A woke, pro-Palestine Superman? The most political and comic-savvy Man of Steel angers Trumpism.

BarcelonaHollywood's hottest potato hits theaters. Rarely have a film been so highly anticipated as the new Superman James Gunn's reboot of Warner's superhero project that cost $190 million and is expected to gross more than $600 million to be profitable. Gunn's experience in superhero films is a degree and the director of Guardians of the Galaxy confronts the gravity of Zack Snyder, the previous architect of the DC cinematic universe, with a brighter vision of Superman that fearlessly embraces the pop imagery of his comics from the 50s and 60s – the so-called Silver Age – from the super robots of the Fortress of Solitude and the giant monsters to Krypto, the scene-stealing super dog who stars in some of the best moments.

The new Superman It's about work and saves us the umpteenth explanation of the character's origins. After eight films, a handful of series, and more than a thousand comics, who doesn't know the story of the boy from a planet about to explode who is sent to Earth and adopted by some farmers? So, after twenty-five years of superhero movies, Superman It is perhaps the one that best conveys the sensation of beginning to read on film. in the middle of nothing a collection and discover along the way Clark Kent's coworkers, the balding tycoon who has a grudge against him, and the superheroes he interacts with. It's almost like getting to the party in issue 353 of the series.

Another success of the film is to enhance the romantic tension between Superman and Lois Lane, who are in the first months of a relationship yet to be defined. Rachel Brosnahan is a wonderful Lois and brings the energy screwball of classic comedy that was already exhibited in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and David Corenswet is a credible Superman in the superheroic aspect, but also vulnerable and even immature, perhaps too much, when he loses his temper during an argument with Lois. Of course, there is not much room for Clark Kent, the clumsy reporter of the Daily Planet; in that regard, Christopher Reeve is unsurpassed.

An immigrant in Trump's America?

The film's problems are rather typical of the genre. The difficulty in creating charismatic action scenes that don't seem interchangeable with any other superhero production of recent years. The sound and fury of the fighting doesn't reach the paroxysm of Man of Steel (2013), but it's coming. And it must be said that the new Superman adopts a key aspect of Snyder's film: the focus on the protagonist's search for his own identity, ultimately a foreigner looking for his place in the land that welcomes him.

It's not an original idea: Superman has always been studied as a metaphor for the migrant experience; in fact, he was created by two Jewish immigrants, Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster. But even so, statements by Gunn reminding everyone that Superman is an immigrant on Earth and the importance of kindness in the character have been enough to put Trump supporters and related media on the warpath, who, before seeing the film, have attacked Gunn for having offered a "version woke" of the hero. Superman already says it in the film: "Maybe kindness is the new punk", a 100% Gunn phrase that the director finishes in his style by closing the film with the theme Punkrocker by the Teddybears sung by Iggy Pop.

The curious thing is that the controversy resonates in the plot of the film, in which Lex Luthor, played by a cruel and megalomaniac Nicholas Hoult, orchestrates a smear campaign against Superman that points to his alien origins. And another interesting element of the film is that it confronts the reality of international geopolitics and Superman's good intentions when the hero goes to the aid of a fictional country in the Middle East that is invaded by a neighboring country allied with the United States and with an infinitely more powerful army. Basically, and this is punk, Gunn asks what Superman would do if he found himself in a scenario similar to the Gaza war, a brave and unusual idea in a blockbuster. And in case there were any doubts, he underlines the analogy by having the villain who defends the interests of the invading country hide under an armor reminiscent of the figure of the golem, a myth from Hebrew tradition.

Although far from being round, Superman lays a fairly solid first stone in the new superhero universe that Gunn is preparing and leaves a good impression, both in the playful and uninhibited tone of the film and in two of the superheroes invited to the party, the berzotas Green Lantern played by Nathan Fillion and the sensational Mr. Terrific played by Edi Gathegi. Warner has a lot at stake in the film, because January 1, 2038, the day on which Superman will enter the public domain, is getting closer. And that's why they are not holding back at all in the production, to the point of commissioning the fabric of Superman's iconic cape to the historic Catalan firm Gratacós.