Former Superman actor Dean Cain says he’ll go see James Gunn’s new Superman — starring David Corenswet as the Man of Steel — but defended a joke by Fox News’ Jesse Watters about the new Superman being so pro-immigrant that he has “MS-13” on his cape.
Cain, who starred as the superhero/Clark Kent on four seasons of ABC’s Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman in the mid-90s, spoke to TMZ about the new film and Watters’ criticism of it. The Fox pundit was responding to an interview with the Sunday Times in which Gunn likened the character to an immigrant.
“I mean, Superman is the story of America,” Gunn explained. “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.”
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That sparked complaints from the right that the new film is too pro-immigrant, at a time when the Trump Administration is rounding up immigrants — and the occasional U.S. citizen — in the name of national security.
Appearing on Fox News The Five this week, former Trump Administration counselor Kellyanne Conway complained, “We don’t go to the movie theater to be lectured to, and to have somebody throw their ideology onto us.”
Watters then chimed in, “You know what it says on his cape? MS-13.”
Dean Cain on the New Superman
In his interview with TMZ, Cain said Watters’ “makes great politcal points with some snark, and it’s great,” and tried to get to the heart of his snipe.
“The point I think he was making about the MS-13 thing on his cape was, ‘How woke is Hollywood gonna make this character? How much is Disney gonna change their Snow White? Why are they gonna change these characters that exist for the times?’
Cain added: “Changing beloved characters I don’t think is a great idea. I think if you want to create a new character, go ahead and do that. But for me Superman has always stood for truth, justice and the American way. And the American way is immigrant friendly. Tremendously immigrant friendly. But there are rules. 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 — ’cause you had to leave Somalia to come here… so it doesn’t make any sense.”
Cain’s statement, obviously, contained some hypothetical examples: We are unaware of anyone who wants the United States to be more like Somalia, which has endured decades of crises and infighting since the dictatorship of Siad Barre, which was marked by economic decline and the brutality of his National Security Service, and has continued since his overthrow in 1991.
“If people are coming for economic opportunity, well, let’s take a look at your government and why you don’t have that opportunity,” Cain continued. “What are the things that are going on there? … And there have to be limits because we can’t have everybody here in the United States. Everybody can’t come here. Our society will fail.”
Again, it was unclear who the actor thinks is in favor of letting everyone in the world move to the United States.
Cain also compained about ICE agents being “villainized” for “enforcing the laws that our lawmakers, our elected representatives, created.” He added that the United States is in a “bad situation” and that the current division facing the country is being “stoked by politicians and by NGOs that have a political agenda.”
James Gunn’s movie is the eighth film to star Superman, who was created in 1938, at the height of Nazism, by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, both of whom were Jewish sons of immigrants. It tells the story of Kal-El, whose parents send him from their dying planet, Krypton, to Earth, where the yellow sun gives him incredible powers. He uses them to help humans and save us from ourselves.
Superman is now in theaters.
Main image: David Corenswet as Superman. Warner Bros.