James Gunn’s Superman operates on a litany of fantasies: a world where superpowered individuals have existed for centuries and roam among us, a world where the public almost universally loves a singular alien who has come to planet Earth to uplift and protect humanity’s greatest ideals in the name of a better tomorrow. Those are key suspensions of disbelief for practically every superhero movie. But in stark contrast to that, its other key pillar in that suspension is much more down to earth: that modern journalism can be universally accepted to save the day as much as any superhero could.
In between all the pocket universe destruction, Kryptonian drama, and superhuman scrapping, Superman is perhaps one of the most surprisingly effective pop culture movies about journalism in a very long time. Comic book characters have long had a history with working in the news industry, from alter egos like Clark himself to Peter Parker, or human allies like Vicki Vale, Lois Lane, Ben Urich, Robbie Robertson, and many more, but more often than not their journalistic backgrounds have to take a backstep to the necessity of a superhero story (especially for heroes themselves, when ethical concerns come into play).
Superman does play with the tension of this conflict briefly, although largely to similarly ignore it as the comics do—both Clark and Lois touch upon the conflicts of interest they have in both dating each other and their knowledge of Superman’s secret identity; Jimmy Olsen’s huge report on Lex Luthor’s connection to the Boravian invasion of Jarhanpur is predicated on damning evidence from a source he was previously romantically involved with, information he exchanges on the promise of a weekend-length date with said source. We never know if the latter’s report discloses that fact, and it seems Lois never runs anything from her bombshell interview with Clark in the opening act of the film—presumably because in an ideal world she would have to disclose or recuse herself from reporting on it given her personal relationship with the subject.
But the fact that Superman even remotely cares about that speaks to its broader interest in journalism, and in particular journalism as a tool of public good. Clark and Lois’ first major scene together in the film takes place over an interview at the latter’s apartment, after Lois chides Clark that laundering his reputation as the Daily Planet’s premiere Superman reporter means just giving himself easy, uninteresting questions to answer. It’s a delightful scene to watch from a journalism perspective, even putting aside the hypocrisy of Lois knocking Clark for reporting on himself before proceeding to interview her own romantic partner. Both Clark and Lois take on personas here: the former stops being Clark and “becomes” Superman, both talking about himself in the third person and adopting the body language and tone he has when he is in costume. But just as importantly, Lois separates herself from being a flirtatious girlfriend (as much as she can outside of, again, removing herself from the interview entirely as a conflict of interest) and becomes “Ms. Lane,” investigative reporter at the Daily Planet.
Aside from including the most concise explanation of how being “on the record” works with a reporter to ever hit a superhero movie (whenever Superman hits home release, I yearn to clip and send that soundbite to half the contacts in my inbox), the back-and-forth between Lois and Clark frames their interview as, rightfully, Lois speaking truth to Superman’s power as a superhuman, godlike entity on the level of nation states like Boravia or corporations like LutherCorp. And that is what Superman is, she argues much to Clark’s frustration, if he is going to make unilateral decisions to intervene in international conflicts: a power that a good reporter will question and hold to account.
The scene even subtly has Lois navigate the thorny compromise of conducting this interview from a detached perspective, even if the framing of her questions doesn’t necessarily align with her own personal beliefs. As she says to Clark at one point, she can’t trust Boravia’s claims of wanting to liberate Jarhanpur from an authoritarian regime, but as a reporter, she has to allow for that claim to be as valid as Superman’s claim that his intervention was the only alternative to save lives. It’s a fascinating acknowledgement of public criticism of media impartiality in our own world, an especially delicate act to balance given readings of Superman‘s Boravia-Jarhanpur conflict as a parallel to the likes of the Russian invasion of Ukraine or Israel’s occupation of Gaza (and in particular for that latter reading, criticism of the media’s failure to report on Israel’s campaign as a genocide). And this is in a superhero movie where a questionably-haircutted Nathan Fillion fights a giant kaiju and summons emerald constructs of pure will in the shape of one-finger salutes!
But the reality of journalism on display in that scene between Lois and Clark isn’t really the fantasy that sits along the comic book fantasy of superheroes in Superman. Amidst the chaos of the movie’s third act of Metropolis being torn apart by Lex Luthor’s pocket universe rift, the real stakes of the movie coalesce around Lois and Jimmy’s report on Luthor’s relationship with the Boravian president, Vasil Ghurkos. Literally filing directly into the Daily Planet’s CMS (that’s a Content Management System, for those not in the know—from one CMS writer to another, kudos to Mr. Olsen for living the risk of not drafting in the DC equivalent of Google Docs!), from Mr. Terrific’s ship, the Planet team launches their article with immediate impact.
The report is all over the news and has as much, if not more, sway in turning public opinion back in Superman’s favor as Clark literally whizzing around saving lives and trying to stop Metropolis from splitting in half does. The report has direct consequences leading to Lex Luthor’s arrest: the Daily Planet is arguably as crucial to saving the day in Superman‘s finale as the titular hero himself is.
In a modern journalism environment where outlets across the industry are shuttering every day, battling the rise of generative AI, or simply trying to navigate a sociopolitical environment that has become increasingly siloed in the echo chambers of a “post-truth” world, the fact that the Daily Planet survives and thrives in the importance of its mission perhaps requires as much suspension of disbelief as a man who’s faster than a speeding bullet and can leap buildings in a single bound.
(And that any reporter at what appears to be a primarily print media news organization can afford either Lois Lane’s or Clark Kent’s apartments, but that’s beside the point).
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