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Dean Cain is sharing his thoughts on what he calls “woke” themes in director James Gunn’s new Superman movie.
The 58-year-old actor, who played the Man of Steel on TV in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman from 1993 to 1997, recently spoke to TMZ about Gunn, 58, describing his new film as “the story of America” in the sense that it follows “an immigrant that came from other places and populated the country.”
“What cracks me up is that people don’t like Superman — he was traditionally called the Big Blue Boy Scout. And Superman’s inherent weakness is his goodness,” Cain told the outlet. “I mean, sorry, those are great values, in my opinion, and I root for that.”
He also referred to Fox New host Jesse Watters’ recent joke about the superhero character, now played by David Corenswet, having “MS-13” displayed on his cape.
According to Cain, Watters’ point was, ” ‘How woke is Hollywood going to make this character? How much is Disney gonna change their Snow White? Why are they gonna change these characters [to] exist for the times?’ ”
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Cain’s comments come not long after Gunn told The Times that, in general, “Superman is the story of America,” in the sense that it follows “an immigrant that came from other places and populated the country.”
“But, for me, it is mostly a story that says basic human kindness is a value and is something we have lost,” the filmmaker continued.
Superman is also, he said, “about human kindness and obviously there will be jerks out there who are just not kind and will take it as offensive just because it is about kindness.”
“But screw them,” Gunn added.
Cain told TMZ that before, “For Superman, it was, ‘Truth, Justice and the American Way.’ Well, they dropped that … they let the trademark on that go, so it’s out there, and they came up with, ‘Truth, Justice and a Better Tomorrow.’ ”
In his view, “Changing beloved characters I don’t think is a great idea. I think if you wanna create a new character, go ahead and do that, but for me, Superman has always stood for truth, justice and the American way.”
“And the American way is immigrant-friendly — tremendously immigrant-friendly,” Cain claimed. “But there are rules.”
The actor also specifically said he believes “it was a mistake by James Gunn to say it’s an immigrant thing” and he thinks the director’s comments will ultimately “hurt” the movie’s box-office returns.
“I was excited for the film. I’m [still] excited to see what it is, because James Gunn seems to have a sense of humor and the last iterations of Superman didn’t have much humor,” Cain added. “So I’m rooting for it to be a success, but I don’t like that last political comment.”
Superman is in theaters July 11.