Week of 06/17/2019

We Don’t Need Another Evil Superman
– by David Matthews 2

I was recently asked if I would want to see the movie “Brightburn”.  I knew just enough of the movie to not only say “no”, but “hell no!”

For those who do not know, “Brightburn” is the 2019 movie directed by David Yarovesky and produced by “Guardians of the Galaxy” director James Gunn.  The gist of the movie is this... a kindly couple adopt an alien baby and raise it as their own.  This boy grows up and he discovers he has powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men.

Sound familiar?

Oh, but here’s the twist: despite being brought up by his parents to do right, he doesn’t.  And, soon, people start getting maimed and killed by a hooded figure with glowing eyes called “Brightburn”.

That’s right, folks; this is an Evil Superman story.

This is essentially the opening quarter of the 1978 “Superman” movie and the 2013 movie “Man of Steel” remade into a horror movie.

For those who do not know, Superman is my first and longtime favorite superhero.  He is powerful, iconic, respected, all the things that I was not when I was growing up.  He always got the girl.  He always saved the day.  He always did the right thing.  And he had beautiful women fighting over him!  Who wouldn’t want that?

Of course he’s been re-imagined and re-invented over the past few decades.  He used to be all-powerful.  He was far from being the “Last Son of Krypton”.  He had super-pets, including a horse, a dog, a cat, and a monkey.  He had a whole list of powers that were just too absurd, including – at one point – being able to fire miniature versions of himself from his fingers.

Today, Superman is a family man.  He is married to Lois Lane and together they have a son, Jonathan.  He still has incredible powers, but they’re the more “traditional” kind.  And, no, he doesn’t masquerade as a hooded murderer.

So you can imagine my reaction to the idea of a movie where my icon would be perverted into a villain.  It’s pretty much the same reaction many people felt when they saw Captain America say “Hail Hydra”.

Even worse, this comes after Warner Brothers dropped the ball on the reboot of Superman, starting with “Man of Steel” and ending with “Justice League”.  After they ran a series of comics based off the “Injustice” and “Injustice 2” video games where Superman becomes a homicidal tyrant.  And after the CW aired a three-part “Elseworlds” crossover special that featured a black-suited Evil Superman while also sidelining their version of Superman yet again.

Recognize a pattern here?

Granted, “Brightburn” wasn’t released by Warner Brothers, and I’m sure Producer Gunn did everything in his power to make sure the only connection to Superman was in the vaguest of ideas.  But it still doesn’t help that there seems to be this continual effort to paint my favorite superhero into a villain.

I can understand the desire to come up with an Evil Superman, though.

Evil Superman represents the ultimate fear in society... an unchecked and unchallengeable abuse of power and a betrayal of trust.  Something that you can’t fight, even if you wanted to.  Something that cannot be stopped.

Evil Superman is essentially a symbol of an abusive and tyrannical government.  He is the cop that shoots first and justifies later.  He is the county commissioner that has people arrested for asking questions.  He is the corrupt politician that uses his office to benefit himself and his friends.  He is the narcissist president that boasts he can shoot someone in broad daylight with impunity.  He is the very evil that we want to fight, and the one that we delude ourselves into believing that we would fight... but we know that we won’t.

And, quite frankly, we have way too many of those already.

Let’s get brutally honest here... it is time we stop promoting and highlighting the stories of Evil Supermen.  We don’t need to hear how power corrupts and can be abused.  We’re living it.  We’re seeing it happen on a daily basis.

What we really need is a symbol of hope.  That’s what Superman – the original superhero – embodies.

More than anything, what makes Superman so special is not what he can do, but what he does with those powers.  He was created by two Jewish boys in Cleveland, at a time when anti-Semitism was rampant not just in Europe, but in America as well.  He was created at a time when evil was going unchecked.  He was created as someone who could fix the problems of the world and would not be cowered or bought out or stopped.

Superman encourages people to do better and be better.  Even when stripped of most of his abilities, as DC Comics did to him a few years ago, he still made a stand and took whatever lumps was dished out.  And in doing so, he encouraged others to do the same.  To stand up for what is right.  To believe that things can get better.  That’s something no Evil Superman could ever do.  That’s why Superman has survived and endured in American society for over eighty years.  He is more “American” in heritage and character than certain “Muricans” in power today.

No, I cannot stomach seeing my favorite character twisted into a symbol of abuse and fear.  Because we really need more people like him.  We need to see more stories about characters like him to encourage people to do better and to be better.

“Brightburn”?  “Injustice”?  Crossover Evil Superman?  To hell with you all.  Go back to whatever fevered nightmares you came from.