The new Superman movie is very clearly about Israel and Palestine, multi billion dollar weapons deals, and ethnic cleansing

My son and I went to go see it last night and I'd love to share a few of my core thoughts about it with each of you. First off, as a superhero movie, we loved it. Now, on the politics...

My son and I went to see the new Superman movie last night and I want to break it all down for you. I thought it was the best Superman movie ever made, the best DC movie since Christian Bale was Batman, and that it did it all while being overtly political and relevant for the horrible time that we are living in.

But first, please give me a quick moment to tell you about the Human Rights Scorecard that we are building…

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Now, about the new Superman movie.

If it looks like he’s basically being detained by ICE in the photo above - it’s because he is. The new Superman movie, which I thought was exceptional, did something that is VERY difficult - it made a movie that stands on its own as an exciting superhero film while very much being a painful, and sometimes hopeful reflection of the world we live in.

As much as a film buff as I think I am, I’ll let you look at Rotten Tomatoes for mainstream movie reviews. I simply want to unpack just how much about the world we currently live in the director, James Gunn, truly made this film.

First, the primary supervillain in the film is very much an Elon Musk figure - a filthy rich billionaire that has integrated himself into the federal government and is now dictating its decisions around the world. Peter Thiel and Palantir also came to mind. He may be even more dangerous than Musk, but the world doesn’t know his name in the same way. In the film, the villain has no ethics, burns through women that he uses like they are disposable, and has partnered himself with a genocidal white Prime Minister that is openly admitting he wants to destroy the land and society of his Muslim neighbors.

That Prime Minister in the film, an old white bloodthirsty maniac is Benjamin Netanyahu. He openly admits he wants to steal the land, steal its oil and gas, give some of it to billionaires, and basically auction it off to the highest bidder. It’s an open campaign for ethnic cleansing and what’s wild is that while the mainstream media, including sometimes Lois Lane herself, defend the genocidal regime, Superman, who the film presents as the only survivor of a genocide that killed his entire family and the civilization they were from, sees this new genocidal regime for who and what they truly are.

In the film, Superman, and basically any enemy of the billionaire or genocidal government, are placed in a grossly inhumane version of a crowded ICE detention center and all of the residents are talked about in such a dehumanizing and horrible manner - as to justify jailing them without any end in sight? SOUND FAMILAR?

As we see in Gaza, experimental weapons are used on the Muslims of the film. At one point, the film’s villain even shoots and kills a Muslim street vendor that is friends with Superman. But then, the director, James Gunn, who I loved when he was with Marvel, took it so much deeper. He didn’t have to do any of this - people would’ve loved and enjoyed the film even if it wasn’t so relevant, but if you are a comic book fan, Superman was ALWAYS deeply involved in confronting the oppression of the world - from the KKK to Nazis - so this all makes perfect sense to me.

Outside of literally calling the two nations Israel and Palestine, it couldn’t be any clearer, but James Gunn pushed the envelope in the most profound ways. He showed how the billionaire villain and the genocidal regime used troll farms, controlled by actual monkeys, to ruin Superman’s reputation online. But how?

The used overtly Islamophobic language - claiming that Superman was holding a “harem” of women because he wanted to have many wives to control the world, but just as we see with Israel, every accusation is actually a confession. Like Musk and Trump in real life, who have kids by more women than I can count, none of which they are ever truly committed to, so do the villains in the film, all while they accuse Superman of doing what they are actually doing themselves.

I could say so much more, but I truly want you all to consider seeing it for yourselves and let me know in the comments what you think, OK?

I’ve gotta run!

Love and appreciate each of you.

Your friend and brother,

Shaun

PS: If you are not following me on the following platforms, I am about to seriously ramp up activity on all of them. I’d love to have you there. I’ll probably always be banned from Instagram but I am still in the following places:

• Telegram - This is my most uncensored self.

• TikTok - I am about to launch several new series there. 360,000 strong and growing.

• YouTube - We just crossed 1 million subscribers and I am about to launch several new projects there.

• LinkedIn - Where I connect with you professionally but still fight for justice. We are about 80,000 strong over here.

• Facebook - I’ve been here for 20 years and am still going. 2.6 million strong and counting.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Shaun King is one of the most followed and shared activists and journalists in the world. Hailed by Time Magazine as “1 of the 25 most influential people in the world on the Internet,” Shaun is most known for fighting against police brutality and mass incarceration in the United States, the genocide of the Palestinian people, and oppression around the world. Devout Muslims, Shaun and his wife of 25 years, Dr. Rai King, are proud parents of five wonderful children.