Today, Superman is seen as the prototypical hero, the first true comic book superhero. Like Captain America, Superman’s early history is inherently Jewish. While Clark Kent may not punch Hitler on the cover of his first issue, Judaism plays a huge role in the creation of the character. He was originally created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster who were both the Jewish children of immigrants. Their parents’ experience influenced them to make Clark an immigrant too. While their parents fled Europe, Kal-El was sent to Earth by his parents in order to escape the dying planet of Krypton. Clark is an alien in more ways than one — he is from another planet and therefore also an immigrant. 

Clark is not American because of his place of origin, he is American by choice. Even though he had no influence, as an infant, Clark’s biological father, Jor-El, sent him specifically to be raised by the Kents based on his experience with Jonathan’s parents. As Ramzi Fawaz puts it in The New Mutants, “Despite their disparate and often nonhuman origins, these inaugural characters were perceived as exceptional Americans whose heroism could provide an aspirational model of ideal citizenship for the nation’s impressionable young readers” (Fawaz 17). While the American dream is not directly referenced, the fact that the Kent farm is located in Kansas means that Jor-El put his faith in the Kent’s, he inadvertently fulfills the promise of the American dream. Superman is considered one of the most American heroes. One of his mottos is “truth, justice, and the American way.”

Smallville provides a good representation of Superman as it tells the story of him growing up as Clark Kent and into the title of Superman. In the show, we follow Clark and his friends through high school, college, and eventually the “real world” of adulthood. We see him navigate the world with his double identity to fulfill the prophecies of his father and the American dream. The American dream for Clark is clearly laid out in one of the show’s episodes, “People need to see someone’s heart to believe in them. We need to be inspired by people who stand out in the light, not people who shrink into the shadows. We need a good all American hero in red, white, and blue. Or at least red and blue” (Winter). This line is said by Cat Grant, a new reporter partnered with Clark, who earlier in the episode was repeating anti-vigilante rhetoric she heard on the radio. The anti-vigilante rhetoric comes from Gordon Godfrey’s radio show, but in the following episode, we actually see Gordon giving an anti-alien speech at an event for his book. He says, “These illegal aliens are stealing our jobs. They’re dodging taxes and like so many others they’re thumbing their noses in the face of truth, justice, and the American way… [We need to] stand up for the American dream” (Saunders). This is the exact sort of thing you could hear from conservative media today; it directly reflects the anti-immigration rhetoric of our world. Clark’s status as an alien immigrant makes its impact more severe. 

The season six episode “Subterranean” specifically tackles some of the controversy of immigration while mostly staying away from the alien allegory. The episode opens to Javier Ramirez and his friend Fransico trying to escape the farm where they are being kept captive with other undocumented migrant workers. As they run, the farm owner Jed McNally, uses his earth-bending powers to drag Francisco underground. Javier escapes and is found by Clark in his barn and taken under his wing (or cape). Soon Martha Kent, Clark’s mother and a senator, returns home and confronts the pair. Clark tells her that he wants to help Javier, to which his mother responds, “I know, but we have to go through the proper legal channels” (Rosenthal). Clark immediately asks if it was “legal when you forged my adoption papers? I’m an illegal immigrant, Mom. You’ve been harboring me for over seventeen years!” (Rosenthal). Martha sees Clark’s “illegal” immigration status as different from Javier’s because Clark is her son. Even though at one point he was undocumented, Clark is technically a “fully legal” immigrant as he has adoption paperwork. She doesn’t take into account the illegal way in which she acquired the document as it was years ago before she had political power, but also because she views Clark’s journey to Earth as more virtuous than Javier’s journey to America.

The fact that Javier had more perceived autonomy in his migration also plays a role. Kal-El was a baby when he was sent from Krypton and still just a young child when he crashed to Earth. Martha saw herself as rescuing an innocent child and therefore the righteous savior of baby Clark. Whether her new position or just the gap in time are the cause, she sees Javier as a problem to be dealt with via the legal system. At the end of the episode, Martha reveals to Clark that she pulled some strings and naturalized both Javier and his mother (who was the reason why he entered the country). 

Forging adoption records is not the only morally questionable thing Martha has done to protect Clark. In season nine, Martha takes up the alias of Red Queen in order to take apart the organization Checkmate. Led by Amanda Waller (best known across DC as the leader of the Suicide Squad), Checkmake is a covert government agency whose “primary goal was to enlist metahumans and superheroes, such as those involved with the Justice League and Justice Society of America, to defend the world from extraterrestrial threats” (Smallville Wiki). The agency’s main goal of preventing an alien invasion is most visible through Waller who gathered evidence of aliens already on earth. She believed that those aliens (essentially clones of Kryptonians from an earlier point in Krypton’s history) have come to earth to colonize it. This fear is deeply rooted in what it means to be American. America’s history is entrenched in colonization and therefore it makes sense to fear a “more civilized race” coming to earth to colonize it. By fearing colonization by others, characters like Waller are implicitly acknowledging that colonialism is in fact bad. However, they still project their own morality of colonization onto alien species. They make the assumption that because America is so advanced, every race that is superior to America must have the same morality and logic that lead to a society obsessed with taking over and controlling those they see as lesser. 

As the Red Queen, Martha manipulates people in order to protect Superman’s secret identity. She even goes as far as to use green kryptonite to prevent Clark from figuring out that she’s the one behind the scenes. She was only able to do this because of her position as a senator. Following her husband’s death, she entered the world of politics in order to represent her community. Although she never ran for either state or national office (she was given the positions after those who were elected died), she presumably continued her late husband’s platform. Jonathan Kent ran for senator against Lex Luthor. Jonathan knew the harm Lex would cause if given that much legitimate power and decided to run against him to protect the interests of those in his community, primarily farmers and small businesses. Martha is not the typical infantile citizen as she is aware of political corruption before heading to DC, but she still has hopes of doing everything above board. She is hesitant to take help from Lionel Luthor because she fears others will view that as her taking bribes from LexCorp. She only goes to Lionel for help when someone is blackmailing her by threatening to release a video of Clark escaping an exploding building unharmed. Lionel essentially hires hits on the people threatening the Kents behind Martha’s back. Therefore, Martha retains her initial innocence a bit longer, despite having seen the darker side of being a politician. When she does dip her toes into government corruption, it is once again with the goal of protecting Clark’s identity from being discovered, which is arguably noble. 

By becoming the Red Queen, Martha loses naivety to an extent, but holds on to some hope that her son can fix things. Much of the backlash Superman faces from the government and critics is that if he only reveals his identity, Clark could work with those who have legitimate power to fight crime and save the planet. Both Clark and Martha know that revealing his identity means the end of Superman. In the season eight episode, “Infamous,” we get to see what actually happens when the world knows that Clark Kent is Superman. At first Clark and his friends are hassled for autographs and photos, but soon a reporter begins spreading rumors about him and the public switches instantly. Clark’s fans begin harassing him and he and his friends are under threat from the government. Kal-El ultimately makes the decision to go back in time and keep his identity secret. He wants his friends and family to be safe. Martha knows that Superman keeping his true identity a secret is best for everyone. Therefore, despite her having legitimate power, she maintains that her son must work outside of existing power structures as everyone around her in politics is corrupt in some way or another. Overall, Smallville’s approach to the myth of Superman is explicit at points, but most of its social commentary remains under the surface. With the exception of a few “problem episodes,” the show continues Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s mission of using an immigrant to tell the story of the American dream. The fact that Clark Kent is the one who fits best into this narrative is telling of America itself. If the only one who can achieve the American dream is American, but not actually human, then the American dream is not possible to live up to for us mere mortals.

Sources:

• Fawaz, Ramzi. The New Mutants : Superheroes and the Radical Imagination of American Comics. New York; London, New York University Press, 2016.
• Subterranean
• Supergirl
• Checkmate
• Shield