James Gunn Doesn’t Get How ‘Superman’ Is ‘Considered Woke’ and Says ‘Anti-American Sentiment Around the World’ Isn’t ‘Helping Us’ at Global Box Office
https://variety.com/2025/film/news/james-gunn-superman-woke-anti-america-box-office-1236465776/
James Gunn Doesn’t Get How ‘Superman’ Is ‘Considered Woke’ and Says ‘Anti-American Sentiment Around the World’ Isn’t ‘Helping Us’ at Global Box Office
https://variety.com/2025/film/news/james-gunn-superman-woke-anti-america-box-office-1236465776/
40 comments
> “I’ve heard people say it was woke, and then I’ve heard a lot of people say it’s not. I am curious as to what in the movie is considered woke,” Gunn told EW amid “Superman’s” box office success. “I think people took something I said…The guy for the London newspaper. Originally, he said that [Superman comic creators] Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were the sons of immigrants, and they wrote Superman as an immigrant story. And I said, yeah, it’s a story about an immigrant, but mostly it’s a story to me about kindness, which it is. That’s the center of the movie for me.”
> “That’s the thing we can all act upon, is kindness,” the director continued. “And so what does that lead to? Well, does that lead to the way you vote? Sure. Does that lead to everything? Yeah. Does it lead to how many people are dying from road rage? Yes. All those things are affected if people just start to value kindness. I mean, people did value kindness in the past. That was an American value, was kindness, and it doesn’t necessarily seem to be that way to me anymore. So that was always the center of the movie for me, and it wasn’t about anything other than that.”
> “We’re definitely performing better domestically than we are internationally, but internationally is also rising and having really good weekday numbers in the same way we are,” Gun said in a separate interview with Rolling Stone “So obviously the word of mouth is very positive both here and everywhere else. Which is the thing that we needed to do the most. At the same time, there are certain countries in which it’s really performing well. Brazil and the U.K.”
> “Superman is not a known commodity in some places. He is not a big known superhero in some places like Batman is. That affects things,” Gunn added. “And it also affects things that we have a certain amount of anti-American sentiment around the world right now. It isn’t really helping us. So I think it’s just a matter of letting something grow. But again, for us, everything’s been a total win. Having the movie come out and be something that has been embraced by people everywhere — this is just the seed of the tree that Peter and I have been watering for the past three years. So to be able to have it start off so positively has been incredibly overwhelming.”
There are people today who have a hard time seeing that people of any color or nationality, or apparently even rodents, are seen to have an equal value to life.
I enjoyed the movie and can’t imagine it having anything in it that goes against traditionally American (or just human) values when it comes to Superman’s POV.
If people are mad about superman being called an immigrant than they are absolutely not ready for martian manhunter
If you say “woke” unironically, then you’re already the dumbass in the conversation.
Right wingers have recently come out against both Superman and Sesame Street. I think we can acknowledge that Republicans are the bad guys now.
I couldn’t even construe anything woke out of it. I don’t mean it in a wow they are silly to make this in to this kinda thing.. legit, there is nothing there, and these people are so weird and exhausting
I didn’t find it woke in the least. I have no idea what people are talking about.
Well, this is what happens when America is run by a fascist. I wouldn’t want to watch our movies either
It’s not woke but has plenty of moments in the movie where there is a clear political statement. For example, the treatment of superman as a straight allegory to immigrants here ( he’s not from here ) and than the scene involving an arrest was clearly a ref to police brutality which is really work. I have no issues with these , but when your entire persona is consumed by flags and thin blue lines, it’s hard to handle criticism .
Woke is just empathy.
God forbid showing empathy, emotion and that war is bad is considered woke.
Our world is so fucked.
I am a conservative guy. The movie is not Woke. Anyone who thinks it is, is reaching and only sees things through a political lense.
You can’t make a movie without making some sort of stand, you hope it’s good writing, because preaching movies that are not entertaining in the end suck. But a superhero at the end of the day, is going to be fighting for something. And you hope it’s to fight for the underdogs.
I will give an example. I have friends that won’t watch Sinners. Because they think its going to be some racially preachy movie that white people are the devil. It’s really not, but it is period piece. And lets be real, in a period piece the black perspective was real. That movie is not too preachy either, just a vampire thriller at the end of the day.
Same people that call PBS “woke”. It’s not “woke”, you just grew up to be a shitty person.
I haven’t seen it yet but the people who didn’t like it who talked to me about it mostly say the same thing that they don’t like how often he “loses” in this movie. That to me seems like a positive cuz I was worried that Superman would be hard to make fun since he is so OP
Americans stuck in the American media bubble would be shocked at how much the rest of the world hates it at the moment. Tariffs are economic warfare, threats of annexation and NATO withdrawal, and Trump’s deranged lunancy coupled with the great stupidity of electorate is creating a new world order without the US in the privileged position.
Anti-American sentiment isn’t helping in tourism, trade and the Global Box Office.
Gee… I wonder why people hate this country all of a sudden this year?
Republicans had no problem with Superman being an immigrant for the last 45+ years, but now they suddenly do?!
Blame the orange jackass in charge.
Woke. Such an ignorant dipshit hillbilly-sounding word. Very fitting. Amazing how the definition constantly morphs to fit whatever the current MAGA rage is hyper-fixated on as a distraction from things that actually matter. Those MAGA brains are fried like an egg at this point.
Caring about our neighbors used to be considered a good thing. Now it is “woke”
I remember as a kid, Action hero’s were always fighting the Nazi’s and because of the Cold War USSR. And then in 90’s once the Cold War ended unnamed terorist organizations and gangs. It’s only woke because the Nazi’s and Russian bots have infiltrated America turning the most gullible into sympathizers.
I wish the word “woke” was reinforced as a good thing.
We know what “too woke” means by deplorable standards, so why waste defending against the accusation.
Embrace it and make them reveal the true issue.
Common decency is woke. Caring for your fellow man is woke.
It’s crazy that these people but into these narratives
Tired of seeing that word. I enjoyed the movie. Can’t we just enjoy a fukin movie without it being always political or socially aware?
I watched the movie over the weekend. I’m not exactly a left leaning person by any stretch and I didn’t notice any traditional “woke” or whatever at all. It felt like you got dropped into a comic book. Very little prelude, straight into the shit. Random characters all over doing cool shit. People just need reasons to rant because their lives are to good.
Conservatives have always been against Hollywood. Of course, they still consume as much content as anyone else. Always hypocrisy.
Woke just means things they don’t like or understand.
Being kind and wanting to save people and animals is considered woke now. If you’re nice, then you’re left wing radical who wants to ruin the world… If you pay attention to who is saying these things, you’ll notice a theme.
Conservatives apply to anything that feels threatening to them. It’s one of the few words that can spell.
Maybe Americans need this more than non Americans, simply to see that we CAN be good, decent and kind.
Isn’t being anti woke just considered being an asshole?
They never even saw the movie before they started bitching that it was woke. I have family who complain about everything being woke. They went to see it and loved it and admitted they don’t know what the news was talking about saying it’s woke. It’s our propaganda news that’s looking for things to get people riled up and fighting each other.
It really shows in how we engage in warfare. In WW2 we rebuilt the economies of our enemies by pouring money into their nations. We gave their children candy bars and genuinely worked to guide them to a better future.
We have done virtually none of that in the last 60 years. It’s been “kill commies and muslims” for oil and capitalism without a shred of humane consideration for how to help those countries in the future.
James Gunn did not change Superman’s origins to suit his political views. If people liked Superman before and are angry now, it is because they changed. Superman did not change. If this makes him *woke*, then he has always been *woke*.
Them labelling SUPERMAN as woke makes it very clear who are the good guys and who are the bad guys.
The better question is why is being woke a bad thing?
Before I even walked into the theater to see it, I heard a very MAGA looking couple walk by and say “STUPIDMAN”. So fucking sick of Trump and his small minded cult followers.
Because according to conservatives kindness and empathy is woke.
The word woke has been tossed around so much I feel like it lost its meaning.
People being kind to each other is a threat to authoritarianism. Period. So yeah, people who are pro dictators confuse it with being woke.
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