two slides in the post
Absolutely 100% of that movie was written and done before anything ever happened between Israel and Palestine, and everyone continues to refuse to believe that that’s not what it’s about. It’s not. It just isn’t. You can take whatever you want from that, to mean what you want, but I didn’t write it to be a stand in for Israel and Palestine. I wrote “Superman” to be about kindness. If there was a sociopolitical aspect of “Superman,” it’s that there has been an absence of kindness and understanding and loving a human being, no matter what their thoughts or feelings are.
Posted by demimonde9
25 Comments
[source](https://variety.com/2025/film/news/peacemaker-lex-luthor-cameo-nazi-twist-no-superman-1236530679/)
>that movie was written and done before anything ever happened between israel and palestine
https://preview.redd.it/pj88q5hg7nrf1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4716bcab50110f21736c181862678f76c78521cd
He’s never going to answer these questions honestly because he needs as many people as possible to watch the movies and shows.
Phenomenally stupid, Gunn. The movie is great but why bother preaching kindness when you’re bending and spreading for authoritarians?
That subplot is entirely Israel and Palestine, as well as many other conflicts. “It’s just isnt about that” is about the most coward-ass copout around. What a whimp.
I never really looked at Supes in that light before. I mean, the parallels to Israel? Kinda blows my mind ngl. Makes him a lot more intriguing as a character, ya feel?
Mouth says no, every single visual choice says yes. So 🤷🏼♀️
He said himself in December 2023 that he was making rewrites to the script at that time, and also Bassem Yousef’s character wouldn’t have been dropped if it wasn’t for changes that happened to the script between summer and winter 2023. He can say what he likes to sell his movie but the parallels are absolutely blatant.
Saying that the only sociopolitical aspects of your movie are that humans need to be kinder is really… like, do you really think you’re fooling anyone lol? You wrote on an aggressor nation allied with the US ruled by a dictator bent on ethnic cleansing, who then gets unceremoniously killed by a superhuman at the end of the movie. I feel like there’s a lot more going on there than “people should be nice”.
If he REALLY wanted to deflect from it being about Israel, then he should’ve said something like “no, this was inspired by Russia and Ukraine (which it undoubtedly was to some extent), and any parallels with anything else are unintended”, but by pretending he’s had his head in the sand regarding ANY kind of real world events while writing this clearly just means he doesn’t want to piss anyone off.
If you feel like this parallels, and you’re upset by the way the invading country was portrayed in that movie. Maybe you should look in the mirror and ask yourself why
It doesn’t really matter. Reality is, most people themselves make that connection and that is something even more powerful than if the writer did it for us.
Why am i not surprised
Sure be a lot cooler if you did…
I think he just has to say this. Which is fair since he’s doing the good work.
The thing that boggles me about this Superman discourse is that the movie isn’t even that radical., Sure, there’s an Israel & Palestine parallel in the main plot and an obvious Netanyahu character, but the movie doesn’t really say anything substantial. Yeah, it says that ethnic cleansing is bad but it absolves American government (in the movie) by propping an evil billionaire (Lex) as the source of the war. Superman preaches love and kindness for every single human being but that’s all he does. There’s no examination of the nature of power nor the imperialistic backing for a proxy country like Israel. But Superman (2025) wasn’t designed to be that, James Gunn didnt have that purpose in mind. The movie was created to jumpstart a multi-billion movie franchise and appeal to as broad as an audience as possible
So much for the “media literacy” crowd
Aside from this, there is no “before” the conflict unless he wrote it a hundred years ago. What about the Intifada? That was only 20 years ago. The conservative controlled Israeli government state sponsors terror as the norm. Bibi takes every opportunity for genocide and ethnic cleansing. Someone needs to help the Palestinians because it won’t be Israel.
Omg stfu
I can’t wait for when it’s a few years later when it’s universally acceptable to speak about the genocide and he comes out with a statement that *in fact* it was about Palestine.
“that movie was written and done before anything ever happened between Israel and Palestine”….
So Superman was written in 1947, gotcha.
Well, shit. That was a hell of a coincidence, then.
the internet discourse took off on this point and i honestly think it helped people’s perception of the film, like it was better than it actually was bc people wanted it to be a politically bold film
As depressing as it is, there’s no way he’s going to be able to answer these questions 100% honestly and risk the future of the franchise and the financing he needs to get projects made. If he can keep making projects with these messages and let the audiences work out the clear political commentaries within them, that’s a win. We have to let the work speak for itself.
I mean the relationship is obvious and there is no way he is going to say it when he is in charge of the DCU and the head of WB is a Zionist!
That being said, the people watching the film and seeing the parallels and zionists being upset over Superman is more important than him openly saying there is a parallel or not!
Damn he wrote the movie in –
1947?!
Do folks not think he said this bc to say anything else would mean losing his job and then some no-talent rube takes over DC and stops all the shockingly progressive media Gunn is working on? I’d rather he keep saying shit like this and making art that comments on out truly garbage moment in time.