Superman Renounces his U.S. Citizenship! Share your thoughts...
This have been a very touchy subject for a lot of people. In the 900th issue of Action Comic Superman renounced his U.S. citizenship saying,
I am renouncing my US citizenship... I'm tired of having my actions construed as instruments of US policy. 'Truth, Justice and the American Way' -- it's not enough anymore. The world's too small. Too connected.
This is a pretty big deal, after all Superman has been American ever since he crash landed in Smallville. I thought this would be a good conversation piece for everyone.
On one had you have Fox news saying... "This is absolutely sickening... We are now down to destroying all American Icons. How are we going to survive as a Nation?" Swamp Fox Press blogged, "Bleep Superman. I urge a boycott of Warner Brothers, all DC franchises, and particularly Superman." The neoconservative Weekly Standard called Superman's citizenship renunciation "about the dumbest thing DC Comics could do."
On the other hand you have someone like Superman Returns co-screenwriter Dan Harris who changed Superman's famous slogan to "Truth, justice, and all that other stuff" say, "He's an international superhero." Apparently movies are more marketable if they appeal to an international market, thus the WB and DC will make more money. But no matter what, I think Superman will always be seen as an America Icon no matter what anyone says. He been an American Icon for so long it's just something people might not ever really recognize this change over night, if ever. Lets face not many people are reading comic books these days. I bet that if 10 years from now we were to ask people on the street what Superman's citizenship was, most of them would still say America, even if we were asking people in different countries.
Fox news continued by saying, "They intended this to be a political statement, but it is really a slap in the face of the American identity... Show me any one country that has done more for the world than America." So Fox news is pretty bitter about the whole thing. Sure, I think it's sad that Superman has renounced his U.S. citizenship he's always been an all American hero, but now he can act as an independent world representative who can help unit the nations.
For me this whole thing is bitter sweet. Here's a good question though... what would Jonathan Kent think about all this, what would Superman's creator Jerry Siegel think? More importantly what do you think!?