A couple of weeks ago, DC Comics sent shock waves through the comic book industry by radically altering the persona of arguably the most famous comic book hero of all time, Superman. They gave the iconic character a progressive update, changing his motto and his sexuality. Many embraced the change, but many were offended by it. Others saw it as nothing more than pandering to the radical Left cultists attacking American culture. Given the passionate reaction to the news, I had the opportunity to interview Superman actor Dean Cain from Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.
“My first reaction was to a headline, ‘Superman to become bisexual,’” Cain told me. “That one caught me off guard since Superman and Lois Lane have had a red-hot love affair for 80-plus years and was the basis for my entire four-year run on television.”
Some saw DC’s changes as bold and courageous. Cain did not see it that way.
“Once I heard that it was their son, Jon — and I read about the ‘real-world’ problems that he was going to fight, like climate change and protesting the deportation of refugees — I had to stop and think,” Cain said. “DC comics said it was a ‘bold’ new direction for Jon Kent to be bisexual, and I had to disagree. Bold to make a superhero bisexual in 2021? Nope.”
He also told the recent history of comic book characters changing to have an LGBTQ background. This further demonstrates how the change to Superman’s sexuality was not significantly groundbreaking.
“I pointed out that the new Captain America was gay, my TV daughter on Supergirl was a lesbian, and that Robin (of Batman and Robin) had recently came out as bisexual, although that came as no surprise,” Cain said.
“It didn’t bother me at all that Jon Kent was bisexual — and it surely didn’t strike me as ‘bold.’ Not in 2021,” Cain said. “Bold would have been to have Jon fight for LBGTQ rights in Iran, where they have tossed people off buildings just for suspecting they’re gay.”
“I’m all for comic book characters being LBGT — but I’d love to see new characters created, as opposed to old characters re-branded,” Cain told me.
The “woke” attack on our culture typically means that anything adhering to the standards and ideologies they believe in is lauded and celebrated as bold, brave, and daring. Conversely, if one is against those things, they are seen as some form of bigot. Cain argued that if one is truly bold in the 21st century, they need to go beyond the woke platform.
“Bold would be to head to the different countries that produced the refugees who have come to the USA and address those problems,” Cain said.
Cain makes an excellent point. In my opinion, there’s probably a certain propaganda element when it comes to defining LGBT moments in those ways. It wants people to applaud these things and feel proud of comic book characters’ LGBT sexualities. The notion of certain things being bold, brave, and courageous has been saturated to fit a leftist political agenda more so than being actual attributes that are bold, brave, and courageous.
