Actor Dean Cain, who became a fixture in millions of American households thanks to his beloved role as Superman in the hit TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman from 1993 to 1997, says director James Gunn’s latest version, a $300 million-plus reboot hitting theaters this week, is too “woke” and politicizing the iconic character could hurt its box office success à la Disney’s Snow White.
“How woke is Hollywood going to make this character?” Cain said in a recent interview with TMZ. “How much is Disney going to change their Snow White? Why are they going to change these characters [to] exist for the times? For Superman, it was ‘truth, justice, and the American way.’ Well, they dropped that… They came up with ‘truth, justice, and a better tomorrow.’ Changing beloved characters I don’t think is a great idea.”
“The ‘American way’ is immigrant friendly, tremendously immigrant friendly. But there are rules,” Cain continued. “You can’t come in saying, ‘I want to get rid of all the rules in America, because I want it to be more like Somalia.’ Well that doesn’t work, because you had to leave Somalia to come here… There have to be limits, because we cant have everybody in the United States. We can’t have everybody, society will fail. So there have to be limits.”
Cain’s criticism comes after Gunn said his Warner Bros.-backed big budget remake is “about politics,” calling Superman “an immigrant that came from other places” and telling would-be critics (“jerks,” Gunn called them) to “screw” off if they don’t like his version of the story.
James Gunn later softened his tune, telling Variety his film “is for everybody.” His brother, Sean, however told that outlet at the same red carpet event “if you don’t like” his brother’s political message in the movie, “then you are not American.”
Sean Gunn on the MAGA backlash to Superman being called an immigrant: "People who say no to immigrants are against the American way." pic.twitter.com/XgivaD34PE
— Variety (@Variety) July 8, 2025
The Gunn brothers’ comments sparked massive backlash just as mostly favorable film reviews started to pour in. Warner Bros. is betting the farm on Superman and needs its debut weekend to pull in at least $100 million (the studio’s opening weekend projection). That’s a conservative number with some industry estimations reaching as high as a $150 million domestic debut.
Superman hits theaters July 11, with previews showing on the 10th.
Jerome Hudson is Breitbart News Entertainment Editor and author of the book 50 Things They Don’t Want You to Know About Trump. Order your copy today. Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter and instagram@jeromeehudson
