Modern Nazis and Pop Culture: An Examination of Fascist Media Tropes - Superman

Injustice: Gods Among Us is a comic book based on the popular video game of the same name. Clark
Kent is tricked by The Joker into murdering his pregnant wife, Lois Lane, and killing all the citizens of
Metropolis. Superman kills The Joker and proceeds to make a crime free world by becoming a fascist
dictator.

The whole comic (all 148 issues) is rife with gross implications, the most egregious being the portrayal
of Superman. Not only do the artists use tacit Nazi symbolism to show Clark’s misdeeds (See Figures
1,2,3), but the story goes to great lengths to show this evil Superman as a good person prior to his
trauma (See Figure 4). In addition, a subplot of the Year 2 storyline includes Superman gaining access
to a yellow lantern ring, a weapon used to rule by fear. This paints the I:GAU Superman as a
fear-mongering dictator with a super weapon and horrific moral philosophy.

   Figure 1      Figure 2

    Figure 3 Figure 4

While this is lazy and out of character in terms of basic storytelling, the hateful rhetoric goes far deeper.
In 1938 Superman was created as by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, 2 Jewish American comic artists.
Both were children of European immigrants who fled to America in fear of the German political climate.
Superman was expressly designed as an allegory for Jewish immigrants. While textually Christian to
appeal to a larger audience, Superman was created by oppressed Jews, for oppressed people.
Changing that character to torpid Hitler analogue is not only disrespectful, it actively goes against the
very idea of Superman.

The blatant disregard for the history of Superman, coupled with the gleeful use of quasi swastikas,
conservative moralizing, and quite literal fear mongering is a direct statement of anti semitic feelings,
and the writers aren’t alone. There are countless (1-2-3-4) forms debating the ethicality of Superman’s
decisions and sympathising with his plight. The man is a mass murderer who killed a 9 year old boy
on screen (Shazam is a 10 year old in a grown body), any sympathy should have died with Green
Arrow.  

I:GAU’s main problems lie in it’s disgusting use and normalization of Nazi ideology, but it also has problems with sympathy and redemption. Through the whole story we are made to feel bad for not only Superman, but all of the heroes who joined the Regime. Sympathetic portrayal of Nazis is actively irresponsible on the part of the creator, but gives Nazis and their sympathizers power.