A Message of Hope

I originally started writing this piece on July 31 of this year, pulled back to my keyboard with the strong will to write after seeing what I consider to be a stand-out movie – one of the first I’d seen in a theater in a while. The next day, work was a hassle, the next week I moved to a different state, and I continued to find excuses not to finish the article - until watching the same film with my friends the other night. So here it is…

In the original draft of this article, I opined a bit about the state of world affairs, having no idea what was in store for us in the coming months. I’m going to do that again here – both because it was a theme of the movie, and because I see this movie and character as a lens for how I see the world. If that’s not your jam and you just want to read about the movie, click here.

My Life Philosophy and The State of World Affairs

Things have gone to shit quite a lot in the past year or so, yeah? It seems like every day there is some new insane thing happening. There is no longer a political aisle to cross, but a political chasm. While AI companies live by the philosophy of “move fast and break things,” the government has quite literally stopped in its tracks. Even when in motion, it seems wholly uninterested, and in fact counter-incentivized, when it comes to regulating this technology that seems to be causing far more societal harm than good. The world seems more violent, more hateful, more evil – depending on where you look…

I truly believe that there are violent, hateful people running the show right now. The Trump administration and its lackies in Congress are a stain on the United States and the world. But the world is not evil, hateful or violent, despite the things we constantly see online. Social media wants you to be afraid, to be angry, to be divided – because it’s better for engagement. Simply put, social media is no longer about connecting with each other, even if that was the original intent. It exists as an engine made to capture your attention for as long as possible, so that attention can be converted into advertising dollars.

Yes, there are bad things happening in the world constantly, but there is so much good. Take this past weekend alone: I went out this weekend for my roommate’s birthday. We surprised him with a visit from our friend from out of state. I cheered against the Wisconsin Badgers as they got trounced by my Iowa Hawkeyes, 37-0, and was able to joke with the Wisconsin fans around me (until they emptied out of the stadium, see again – 37-0). We went to a bar with live German music and drank and danced with priests and people celebrating something with a sash.

Even the bad can be good. I have already loved and lost more people than I’d ever expected to at 23, but even that loss, that grief and longing, is beautiful. There’s a quote from Marvel’s WandaVision show: “What is grief, if not love persevering?” I often catch myself going on rants about the state of world affairs that my friends are probably sick of hearing from me. Despite what they might guess, however, these rants don’t come from a place of pessimism, but rather optimism.

I don’t pretend that I think things are quite the mess at a macro level right now. I’ve said as much in a few different ways in this article already. But therein lies my life philosophy: I believe that people are good. History has shown that evil does not last. There is a great quote from the Star Wars show Andor (which is fantastic, by the way): “The need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks; it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear.” I go on my rants about the things I think are bad right now because I see so much potential for good in its place, and I truly believe that good will come – with action. I think I have the same outlook on the world as Superman.

Superman (2025)

Spoiler Free: To cut to the chase, I absolutely love this movie. It’s nearly perfect in my opinion. The characters, cast, story, and visual design all dance in step together beautifully. The story starts three years after Clark Kent started being Superman, bypassing the origin story most audiences already know well enough. We pick up right in the middle of a battle, one that Superman is losing, and is apparently a result of actions he took in an international conflict. We then follow Clark’s journey as he grapples with upending news that breaks his worldview, struggles with his desire to save everyone, and the balance between being one person and being Superman. I was emotionally moved, riveted, and inspired by this movie, and I’d highly recommend it to anyone looking to put themselves in a good mood. Jack’s Score: 97/100

Spoilers Ahead: Starting off strong, I think that letting the audience assume Superman’s origin story based on iterations they’ve previously seen makes the subversion of that origin story – the reveal that Clark’s Kryptonian parents meant for him to be a conqueror – work well for this narrative. Honestly, I still prefer when his parents are written as people who sent their son away as a selfless act of love in their final moments, but I think this narrative decision works well for this version of the character. It throws his and the audience’s assumptions about the world out the window at the same time, effectively making him the audience surrogate (the character the audience is supposed to see themselves as).  

This character arc leads to a conversation with his adopted father, Jonathan Kent, that fully encapsulates the idea of Superman and is something I’ll also tie back to what I said earlier in this article. Pa Kent says, “Well, I'd say what you wanted that message to mean says a whole lot about you than what anyone meant for it to mean.” Our interpretation of the world around us feeds the world that we help create. It is the responsibility of each of us to find the good and carry that through us to the rest of the world, even if it might not be there in the first place.

In this adaptation, the Kents aren’t depicted as anything out of the ordinary. They aren’t played by Hollywood models, they’re not the best with technology, and they’ve got rural Kansas accents, but that’s the whole point. The Kents' upbringing of Clark as an ordinary man from ordinary people is what allows him to be exceptional. Exceptionalism doesn’t come from a place on high; kings were never ordained by God; no one was born to be or do anything – other than to exist. Exceptionalism comes from the active decision we make to be better than we were yesterday.

It wouldn’t be a James Gunn movie without killer music. Each song flows with the story so cohesively and is another reminder that artistic expression isn’t ever confined to a single medium. Here, music and writing are both avenues of expression for Lois and Clark and allow us windows into each of their characters. The dialogue makes this very clear in the conversation they have before Clark turns himself into the government:

Lois: “Me, too. But we’re bound to though. We’re so different. I was just some punk rock kid from Bakerline and you’re…Superman.”

Clark: “I’m punk rock.”

Lois: [laughing] “You are not punk rock.”

Clark: “I like the Strangle Fellows, the P.O.D.s, and the Mighty Crabjoys.”

Lois: “Those are pop radio bands, they’re not punk rock. The Mighty Crabjoys suck.”

Clark: “Ah, well, a lot of people love ‘em.”

Lois: “My point is, I question everything and everyone. You trust everyone and think everyone you ever met is, like…beautiful.”

Clark: “Maybe that’s the real punk rock.”

The soundtrack and the score are both right on point. I’ve been itching to add the score album to my vinyl collection and have already been turning to it since seeing the movie, anytime I need music without lyrics – for example, as I write this article. It swells and tapers at all the right moments to let you feel the emotion behind it and leaves you wanting to hear more, drawing on the motifs of previous iconic Superman themes.

Throughout the movie, there are little details that really tie this whole thing together for me. Superman saves a squirrel in the middle of the battle with a giant monster. He gets visibly worked up when Lois presses him about considering the geopolitical ramifications of his actions because “people were going to die.” When he’s explaining to Lois why he’s turning himself in to find Krypto the dog, he says, “Yeah, he's not even a very good one. But he's out there alone, and probably scared.” Superman is a character of self-sacrifice, putting the needs and the comfort of others ahead of his own.

Compare this to the Superman of Zach Synder’s take on DC Comics, who had the emotional range of a rock and seems more intent on looking cool than on saving people. I thought Henry Cavill was great as Superman, but the writing in those movies fundamentally misunderstood the makeup of his character.

What Superman Represents

People often talk about how Superman is a boring character because of his god-like abilities and general goodness. Television adaptations of “evil Superman” stories, such as The Boys and Invincible, have gained popularity as people have become more cynical and want more “grounded,” “gritty,” or “serious” superhero stories. This, in my opinion, is the more boring and uninteresting option. I love Invincible because I think it uses that plot device to push its characters. I’m not huge on The Boys because of the opposite. Regardless, I think that Superman is the more interesting option, full stop.

Superman was created in 1938, right before World War II, a time of great evil in the world and of little hope. He was created as a beacon of that much-needed hope and stands for something so many of us would like to imagine of ourselves – an incorruptible force for good. He is an all-powerful god-like character who could rain destruction on the world if he wanted to, but the whole point is that he doesn’t. He is someone with a true moral compass, one that cannot be corroded by the harsh realities of the world.

If you are yawning at that character description, I say to sit with what makes him so incorruptible. He is not an esoteric god figure, but a man from small-town Kansas who just happens to have come from somewhere else. There is no great reason why he is incorruptible. And if you say that that is silly or not a reflection of reality, that all people are corruptible, I call bullshit. You don’t think people can be incorruptible? Then, I challenge you to prove yourself wrong - be the person that is incorruptible. When one of us stands for the right thing in front of the tidal wave of despair, it becomes easier for the rest of us to do the same. We should all try to see ourselves in Superman, to do our best to exemplify the good he exemplifies.

I think that the relationship between Lex Luthor and Superman in this movie is as good as I’ve seen. Lex’s fundamental character cannot understand why Superman doesn’t use the power he has to bend the world to his will, and that frustrates him. Lex is not someone who truly fears Superman, as he publicly claims. His loathing of the Man of Steel comes from the fact that he is so maniacally egotistical. Having someone looked on more favorably than him by the world or the history books is such a slight in his eyes that the only acceptable course of action is to eliminate that “threat.”

Superman’s story has always been one of an immigrant, forced to flee his home and make a new life in a foreign world; he’s quite literally an alien. Many of the writers across adaptations in comics, movies, and television have used that alienhood as a metaphor to tackle themes of xenophobia and more. Lex Luthor is a stand-in for the corporate elite as he touts the risks Superman poses to the common man while hiding behind those statements to cover for the fact that he just feels less important, less in control, standing next to Superman. The elites use petty, made-up issues or direct the blame of real issues onto the incorrect groups to divide the average people so that these elites can remain in control. It rests with each of us to see past the shouting, finger-pointing, and obfuscation and find the power that people of all nations, creeds, religions, races, backgrounds have when we stand together.

See and seek the good in others and the world around you.