The release of Superman Of course, this weekend has led to a cultural war, which has largely been able to avoid until now. But came it has, and the instance speaks to how much virtues refuse to engage in art on its actual conditions, rather than turning it into their own goals.
After Fox News and other prominent all-right characters tried to pretend that the DC hero was not an immigrant earlier this week, the White House Slittter sent a photo-shopping poster of the movie with President Donald Trump flying in the air and the poster’s text was fine-tuned to support him. “A Trump Presidency: Truth, Justice and the American way,” it reads.
The symbol of hope.
TRUTH. JUSTICE. The American way.
Superman Trump. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/fwfweyonaq
– The White House (@whitehouse) July 11, 2025
That the White House is trying to embrace Superman is not very surprising; It’s the film’s opening weekend, Superman is the most powerful hero throughout DC, and part of Trump’s perceived appeal is how he speaks to the fantasy of a powerful, masculine Man The right wing (and America as a whole) is constantly on the hunt for.
This is also not the first time this particular sect has tried to cooperate a particular fictional character or person, either for real or just a quick hit of virality. During the mid -terms of 2018, the first Trump -Administration used Game of Thrones memes to swing voters. Before the 2024 election, many musicians asked Trump to stop using their songs for his campaign and possibly victory, even go so far as to take the cases before the court. And whether intentional or not, it can be easy to read this as a direct, petty ironing against author/director James Gunn, who has had no problem making his feelings towards this particular president and white supremacy known through his works.
And yet, this instance has more significance due to factors such as parallels, that the audience has made between the film and the continued real world attack on Gaza-something Gunn recently claimed was an unintentional trait and came straight from the white house’s mouth. For as much as this administration and its defenders have complained about the “waking” media that plagues the country, they cannot find it in themselves not being drawn to the things that fall into this purpose. For them, Superman is a god -like creature that cuts a figure in the clouds with threatening laser eyes, the type of figure feared by his enemies and otherwise populated by acolytes.
But DC -Fans have spent the last decade bound on depictions as Man of steel and one-to-video playing of Injustice and Suicide Squad. Now they want a version of the hero that exudes hope and optimism, which has since gradually been brought back to the character via Gunn’s film and adult swimmer My adventures with superman. From those who have come out of the movie and liked it, their great takeaway is how Gunn and Warner Bros. Finally, he got right again and mapped out a brighter path forward for the budding DC Movie Universe. This momentum looks like it will keep the movie in discussion in the coming weeks and months, while it probably leaves the white house’s attempt to ride the current wave far behind in the dust.
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