DC Comics Writer Mark Waid Wants James Gunn's Superman Movie To Be Politically-Driven As He Sees The Character As A Counter To "All The Turmoil Going On"

DC Comics writer Mark Waid sees Superman as a vehicle for political messaging, confirming fears that the iconic character will once again be weaponized to push ideological viewpoints in the new James Gunn film and upcoming DC Comics projects rather than tell compelling stories as he ties it to “all the turmoil going on,” referencing the Donald Trump presidency he’s shown obsession with in the past.

In a recent interview with Newsarama, Waid made his intentions clear: "I think with all the turmoil going on, I think that there is a sense of dread that is an undercurrent to every moment of our lives, even whether we realize it or not," Waid stated.

Most normal people do not have a sense of dread in their lives, but this is how many in the comic industry have worked themselves up because of the obvious political climate where the extreme left lost power.

GI Joe creator and former Wolverine writer Larry Hama refused to go over the border to a Canadian convention out of irrational fear he’d get detained by I.C.E. coming back in. These comic book professionals have worked themselves into a frenzy over politics because they’ve isolated themselves in echo chambers.

While these sentiments might sound innocuous on the surface, they become obvious what he wants to see for the Superman character when added to Waid's history of injecting his personal politics into his work and his public statements about his inability to write superhero characters in the current political climate.

Following Donald Trump's 2024 election victory, Waid made headlines when he declared, “Even if by some miracle this turns around, I don’t believe in the basic goodness of my fellow Americans anymore, and without this, I cannot write superheroes. There’s no point. When you see a decline in the quality of my work soon, you’ll be able to trace it back to this night.”

After the election results came in, he followed up, “Planning on going dark on all social media and news feeds for a while starting tomorrow. See you down the road, I hope. Godspeed.”

Earlier last year, he also made headlines after attacking Mark Millar. The latter man defended comic shop owner Glenn O’Leary from industry professionals who were piling on him after the man complained about lackluster sales coming from Marvel and DC Comics due to self-inserts and identity politics overrunning the titles.

He attacked Mark Millar, saying that Netflix creators' “heat is fading” despite the latter man having multiple movie and television deals in the works, which seemed to be a projection of bitterness from Mark Waid.

He refused to reflect on the state of the industry as well, saying, “Sigh. All this complaint about how “comics are dying” because familiar characters are being written “out of character” by people who want to “self-insert” their political causes or turn them into “SJW mouthpieces”…but not one single legitimate example given. Not one. Who? Superman? Batman? Green Lantern? Flash? Wonder Woman? Spider-Man? Captain America? Daredevil? Iron Man? Nightwing? Harley Quinn? Damian Wayne? Seriously, what am I missing here? Have these complainers read a single Marvel or DC comic in the 2020s?”

In later comments he showed how unhinged he truly is, saying, “I think a lot of us would rather see the industry burn down than ‘get together’ with the alt-right. I know I would. Sorry.”

He made his position clear even though in the Newsarama interview, when he then said, "And Superman is always the symbol of hope. Superman is always the symbol of what we can accomplish if we pull together, what we can do if we have empathy. What we can do if we make kindness a virtue rather than a weakness. And I think that speaks to a lot of people right now. It certainly speaks to me."

When he speaks of hope from his perspective, it’s clearly hope that his divisive, hate-fueled worldview of half the country will somehow be enacted. Many of the rabid left always use the word “kindness” when they spew their vitriol, as there was a whole “Make America Kind Again” campaign they tried to make a meme during the first Donald Trump term.

Superman has already suffered from politically charged storytelling in recent years, with the character being stripped of his "American Way" motto and his son Jon Kent being positioned as a social justice activist rather than a traditional superhero. Waid's comments suggest this trend will likely continue.

The irony is palpable – a writer who openly admits he's lost faith in the basic goodness of Americans is now tasked with writing the quintessential American hero who represents hope, optimism, and the belief that people are fundamentally good.

DC Comics appears to be doubling down on the very approach that has alienated core readers and contributed to declining sales across the industry. Rather than focusing on compelling storytelling that appeals to a broad audience, they continue to hire the same writers to make the same takes on the characters that brought them into irrelevancy in the first place.

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