Superman in BvS: An Alien in America
I saw a comment somewhere that said Batman v Superman was a tragic state of affairs because it proves “in a post 9/11 world, Superman cannot exist. In a post 9/11 world, Marvel has convinced people that Captain America not only can exist, but should.”
Which to me, is an interesting comment….and altogether wrong.
In my opinion, it’s still partially tragic that, in-universe, people haven’t universally accepted Superman as a hero, as the loving, happy, incredibly kind figure he is. That there’s no established rapport between him and humanity, the way you’d get in Superman: The Animated Series or the Christopher Reeves films.
But in terms of dealing with the hand you’ve been given, as in the earlier events of Man of Steel, i genuinely could not ask for a better depiction of humanity’s perception of him and his subsequent response to that perception. The decision to make him this mythic, esoteric individual is constantly, appropriately shown as the HUMAN decision to portray him as such - to many, he is very literally a god in the sky, untouchable and imbued with ultimate power.
The fact that he’s an ALIEN though, I think, isn’t touched upon enough in discourse about BvS. The moniker has a distinct weight upon him and imho, provides a deep, real world relevance. The fact that he’s introduced to the world in MoS, so baldly, as a member of another race, an old inhabitant of ANOTHER PLANET, others him in such a specific way that people can’t divorce that from his identity.
The title card/intro scene in BvS gives that away immediately.
Mankind is introduced to the Superman.’
He’s not Superman; he is THE Superman.
Superman is othered by humanity as a god amongst mortals, an alien amongst humans. designated as the frightening outsider, when all he’s ever wanted to do, I feel, is assimilate, to be accepted, to help, to LOVE.
It’s the immigrant story.
Which is what Superman’s always been, at the heart of his myth. he’s a boy raised in the american heartland, who’s only ever wanted to be accepted for who he was.
But in Man of Steel, he was outed and forced to own up to his identity, an identity that predated his status as an American. His status as a human. To everyone from then on, he is strange and he is different.
And in Man of Steel, mankind inextricably ties him to Krypton, to other Kryptonians, to those who perpetrated violence upon American soil and harmed others for the sake of sheer carnage or their own prerogative, when all Clark wanted to do was live, to love, to be accepted. From then on, he is strange and he is different and he is dangerous.
In BvS, humanity argues if there is a place for him amongst us; it portrays a corrupt billionaire hellbent upon ridding the world of him, with a logic mired in the fact that his fear and hatred basically comes from Superman’s genetic makeup.
It’s the post-9/11 immigrant story.
An analogue for all of us painted in a specific way by the American public, by the world, due to our heritage, our belief system, the color of our skin, or the clothes that we wear. Due to the sparse connection between us and those who have spilt American blood on American soil.
Clark Kent seeks to be accepted and understood in these films, and so do we.
So, in a post-9/11 world, we may want Captain America to exist, but Superman DOES. And the way he’s treated does too.