Interrogating Superman’s Vigilante Violence
In “Superman Smashes the Klan,” Superman is obviously anti-Klan. But according to scholar Chris Gavaler, the popular mythologization of the Klan is tied to the birth of the superhero in ways that might affect our understanding of Superman’s approach to justice. 1/12 #Superman
In his 2012 article “The Ku Klux Klan and the Birth of the Superhero,” Gavaler argues that the superheroic model of the costumed vigilante avenger owes an underexplored debt to Thomas Dixon Jr’s once best-selling 1905 novel “The Clansman.” 2/12
Gavaler acknowledges that most superheroes, including Superman, are routinely “depicted as battling for liberal, anti-discriminatory values.” However, he also observes that “the mass appeal of the character is found in its ability to reduce complex social anxieties…” 4/12
“…into terms of absolute good and evil. Whatever the specific story content, the formula remains centred on romanticized authoritarian violence.” This, Gavaler argues, is “the American superhero’s historical debt to Dixon.” 5/12
Superman is introduced as a “Champion of the oppressed . . . who had sworn to devote his existence to helping those in need!” In Dixon’s novel, the KKK declares a similar purpose: “To protect the weak, the innocent & the defenseless… to relieve the injured & the oppressed.” 6/12
Dixon’s Klan also have costumes that “externalize their… core motive.” Gavaler argues the KKK Grand Dragon’s sylized emblem “is the first appearance of an iconic emblem on a hero’s chest, a motif not repeated in fiction until Joe Shuster framed an ‘S’ on Superman’s shirt.” 7/12
In addition, critics have often compared superhero violence to fascism, as in this 1949 editorial: “the Superman formula is essentially lynching…. Legal process is completely discounted… Superman glorifies the ‘right’ of the individual to take the law into his own hands.” 8/12
In a fictional editorial in the collected “Watchmen” (1987), Alan Moore rearticulates this criticism. Per Gavaler, Moore’s narrator “describes the Watchmen’s actions as ‘glorified Klan-style brutality’ and ‘costumed heroes as direct descendants of the Ku Klux Klan.’” 9/12
Importantly, Superman’s motives have never aligned with those of the Klan. As Gavaler writes: “Making Superman the ultimate (and arguably Jewish) immigrant, Siegel appropriated his hero’s name from the eugenics movement but undermined the movement’s goals in the process.” 10/12
Still, an uncomfortable historical connection remains between the Klan and the superhero genre’s embrace of sometimes brutal vigilante justice undertaken by (mostly) white strongmen in flamboyant costumes intended to both impress and strike fear into their enemies. 11/12
How do we reckon with this legacy? There is no single answer. “Superman Smashes the Klan” suggests unjust systems sometimes require extra-legal solutions. Whether such solutions are justified may depend on who they serve, and whether their oppression is genuine or a bigoted fabulation. 12/12
You can read Chris Gavaler’s article “The Ku Klux Klan and the Birth of the Superhero” in The Journal of Graphic Novels & Comics:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21504857.2012.747976