If you don’t like immigrants, then you are not American. That was actor Sean Gunn’s declaration when asked about the new superwoke Superman movie that casts its hero as an immigrant outsider.
Gunn plays Maxwell Lord in the film, according to IMDB.
The actor outlined his views as part of an interview Monday canvassing responses to the film which is directed by his brother James Gunn.
“We support ‘our people’ we love our immigrants, and yes Superman is an immigrant, and yes the people that we support in this country are immigrants, if you don’t like that then you are not American,” Gunn said.
“People who say no to immigrants are against the American way. That is what the American dream is all about.”
Gunn failed to note the U.S. admits roughly one million individuals annually for lawful permanent residence. In 2022, there were 2.6 million new authorized immigrant arrivals. Illegal immigrants have been known to double that figure.
He spoke to a Variety reporter:
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
Director James Gunn confirmed the upcoming Superman iteration will be “about politics,” saying the iconic superhero is “an immigrant that came from other places.”
“Superman is the story of America,” he told he Sunday Times in a recent interview. “An immigrant that came from other places and populated the country, but for me, it is mostly a story that says basic human kindness is a value and is something we have lost.”
Last week, the man who portrays the Man of Steel, actor David Corenswet, found himself unable to relay Superman’s slogan, and replaced “The American way” part of the saying with “and good things.”
The character of Superman, first introduced in 1938, was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster in Cleveland, Ohio.
In the comics as he first appeared, Superman is the sole survivor of the planet Krypton, sent to Earth by his parents as their world faced destruction.
