Dean Cain Roasts James Gunn For Politicizing 'Superman' With 'Woke' Remarks

What in the world was James Gunn thinking? 

The "Superman" director and new head of DC Studios set his movie and his credibility on fire over the weekend by unnecessarily and inexplicably making the legendary character a political statement. Gunn said the story is "about politics" and that he's an "immigrant" who represents the values of "basic human kindness" that we've supposedly lost.

Then one of his actors, Nathan Fillion, attempted to downplay Gunn's remarks by saying the film is "just a movie" and anyone offended just "needs a hug."

READ: 'Superman' Disaster Keeps Getting Worse, Hollywood Tries To Have It Both Ways

Gunn's comments were not only inaccurate, but bizarre and out of place. Fillion's comments were hypocritical and contradictory. For example, What do you think he and Gunn would say if the creative talent behind a new film said that it's a political statement in favor of enforcing immigration laws, supporting border controls, and building a wall to stop illegal entry? Would they act as though it was "just a movie" then? Would they refuse to participate in such a story? Or criticize the filmmaker, if he said that the story was about restoring "human kindness" to those who are the victims of crimes committed by illegal aliens?

We all know the answer.

Beyond the hypocrisy and ill-advised interviews, their remarks may have harmed the film's box office potential. And a former "Superman" actor, Dean Cain, agrees. 

LONDON - James Gunn attends the "Superman" Fan Event Leicester Square on July 2, 2025. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Warner Bros)

Dean Cain Points Out James Gunn's Self-Inflicted Wound

Cain, who played Superman in "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" told TMZ recently that he was concerned that Gunn had turned the character "woke." 

Then he went off on how the entertainment industry refuses to treat historic characters with the reverence they deserve.

"How woke is Hollywood going to make this character?" Cain said. "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. If you want to create a new character go ahead and do that."

Superman has always stood for ‘truth, justice and the American way,’ and the ‘American way’ is immigrant friendly, tremendously immigrant friendly," he continued. "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, because you had to leave Somalia to come here… There have to be limits, because we can't have everybody in the United States. We can’t have everybody, society will fail. So there have to be limits."

He's right, of course. Hollywood has abandoned what made it successful in the first place. Because politics have become more important than quality storytelling. Cain went on to say that he believes the comments were a "mistake" that could hurt the film's box office results.

"I think bringing Superman into it… I think that was a mistake by James Gunn to say it’s an immigrant thing, and I think it’s going to hurt the numbers on the movie. I was excited for the film. I am excited to see what it is… I’m rooting for it to be a success, but I don’t like that last political comment."

This is what makes the Gunn situation so confusing; what did he gain by purposefully unnecessarily injecting his ideology? Just 7 to 10 days ago, nobody thought the movie or the character was a political statement. It may not even be one. But Gunn forcibly made it into a politically charged release, for nothing. Why in the world can they not stop shooting themselves in the foot? 

Apparently by now it's just force of habit.