James Gunn politicizes upcoming ‘Superman’ film, says bleeding hero represents ‘our country’

Director James Gunn says the scarred-looking version of Superman seen in the trailer for his highly-anticipated “Superman” movie represents America.

During a final Q&A session at the trailer’s premiere, the director acknowledged the political implications present in the film, saying that there is a theme of a bruised and bloodied America running through it.

“We have a battered Superman at the beginning. This is our country,” Gunn said at the event.

The trailer debuted online on Thursday, teasing a whole new cinematic universe for the legendary DC Comics superhero.

Superman is played this time by actor David Corenswet, alongside Rachel Brosnahan’s Lois Lane.

In addition to reintroducing audiences to the classic Superman characters, the roughly two-minute trailer featured the titular character in critical condition, lying bloodied and bruised in an Arctic wasteland.

The trailer’s opening shots feature the rugged superhero using his remaining strength to whistle to his dog, Krypto, to save him.

Gunn said the shocking images of the broken hero are a reference to an America that still stands for goodness despite what he called its current bloodied and battered state.

“I believe in the goodness of human beings, and I believe that most people in this country, regardless of their ideological beliefs, their politics, are doing their best to get by and be good people – no matter how they can it seems to the other party. “, he said.

But the beleaguered state of Gunn’s Superman represents America when it is corrupted by “darker voices,” he said.

“This film is about that. It is about the basic goodness of human beings and that it can be seen as unstable and surrounded [by] some of the darkest voices are some of the loudest.”

Elsewhere during the Q&A, Gunn reiterated the idea that the film is about human goodness overcoming these “darker” influences.

He said: “It’s about the basic goodness of human beings. It’s a noble premise and one that seems designed to appeal across the political spectrum. It is a moral call to embrace decency and optimism.”

Gunn, who shied away from political specifics, has long been a critic of President-elect Donald Trump, calling him in a 2017 tweet “an incompetent president who is faking an all-out assault on facts and style journalism of Hitler and Putin”.

During the Superman event, Gunn also mentioned how he wanted his reboot to distance itself from some of the themes of past iterations of the franchise.

“However, given how often contemporary superhero stories have been scrutinized as allegories for our polarized age, there is an undercurrent of concern,” he said.

“After all, previous DC installments have been criticized for flirting with darker political undertones and ‘fascist power fantasies.’

“We all felt like we were doing something good… not a fascist power fantasy,” he added elsewhere.