It's far from that one Variety guy, though if that somewhat scattered article is true, I'm surprised any celebs talk to him at all.
But you can read about it here.
The director reveals why his superhero reboot has jokes, politics and is only two hours long — he’s the Man of Steel the world needs now
www.thetimes.com
Gunn isn't the first person to try to frame Superman as an immigrant (or more appropriately a refugee) but to do it at a time where massive illegal immigration (could almost call it an invasion) is sweeping the english speaking countries, its a VERY loaded topic to even bring up AT ALL. That aspect to Superman is not really necessary, ESPECIALLY in a world loaded with metahumans. If superman just said "I'm a farm boy from Kansas and I'm really strong", NO ONE would question it because right next to him is a guy from earth who is equally gifted. THe "he's an alien" is really only necessary when he is the only one at that level.
Did you actually read the article?
He briefly, and I mean BRIEFLY, bring up Superman being an immigrant. But then he immediately goes into, "but for me it is basically a story that says basic human kindness is a value and is something we lost. But it's about human kindness and obviously there will be jerks out there who are just not kind and will take it as offensive just because it is about kindness. But screw them."
And yes, SCREW THEM, because the people he is talking about are the same sort of dishonest, piece of shit grifters who were going to frame them this movie as "political" and "woke" even if Gunn didn't even very briefly mention the immigrant thing. Gunn also clarified the fictional countries' conflict was written before the Middle Eastern conflict and any similarities are unintended, which checks out since the DCU was announced in January 2023 and Gunn says in that video he was already in the middle of writing the Superman script, and the (the one they're referring to) Middle Eastern conflict began in October of that year. But of course, the grifters don't care about facts and context like that.
James Gunn is fully justified in telling grifters "screw them", really he should tell them more, considering it was a piece of shit like that who tried to ruin his career. Mike Cernovich, who was an infamous alt-right online personality who believes stupid shit like "date rape is liberal fiction", was the one who unearthed those very old tweets by James Gunn, tweets which Gunn had acknowledged and apologized for long before Cernovich even unearthed them. Yet his career was briefly put into jeopardy by this asshole.
Again, this is why research matters rather than just blindly listening to those with an agenda.
Also, why are you acting like no one would treat Superman differently for being an alien? That is laughably absurd. People have discriminated against people for their gender, skin tone, sexual orientation, age, and so forth, you don't think being an EXTRATERRESTRIAL would get certain types of people angry?
I mean, are you just as critical for Marvel's mutants facing discrimination for the source of their powers even if many other non-mutants have similar powers?
And Lex Luthor in multiple media has always tried to use Superman being an alien against him. And alien discrimination is brought up in other DC stories too. New Frontier, one of the most beloved DC comics of all time, has Martian Manhunter captured by the government after trying to hide aboard a space launch in order to return home, and when Superman questions this, the government employee says they can't know if they can trust MM as he is an alien. Superman says, "well, you trust me", and the guy stammers a bit before Superman goes, "it's because he looks like that, isn't it? Well, think about this. He could easily leave this cell if he wanted to, yet he hasn't. That should tell you something." (and the the government guy becomes good friends with MM, and they work together with the heroes in the final battle)
But yeah, it should not stretch belief at all that there would be a significant amount of people who discriminate against an alien no matter what. Bigoted pieces of shit don't follow logic and reason with their bigotry. That should be obvious.
Anyway, let's poke fun at the people who tried to destroy this movie over nothing, and the people who bought into that nonsense:
