New 52 Canon with Rebirth and Doomsday Clock, but I haven't read a comic in years now. No idea what they settled on as his new origin. Either way though, non-lawful entry or born here with non-citizen birth parents, he would be considered an illegal or stateless immigrant under the current government. There is no getting around that Republicans.
  
  Wow, I have literally never heard that version of the story.
  
  Source?
- Well he's an Alien who is an American citizen more than likely.
  Foundlings aren't directly mentioned in the laws but if a child is found in the U.S. and you can't find the parents, it is assumed to have been born here. And thereby a citizen by the 14th Amendment.
  Unless someone could prove who his parents were and where they were born, until that time I don't think they would have grounds to revoke the citizenship
  
  Pfft, you think the Trump administration would give him the benefit of the doubt.
  
  There is proof of his origin, that hologram of his father that explained it to him
- Yeah....but...MURCA!
From a 1949 book cover distributed to schools by DC.
MAGA is basically opposed to truth, justice, and the American way, aren't they?
- America has two souls battling and it always has. It's Paine and Franklin vs the southern founders. It's Jefferson vs himself. One soul says we're a nation built on the idea that all people are created equal, with fundamental rights, and that government should be more controlled than the citizens. The other soul looks at a nation founded by genocide and slavery, with early settlers being the puritans after they lost power in the UK and think that's what they think America should be.
  Each side considers the other un-American because we want different Americas
- I love this. Thanks for sharing it.
  I wanted to print a copy, and I went looking for the highest-res copy I could find. I couldn't access the larger image in the dc.com article you linked, but in case anyone else is interested, I found two at 2750 x 3778:
  This copy has a visible crease from scanned original
  And this copy has the crease shooped out
I mean he was literally created by Jews during the time of Hitler as an inversion of the Nazi ideal of a "super man" who would go around beating up Nazis. His origin story is basically just space Moses, and his Kryptonian name "Kal-El" is formatted like the name of an angel, containing the name "El" meaning "God" (compare MichaEL, GabriEL etc.) Superman has been anti-fascist and pro-minority since his inception.
- Nobody cares about objective reality anymore. Once we started letting people live in their own worlds of "feel facts" without consequence, lest someone throw stones at our own escapism cognitive biases, we ceded control of the world to the loudest and most hateful people.
  There is no convincing people of anything anymore because they can just close their ears and go somewhere more comfortable. If they face no repercussions and can not only get praise for being hateful but even raise money and become celebrities, what do we really think is going to result from explaining things anymore?
  
  But if we force schools to change their curriculum to align with MY version of reality, that makes it true! Right?
  Or it's just a really really long con for a ton of content creators to make content about "the shocking truth they won't teach you in school!!!". Because I guess that's the only way to get idiots to actually understand something is by packaging it in some hidden conspiracy wrapper.
Conservatives unable to grasp basic plot points of a story thats been around nearly 100 years. Color me unsurprised.
- they don't get Jesus message, even though they say Jesus is the most important thing in their lives.
- "When did Star Wars become woke?!"
How could someone take umbrage there? Like... read his origin story. He was born on Krypton. He got dropped on Earth. He was adopted by folks in Kansas. If I told people I found a child who drifted across the Rio Grande and adopted him as my own, we'd all agree he was probably from Mexico and not a native born citizen. But apparently him drifting in from SPACE changes the narrative?
- Hmm, an endangered child's parents send him in a craft to be found and adopted by others, assuring his safety. You'd think that would resonate with MAGA Evangelicals, who should recognize the story of Moses.
  
  Bold of you to think they read any part of the bible except the ones they can twist for the sake of hatred.
  
  The story of Moses is of God's Chosen People being insulated from bad events while the Pagans are made to suffer.
  The moral of Exodus (and Kings and Judges) is that if you're following God's Will, nothing bad will ever happen to you.
- But he's a white space alien
- coughskincolorcough *
  I want to go back about 20 years and find every idealist moron online who tried to debate with me that we can't keep calling people racist and that oppression is a deeper issue than superficial appearances and I want to smack them clean into 2025 so they can see what they permitted.
Everything upsets MAGA. They’re petulant children in desperate need of a nap. Sadly, they are using that energy to ruin lives, and destroy a country.
- MAGA are mentally ill from propaganda... mainly with narcissism, but your critical thought needs to be corrupted to listen to Trump speak and think "that's my guy".
- Snow flakes
- A dirt nap
“We don’t go to the movie theater to be lectured to and to have somebody throw their ideology onto us.” Jesse Watters added
People like him is why AI slop movies are going to be successful. They just want to watch pretty pictures and see the American flag waving at the end, not be intellectually challenged and entertained.
Dude is from another planet but magat get upset he is called an immigrant.
But they’re explaining only half of the plot an illegal alien is assimilating and it’s making a specific billionaire very upset he can’t continue to exploit his people
- All I am gonna say is xenophobic Lex Luthor is always the best written Lex Luthor
  
  Largely because it's a bit valid to be concerned that the indestructible alien could decide he's bored serving the world and just take it over.
  Xenophobic Lex is just a compelling villain, a bit like doom. Someone who has a sound reason for their actions, but usually takes really questionable routes.
  
  I think the Jeff Bezos character is based on Lex Luthor.
  
  Is he Xenophobic specifically, or is the Xenophobia simply an expansion on his Deophobia?
  I always understood Lex to be more than just "I dislike you because you R alien" and more "You are an alien with supreme power, and humanity cannot stand against you as is, therefore I dislike you"
How can you not know Superman's origin story? Apart from the comics its been retold in every major movie version too. He literally is and always was (weird retcons aside) an immigrant.
- Excuse me ~~Jesus~~Superman is white, therefore American!
- A literal alien.
- I'm pretty sure I knew through popcultural osmosis before I ever saw any of the films
  Some people weirdly don't connect fictional scenarios to real life analogues though. Like in the Oz books, a princess is kidnapped and forced to grow up as a boy. Some people don't see that as a transgender character because it's a fantasy scenario. Some people don't see Superman as an immigrant because their brains just don't connect a science fiction situation with an alien to immigration
  
  I've found that people who don't understand or enjoy media literacy or criticism also don't tend to understand the concept of an analogy/allegory, and don't want to either. Superman represents the "American Way" and can't be an immigrant and the idea that America is a nation of immigrants is not relevant in any way. Only the old statements from Bridget from Guilty Gear count and not any of the new ones that confirm she's trans. Naoto from Persona 4 and some similar stories like hers in other games can't be a commentary on social pressures around restrictive gender roles, dysphoria, and performativity simply because she ultimately still identifies as a cis woman. You can explain the nuances until you're out of breath, they will never accept the nuances.
  
  Right? I haven't seen any of the movies. The only Super...person stuff I've seen is CW's Supergirl and I knew his origin story when I was a child in the 90s.
  
  Hence the entire point of the original Star Trek. Morality plays disguised by alien makeup, so the mouth breathing rednecks didn't realize.
  
  Those people really need someone to explain the concept of subtext to them.
- One of DC's many reboots in the comics had his spaceship be a birthing pod so that he could be 'born' in America to get around him being an illegal alien.
  Definitely one of the wierder retcons.
  
  In one of the movies he's a toddler when he comes out of the pod
Well, Superman is an illegal immigrant. I don't think they have a US consulate in Kypton.
- I don't think they have much on Krypton anymore.
  
  Does that make him a refugee?
  
  Too soon...smh
- The state of Krypton! Yeah, say you're in Sacramento, just get on the 5 real quick... escape velocity quick. Look at the big dipper on your starboard facing shield and keep it on your reticle for 35 parsecs. Then it's just past the big 2354Kolonila poster planet. You won't miss it, it a really flat planet. Ask for Yorel, tell him you're friends with Kal. But you'll need one of several time machine types because krypton is gone these days.
I hate the director for deciding to associate a fictional character with societal issues.
Has there been any movie where fictional characters aren't associated with societal issues? I ask because I'm pretty sure every single movie does this.
Edit: OP Deleted their comment.
- Superman got into the action 85 years ago.
  https://screenrant.com/superman-first-hero-to-beat-up-hitler-not-captain-america/
  
  Superman is woke and also "antifa".
  {shudders, and clutches pearls harder}
- Show me a piece of fiction which has nothing to say about societal issues and I'll show you a fucking boring piece of fiction.
  
  Show me a piece of fiction which has nothing to say about societal issues and I’ll show you an author or reader who doesn’t understand literature.
  I don’t think it’s even possible for a participant in society to write something that has nothing to do with society. We are all affected by our environments. Fish might not notice the ocean, but it doesn’t mean that they could write something that doesn’t involve the ocean, to really stretch a metaphor.
- its like people that get angry at rage against the machine for singing about politics.
  ... that is the whole point.
  
  They claim that they don't want movies talking about politics, but I bet they'd have no issue if the movie was anti-immigration
- That's wild. Superman fought the KKK and Nazis. He fought for equal rights. My man threw nuclear missiles into the sun in the 80s for demilitarization. Superman is a political figure fighting for a better society. He just also happens to fight big space monsters from time to time as well.
All these things haven't suddenly become woke, YOU JUST BECAME A RACIST BIGOTED XENOPHOBIC ASSHOLE!!! AKA MAGA.
MAGA Outrage Over Director Saying Superman Is an Immigrant
(We're about a decade too late, and our engorged trolls are now our leaders, but still...)
Party of "fuck your feelings" huh? MAGA biggest cry babies out there. Guess it makes sense.
- Apparently it's "fuck your feelings (only mine matter because I'm special.)"
- Network anchor Kellyanne Conway said of the film, “We don’t go to the movie theater to be lectured to and to have somebody throw their ideology onto us.” Jesse Watters added, “You know what it says on his cape? MS13.”
  MAGA is so fucked up it's impossible to tell if they're serious or not.
  
  Then don’t fucking go and see it, Kellyanne. Problem solved.
  I bet you didn’t mind being preached to for ‘God’s Not Dead’ 1-4 or whatever. Or ‘Sound of Freedom’. Or whatever Ben Shapiro’s dumb school shooting movie was called.
  Fuck off with your hypocritical bullshit.
  
  It's only a matter of time before someone photoshops MS13 on his suit. Then Trump will sue the movie company for hiring illegals.
zack Snyder has made people forget that superman is supposed to be likeable and do good things for the sake of it
- If Gunn has balls he'll do the Injustice plotline at some point.
They really do live in their own little bubble huh? Like dude is a literal alien, and they think he is a home grown hero.
How dare we suggest that Superman doesn't reflect the full Aryan image? Sorry, I misspelled MAGA
- If he was Aryan he'd have the common decency of having blond hair like a real Übermensch. The dark hair makes him look like someone from the middle east!
- Thank goodness for the real nationalist icon ~~Captain America~~ The Punisher.
DCU heads in their best J. Jonah Jameson voice:
FIND ME A SINGLE TWEET THAT MAKES A CONTROVERSY OF THIS MOVIE!! WE NEED FREE PUBLICITY DAMMIT!!! IT WORKED FOR DISNEY, IT WILL WORK FOR US!! GET ME ~~THOSE PICTURES~~ THAT TWEET!!!!
I can't help but feel like when Hollywood switched to ME villains instead of nazis, it really had a large sociological effect.
Not that it was intentional propaganda, just that 20 years of "anything to stop poor brown people in the desert" had an effect different than "anything to stop the genocidal fascists".
- It's because the scary Boogeyman has to be relevant. USA needed people to get onboard with current wars, not old wars.
  There were also plenty of movies about the scary Russians too in that specific political time.
  
  So you're saying it's time for a new war against Nazis.
  
  Also they're a fairly small market. Which is also why there are few Chinese bad guys.
But he's white! How can he be an immigrant!
- Shame they did stick with a white actor. Imagine the chuds losing their minds over a Superman played by Pedro Pascal or Michael B. Jordan.
Lex Luthor: Make America Great Again! Krypton has not sent us their best or finest. Kryptonians are all rapists and drug dealers. Also, I am looking at stripping Bruce Wayne and Diana Prince of their citizenship because they say mean things about me.
- I think Diana is an illegal immigrant too
- The Amazonians are from Earth, so Wonder Woman likely never had one
I have more than a few things to say to the face of those people.
They were hoping to see a movie about the Ubermensch, not this woke comic book fake news!
Nah jk they don't read.
- They don't want Superman; they want Homelander.
  
  But they love zoolander.
  
  or at least Snyderman.
Wasn't there a comic where Superman renounces his US citizenship ?
- Action Comics #900
  The Man of Steel’s declaration, “I’m tired of having my actions construed as instruments of U.S. policy,” follows accusations that he caused an international incident in Tehran. Superman flew to the country during a huge protest, where he stood silent for one day, to show his support for the demonstrators. The 24 hours pass with a mix of appreciation (flowers and flags) and fear (hurled Molotov cocktails). But the government of Iran sees Superman as an agent of the United States and feels his action is an act of war. “Truth, justice and the American way – it’s not enough anymore,” Superman tells the president’s national security adviser. “The world’s too small. Too connected.” He then makes the decision to go before the United Nations and renounce his American citizenship.
Science bless you James Gunn. Keep fighting the good fight.
Fillion’s response is gold.
- He's one of the good ones.
- I think this can be read two ways and one of them is rather tone-deaf. It's not just about the movie, that's the whole point of the original interview.
I'm looking forward to when "MAGA" becomes derogatory like they somehow did with "woke."
- It already is for half of the country.
- You can be the change you want to see. Start using it as a pejorative.
  "What, are you MAGA?"
  "I got a MAGA type explanation in response to my question."
  "It's clear that MAGA is in charge over there."
  
  Your usage doesn't seem derogatory without context. I could see a MAGA person saying those things without negativity. It might help to look how woke got transformed. Perhaps it was paired with negative terms like "get this woke shit out of my face."
- 2015 That’s when.
  Just taking far too long for it to propagate.
- by using their terms/names you give them legitimacy. Do not fall for it. Less platform they have, less damage they can inflict. Remember their task is to "flood the zone" and adding MAGA to your vocabulary is helping them. "Misinformed Americans" or "Malicious Americans" or "Mindless Americans" are more appropriate terms
  
  well, they have someone in the oval office, so they already have legitimacy. I think we're well past one-nazi-walks-into-a-bar by now.
  They were able to take away the legitimacy of "woke" instead of avoiding using it to deny its legitimacy. Worked for them, might work for us.
Do the people complaining about it know anything about Superman? If you didn't think Man of Steel had commentary about immigration, you either didn't watch it or you're an idiot. I wish there was some way we could enforce a rule that you have to know something about the franchise you're commenting on.
To the limbo 'how low can you go'
How dumb can you get? How dumb can you get?
- I only know the Ludacris version. Somehow it's still fitting.
Stupid people get upset over the stupidest things.
He wasn't even an anchor baby! He was sent here w/o his parents.
Just make him an illegal alien then, try to deport him, make him a Russian/Chinese asset.
\ (Actually at least one multiverse story comes close to that - but has Superman initially land in Russia iirc.)
- Yeah and he's the villain in his own story because you can't have a Soviet farmer teach his adoptive son worthwhile values.
  No propaganda or politics in fiction though!
  
  Lmao, yes, exactly!
  Remember, propaganda is only evil if it hurts my views (and by "my" I mean whoever is in charge, not me).
  But Superimmigrantman was always (especially at the even-more-super-op beginning) just a comic about the model poster boy American with superhuman USA patriotism.
  \ (And or with that, very one-dimensional, it took like 30 years for him to get a personality bigger than those of characters from short commercials.)
Did they forget they were mad at James Gunn for comments he made about Trump in 2018? It’s not like they were going to see this movie anyway since they don’t like any form of entertainment that’s not explicitly pandering to them.
- Lol, they can't remember all the things they are outraged about. If you're expecting consistency and logic, you're talking about the wrong group.
"SuperMan is an immigrant" I thought that was an alien. In which world we do live where is worst being an immigrant than an alien.
- When I was a kid, immigrants were called aliens. Illegal immigrants were illegal aliens.
that's what happens when you cultivate a following with snyder making fascist superman movies
Goddamn it, now I feel like I have to see it even if it’s not a good movie.
- I'm not a DC movie guy (I used to like the comics when I was young) and I'm pretty burned out on superheroes in general, but I'll watch it both for this and because I tend to like James Gunn.
  
  I'm with you. I own hundreds of comic books and yet even I grew tired of the superhero movie thing years ago.
  Except for Deadpool and Wolverine because fuck yeah.
- It’s James Gunn, so it will be good.
I hate everyone in this story. I hate MAGA by default. I hate the director for deciding to associate a fictional character with societal issues. He decided to make it political and I hate it when people decide to make something that once was not political and shouldn't be political - political.
- everything is political

177 comments