Hope and the New Punk Rock

This post contains some spoilers for the movie Superman. If you haven’t seen it, what are you doing? Go see it. It’s good!

The tagline for the original Superman movie in 1978 was “You’ll believe a man can fly.” And, sure, since I was 9 years old, Superman has been cool to me because he could fly, move at superspeed, hoist a car, and shoot lasers from his eyes (technically heat vision). Yet it has long been true that the aspect of this strange visitor from another planet has been his goodness. Despite having abilities far beyond mortal men, Superman always sought to make the world a better place for every man, woman, child, and squirrel.

I’m less concerned with whether a man can be powerful. But to make me believe a powerful man can be kind? That is something extraordinary.

So let’s cut to the chase. Superman, written and directed by James Gunn, did just that. It is a fun and fantastic comic book come to life with bright colors, kaiju, pocket universes, and all sorts of superhero shenanigans. I had a goofy grin on my face for most of my two viewings of the movie in theaters. Yet even more than the fun, the film captured the essence of Superman and even made it work in a present day context.

There is a scene midway through the movie that serves as its thesis statement and has since become a bit of a rallying cry. Superman, flies into his apartment beaten down as Lex Luthor’s machinations have turned public opinion against him. Unbeknownst to Clark, Lois is waiting for him in the apartment and offers his some hot cocoa. Their young relationship is in rocky territory and their conversation turns to the difficulty caused by their differences.

Lois: We’re so different. I was just some punk rock kid from Bakerline and you’re…Superman.
Clark: I’m punk rock.
Lois: (laughing) You are not punk rock.
Clark: I like the Strangle Fellos, the P.O.D.s, and the Mighty Crabjoys.
Lois: Those are pop radio bands, they’re not punk rock. The Mighty Crabjoys suck.
Clark: Ah, well, a lot of people love ‘em.
Lois: My point is I question everything and everyone. You trust everyone and think everyone you’ve ever met is, like…beautiful.
Clark: Maybe that’s the real punk rock.

I never would have thought that a Superman movie in 2025 would have people walking out talking about how kindness and seeing humanity in others is the new punk rock. Yet here we are. And it is punk rock. Kindness and treating other people as human beings is countercultural. It sucks that we’re in a place where those things are countercultural.

Still it gives me some hope that helping others, serving others, seeing the good in them, kindness, protecting the vulnerable, and more are being seen as ways to push back against this oft unkind world. It delights me to no end that my favorite superhero is contributing to that conversation and that my two sons love the movie just as much as I do. I hope this is the beginning of a shift back to something better than we are now.

So here is to Superman who helps us believe that a man can be kind. And here is to the new punk rock.