‘Smallville’ Creators Alfred Gough And Miles Millar Side With James Gunn In The Superman-Immigrant Debate, Call The Hero “The Ultimate Illegal Alien”
James Gunn’s Superman was caught up in a discussion about the character’s immigration status right before its release. People who have been associated with the character over the years, especially Dean Cain, took firm stances in favor of and against the idea that Supes is an immigrant, technically or not.
Gunn and his brother Sean are very much in the camp favoring the terminology and incorporating the larger themes, which are currently a hot-button issue, into their story. James Gunn called his film an “immigrant story” while Sean Gunn later defended this take on the red carpet.
As heated as it is, and unorthodox to some ears, this is not a new conversation. Writers and creators across media have pondered the question of Superman’s debated immigrant status for decades, and have explored how it impacts their storytelling and caretaking of the lore.
Smallville dealt with this thematic conundrum way back in the mid-2000s, halfway into its ten-year run. At the time, show creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar were still running the ship, and are on the side of the Gunns and the direction DC Studios has taken with the Man of Steel post-Snyderverse.
“It’s also interesting, we always saw Superman as a great allegory for immigration, that he was the ultimate illegal alien. The fact that James said, and it’s so controversial, was sort of like,” said Millar on the Happy Sad Confused podcast to Josh Horowitz, “I couldn’t believe, I was like, ‘That’s so embedded in what it is.'”
Gough added (via ComicBookMovie), “We did an episode in season 6 with, where we sort of talked about it directly. Clark finds a boy who’s working on one of the farms. I remember, at the time, thinking, [because] this is, again, 2006, the network was like, ‘I don’t know…this feels a little political for the show,’ and we’re like, ‘It’s literally the Superman story [laughs], what do you want?'”
Millar went on, “The fact that it’s still [this] controversial idea…that’s [what] is so great about the Superman story, that I think that’s why its legacy has been so powerful. It really speaks to what the American dream is, and all those sort of elements of Americana.”
That they equate Superman with Americana and illegal immigration will surely raise some red flags with our readers, and maybe for some who see the above interview. Superman is Americana, but DC has been taking steps to avoid the “American Way” part of his motto for a while now. It doesn’t even come up in Gunn’s film.
Moreover, you can metaphorically call Superman an immigrant, but to what degree depends on how loosely you want to use the term. That’s saying nothing of defining him as an illegal, which is its own can of worms replete with triggers and ready-made counterarguments.
Smallville lasted on our TVs from 2001 until 2011, and became the quintessential Superman depiction for a generation that includes the current MOS, David Corenswet. It’s very influential and has a less complicated legacy than Dean Cain’s time wearing the cape (Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman), which is not on HBO Max anymore.
