Yes, Superman Has Always Been an Immigration Story

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In a recent statement, filmmaker James Gunn referred to his new Superman movie as an immigrant story, leading critics to claim he was politicizing the character. However, it’s impossible to distort the truth. For 87 years, Superman has been portrayed as an “illegal alien.” Our campaign in 2013, Superman Is an Immigrant, served as a reminder of this fact to America.

Interestingly, we couldn’t have anticipated Donald Trump, who was used as a model for Lex Luthor’s reboot in DC Comics back in 1986, waging war on the very immigrants Superman symbolizes. In the comics, Luthor even became president with an anti-alien agenda. The current President Trump’s actions echo this plotline.

Superman arrived in America as a baby refugee, fleeing a dying planet. Just like countless other immigrants, he changed his name (from Kal-El to Clark Kent) and adapted to new customs while maintaining his heritage. He used his unique abilities to serve the nation that initially feared him.

This isn’t just subtext; it’s text. Superman’s creators were children of Jewish immigrants who understood displacement intimately, and in 1938, they crafted a hero embodying their American dream—someone who could protect the vulnerable because he knew what it meant to be cast aside. Superman’s essence is rooted in being a “universal outsider.” His outsider status isn’t incidental to his heroism; it’s the source of it.

Today, Superman would likely face deportation. Without birthright citizenship, he wouldn’t even exist. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, born in Cleveland to Jewish immigrant parents, might have been deported to Nazi-controlled Europe—facing almost certain death in countries they never knew.

If it weren’t for Jerry and Joe, there would be no Superman, no superhero genre, and the children of immigrants who followed their lead in creating iconic characters like Batman, Captain America, Spider-Man, and many others, would have met a similar fate. The modern mythology that defines American popular culture worldwide would have been erased.

Superman endures because he represents something more profound than politics: the American paradox itself. We are a nation built by displaced individuals—willing immigrants and unwilling slaves, refugees, and dreamers, all orphaned from somewhere else. Superman, as the ultimate orphan, transforms this shared pain into purpose, proving that our greatest strength comes not from where we’re born but from what we choose to become.

Our 2013 campaign sparked a national conversation with the simple selfie challenge: Americans sharing their family immigration stories under the hashtag #SupermanIsAnImmigrant. Critics inadvertently amplified our message by repeating it, reinforcing the undeniable truth of it.

As Gunn’s film opens and Trump’s deportation policies escalate, this truth feels more relevant than ever. Superman returns to theaters just days before America celebrates its 250th Fourth of July. The question isn’t whether we’ll continue celebrating our independence, but whether we’ll remember what made us strong in the first place.

At Monday’s premiere, Gunn said, “This is a movie about kindness, and I think that’s something everyone can relate to.” However, some conservative media outlets seem unable to grasp this message of kindness. On Fox News, Jesse Watters joked about Superman’s cape reading “MS-13” and questioned his origins, while Outkick argued that America doesn’t need to be kind because a fictional character from another planet brought good to a fictional Earth. They claim America needs apolitical entertainment.

The claim that Superman is being “politicized” is rather ironic, given his long-standing role as embodying American values since his creation in 1938. In 1940, while America First movement advocated neutrality, Superman confronted Adolf Hitler. In 1949, he addressed schoolchildren directly, emphasizing that it’s un-American to speak against a fellow student based on religion, race, or national origin. He has been an advocate for vaccines, contributing towards the development of the polio vaccine. On radio, he exposed the secrets of the Ku Klux Klan. When a gunman targets immigrants, blaming them for job loss, Superman blocks every bullet. After Ferguson’s riots, he stood between protesters and police. Following the murder of George Floyd, he declared his unwavering commitment to a world where dignity, honor, and justice are shared by all, vowing never to stop fighting for this dream.

Superman symbolizes America’s moral compass, clad in a cape – an image that unsettles critics since they appear to back a modern-day supervillain instead.

The unique strength of our nation lies in its ability to embrace strangers and help them thrive, just as Superman derives his power not from his birth but from his choices. America’s true might comes from providing a home for the displaced, empowering the powerless, and offering a chance for those escaping perilous worlds to contribute to creating new ones.

By opting for fear over hope and barriers over welcoming arms, we not only betray Superman’s ideals but also undermine our own potential future. The true heroes have always been immigrants, and it is high time we act accordingly.

Andrew Slack, a narrative strategist who co-founded the Harry Potter Alliance, has mobilized over a million fans worldwide for social justice and writes about how ancient and modern myths impact democracy. He is currently working on a book exploring the role of mythology in American civic life.

Jose Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Emmy-nominated filmmaker, founded Define American, an immigrant storytelling non-profit. The updated edition of his memoir, “Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen,” for 2025 is now available.

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2025-07-12 22:54