A plot point that starts off the movie and runs through revolves around the question: would/should Superman intervene to stop a war? writes Yazan al-Saadi. [Fadi Al-hawari]
Almost a century ago in June 1938, Jerome Siegel and Joe Shuster introduced the world to Superman—a simple story about a proto-’superhero’ doing ‘good’.
“Superman! Champion of the oppressed. The physical marvel who had sworn to devote his existence to helping those in need!” reads the first page of the comic.
Using their own experiences as Jewish immigrants to the US, escaping the growing madness in Europe, trying to scrape by in New York City, Siegel and Shuster birthed a potent power fantasy. It was also an expression of their attempts to navigate the traumatic events to come in the 1930s and 1940s, with growing xenophobic hysteria that closed off borders from refugees and asylum seekers – the onset of World War II and the Holocaust.
Superman, Kal-El, Clark Kent, was sent as a baby from a dying planet and landed in the farmlands of Kansas, USA, and was found and raised by a loving couple. Superman, would then leave his tiny farm home and head to a major city, Metropolis, to become a journalist and a hero.
In their first story back in 1938, we meet Superman right in the middle of action, trying to save a woman from being wrongfully executed by the state. Using his journalism skills and his superpowers, Superman smashes into a governor’s home and forces him to pardon the victim just in time. The stories move on to Superman punching out wife beaters, threatening corrupt landlords, thwarting arms dealers and war mongers, and more.
The superhero’s story was also largely inspired by the socialist values Siegel and Shuster were raised with, as they held a strong sense of personal justice, workers’ rights and other progressive positions.
No superhero endings
Superman was a hit, and ill-fatedly benefited an infantile comic publishing industry, that then was dependent on Mafia funds. Following the success, gone were Superman’s social justice edge, and the character’s appropriation by the elites transformed into a powerful commercial brand infused with more nationalistic and imperialistic tropes, released in comics, radio series, TV shows, cartoons, movies, toys, and other media.
To get a sense of the gold rush underneath Superman, an undamaged copy of the first comic was last sold at $6 million. According to Uprinting, Superman ranks at 50 on its list of the highest-grossing characters of all time, with the franchise amassing an estimated $6.9 billion since 1938.
Siegel and Shuster were ruthlessly exploited, forced to sell the rights to their character in return for a measly $130 (amounting to around $3,000 in today’s rates) and a contract to supply the publisher with future material. There would be legal battles and tiny victories related to creative rights over the decades related to Superman’s ownership and royalties.
Their tale is a warning about how idealism and hope collides with common credulity and corruption; and begs the question: Can we learn from the tales we tell ourselves?
This summer, we have a new iteration of Superman in a much-anticipated movie directed by critically acclaimed James Gunn, previously known as director and writer of The Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, another sci-fi superhero series that was a financial success for Disney and Marvel. This is a film that seeks to reboot a damaged comic universe IP, unleashing all its profitable franchise potential for Warner Bros., while also finally telling a solid Superman story for the public along the way.
For those keenly interested in a review: simply and briefly, this is an uncomplicated film, made for all ages, by no measure a masterpiece, but it’s a golly-gee fun crowd-pleaser. It’s got charm, sincerity, Gunn’s typical humour, and, I think, does succeed in hitting the right notes when playing within the absurdist contours of the mainstream superhero genre.
Meanwhile, this summer blockbuster has a particular narrative that I am fascinated to unpack, if only for a moment, from my proximity in Beirut, which may slip by many.
Spoilers for those who care—come back when you’re done watching the movie.
Gaza vs Israel’s occupation?
In Superman (2025), Boravia (an ally of the US) invades Jarhanpur (said to be ‘historically not a friend to the US’). Here, Gunn, director, producer, and writer of this work, consciously mixes in current events of our era: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s genocide of Gaza.
Boravia is said to be located in Eastern Europe, and as an ally of the US, it receives billions upon billions of dollars in weaponry. ‘Boravia wants to save the people of Jarhanpur,’ the Boravian dictator Vasil Ghurkos, bellows out in a bald-faced lie in another scene.
When we see Jarhanpur, there’s a forest surrounding it, and its lands resemble the desert. Jarhanpur is defended by villagers “despite the exponentially superior firepower of the well-trained Boravian military”, a journalist reports in one scene. The people of Jarhanpur are depicted in an amalgamation of brownish. We see a crowd of children, old veiled women, yet young unveiled and veiled women, men with beards and long hair, and clothing that suggests a mix of Balkan, Arab, and South Asian design.
The Bovarians are shown as politicians in suits or soldiers in modern military clothing who, pointedly, have no qualms about trying to kill children. This is the clincher, because notably, a scene in which a modern dressed soldier is aiming to shoot at a child, is immediately linked with the Israeli army and what it is doing in Gaza. This is significant, and I’ll explain why soon.
A plot point that starts off the movie and runs through revolves around the question: would/should Superman intervene to stop a war? And this interesting thought experiment is immediately answered: Yes, of course Superman would have stopped a war or genocide.
“People were going to die!” Superman yells as he justifies why he cut through the red tape and political b.s. to take action.
The analogies with Palestine aren’t lost to others either.
William Bibbiani in his review for The Wire, wrote: “James Gunn has done a lot of thinking about what Superman would fight for, and against, in 2025. The countries may be fictional, but we know he’s talking about Israel and Palestine. Lex Luthor, who’s been partly based on Donald Trump since DC rebooted its comic book universe in the 1980s, is now Elon Musk. And his minions are thinly veiled versions of DOGE and ICE.”
“Intentional or otherwise, this premise has unavoidable parallels to the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict,” noted Siddhant Adlakha for a review in Mashable.
Every day, more reviewers and cinema-goers are commenting and observing and arguing over the merits of this parallel.
Reckoning
Stories we tell often strangely reflect and also shape us.
What the conversation and the stories in Superman, suggests to me is that something optimistic is brewing. It is forcing compelling stories in the West to abide by an inevitable reckoning approach for today’s crimes; the West’s myth-making apparatuses strain under the grotesque weight of the present genocidal reality they’ve created.
Cold comfort this fact may be, given that so many Palestinians, and others in the region and beyond, have died and continue to die every day in horrific ways.
Yet, this simple truth stubbornly persists, perhaps it will do so eternally: It is abundantly clear that in the ‘human’ court, we all know what’s right or wrong, and who is on whose side. There’s no absolute escape for genociders; especially not in fiction, neither in a galaxy far, far away in a time long, long ago, nor during a typically tough week in the life of an extraordinary champion of the oppressed, devoted to fighting for truth, justice, and a better tomorrow.
In 2034, the original version of Superman will enter the public domain, meaning this character and their attributes are free to anyone to use, to remix and play, without permission or benefit from any corporation or person…
…And with that spirit, I would like to tell you the tale of an alien baby, a refugee sent from a dying home to earth, more specially landing in the farmlands of 1938’s northern Palestine, and will be raised by two kindly couples, to be a hero that this wretched world needs.
To be continued, always and forever.
Yazan Al-Saadi is the International Editor for The New Arab. He is an analyst, writer, editor, and researcher with over 10 years of experience in social research alongside communications and reporting. He also recently published his book, Lebanon Is Burning and Other Dispatches (2025), a collection of political comics.
Join the conversation: @The_NewArab
Have questions or comments? Email us at: editorial-english@alaraby.co.uk
Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.
