The Return Of Superman Signals A Culture Shift In America

Look Up. That’s the tagline for the brand new Superman movie hitting the big screen this summer, directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet as the new Man of Steel.

Tempted as some may be to see a summer superhero blockbuster as nothing more than a form of seasonal entertainment akin to a roller-coaster theme park, there are strong reasons to believe a movie like this is much more than mere entertainment and that it contributes to a vital psychological function in our lives.

Not only that, but there are signs that the cultural longing for a wholesome hero, whose values were shaped by old-fashioned Christian farmers from America’s heartland, is much stronger now than when the last iteration of Superman was released in theaters 12 years ago in Man of Steel. The excitement surrounding the return of a wholesome, aspirational Superman reflects a growing psychological and spiritual hunger in American culture to move beyond the cynicism and deconstruction of recent decades and toward positive visions of timeless values and moral virtues we have lost sight of.

Superman is America’s greatest mythological hero, and such heroes have played a central role in shaping the hearts and minds across time and culture. Like Hercules for the ancient Greeks or King Arthur in medieval England, every culture creates stories filled with exemplars of its highest aspirations and ideals. While these stories are entertaining, they are so much more than that. These mythological stories pass on a life strategy, a kind of cultural script for what the good life looks like and how to attain it. They shape not just a society’s values but also an individual’s sense of self and direction in life.

Psychologists often refer to this as our “narrative identity.” From childhood bedtime stories and Sunday school Bible lessons to summer blockbusters like Superman, the stories we consume, especially in our youth, shape the story we tell ourselves about who we are, what we’re here for, and how we ought to live. And the story we tell ourselves is central to one of our most basic human endeavors: the pursuit of existential meaning.

Psychological research has found that people who lack meaning in their lives and seek to restore it tend to resonate more deeply with stories of heroism. Scientists have even demonstrated that the more people see elements of what Joseph Campbell called the “Hero’s Journey” in their own life story, the more meaningful their life tends to feel. When narrative identity is disrupted, either individually or culturally, we often turn to the past, searching old symbols and myths for meaning, value, and direction.

Our culture’s greatest mythological hero, Superman, was conceived in a world on the brink of destruction. Created in 1938 by two sons of Jewish immigrants — Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster — against the backdrop of rising antisemitism and global instability, Superman arrived as a superpowered deliverer sent from a dying world to save ours. In the postwar period, he became the embodiment of America’s highest ideals: power constrained by virtue, strength used in service of the weak, and a steadfast commitment to truth, justice, and the common good.

By the time Christopher Reeve donned the cape in 1978, Superman had become more than a comic book character; he was a symbol of American virtue in the Cold War. Raised by humble, heartland farmers (who were later revealed to be churchgoing Methodists), this clean-cut, big-hearted hero helped hold together a country facing a rival civilizational story from the Soviet Union.

But even as the Soviet story crumbled in the 1980s, Americans were beginning to question what Superman stood for. In 1986, Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns reimagined Superman as a stooge of government propaganda. His moral clarity was mocked as simplistic and naïve. In the 1990s, DC Comics killed Superman altogether, signaling that the values he stood for were no longer culturally fashionable.

The cultural mood had changed. Irony, cynicism, and suspicion became our default postures. Superman, once our moral compass, was now uncool. His decline mirrored a broader cultural turn, evident in the rise of dark Superman parodies such as the character “Homelander” in The Boys and the portrayal of an angsty, darker Superman in Man of Steel (2013) and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), intended to fit the postmodern mood. 

In the pop culture postmodernism that has lingered since the 1990s, power is corrupt, virtue is performance, and goodness is either weakness or propaganda. As the last big-screen iteration of Superman from director Zack Snyder once lamented in true postmodern form, “No one stays good in this world.” 

But as the myth of Superman unraveled, so did something deeper in the culture. Depression, loneliness, and despair surged. Institutions and ideals that once gave people identity and belonging, such as family, faith, and shared moral frameworks, began to erode. Cognitive scientists such as John Vervaeke have dubbed this phenomenon the “meaning crisis.”

The erosion of a shared cultural story and a shared moral vision has contributed significantly to this crisis. In the absence of a story that gives us aspirational symbols of who to be and what to live for, we have filled the void with stories about what to tear down and who to blame. Our cultural imagination has been shaped by an anti-story: a narrative rooted in cynicism and critique rather than a positive vision of what we should aim toward in life.

But there are signs that American culture is beginning to move away from our obsession with deconstruction and cynicism. Since 2022, a perceptible shift has emerged. The postmodern mood — marked by irony, detachment, and deconstruction — is giving way to a new sensibility that’s sincere, aspirational, and even religious.

In 2022, Top Gun: Maverick became a surprise hit not because it was edgy, but because it was earnest. It celebrated courage, duty, and sacrifice without apology. Ted Lasso, a show about a relentlessly kind and optimistic soccer coach, captured hearts in a time of division and despair. Bible sales are up 22 percent, and younger generations appear to be going to church at levels higher than before the Covid panic. We are searching for a better story.

Recent comments from director James Gunn that the movie is “about politics” have led some commentators to assume the film may be packed with political messaging. A survey of American moviegoers revealed that 70 percent of Americans don’t see political messaging in a movie as award-worthy. But a more thorough examination into the context of Gunn’s comments shows they’re not nearly as controversial as the entertainment media would have you believe.

Paul Anleitner is a cultural theologian and author whose work focuses on the role of culture and story in our quest for meaning in life. He is the Religion and Culture Fellow at the Archbridge Institute’s Human Flourishing Lab, and can be found on X at @PaulAnleitner. Clay Routledge, PhD, is a leading expert in the psychology of human meaning. He is Vice President of Research and Director of the Human Flourishing Lab at the Archbridge Institute, and can be found on X at @clayroutledge.