Socialist Avenger to Capitalist Lapdog
How Cold War Politics Co-Opted Superman
Socialist Avenger to Capitalist Lapdog
How Cold War Politics Co-Opted Superman
The original version of Superman you’ll never see on a lunchbox. He’s not the spandex-clad, jingoistic truth-and-justice poster boy we’re all familiar with. He’s also definitely not the stoic American-Jesus allegory floating in front of a tattered American flag.
The original Superman was angry; he was a working-class outsider who beat down wife beaters, threw corrupt politicians off of buildings, and straight-up terrorized the one percent.
The original Superman, the one created in 1938 by two Jewish kids in the midst of the Great Depression.
That version sadly didn’t last long. Once Cold War politics entered the national dialogue, Superman was scrubbed, sterilized, and made safe for suburban consumerism. His radical edges shaved off and replaced with pro-military messages. His anti-authoritarianism was papered over with patriotic sermons.
Over time, the most powerful man on Earth went from being a champion of the oppressed to a silent enforcer of the status quo.
Superman got neutered by capitalism, and the American propaganda machine turned a populist icon into an apologist for empire.