“The American Way” is no longer a part of Superman’s life.
During the virtual fan event DC Fandome on Saturday, Jim Lee, chief creative officer and publisher of DC, said that the Man of Steel’s slogan will be “changing” from the well-known phrase that he fights for “Truth, Justice, and the American Way.”
“Truth, Justice, and a Better Tomorrow” is Superman’s new “mission statement.”
The move was made “to better represent the narratives that we are telling throughout DC and to celebrate Superman’s tremendous history of over 80 years of constructing a better world,” according to a press release.
In actuality, Superman has had numerous mantras over the years, all of which have included variants on the words “truth” and “justice” as fundamental to the superhero’s persona.
In truth, “Truth, Justice, and the American Way” did not begin with Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s initial Superman comic books. Instead, the phrase was coined in the early 1940s as part of a “Superman” radio serial to support American military operations during World War II. The “American Way” slogan was reintroduced for the 1950s TV series “Adventures of Superman,” which aired during the Cold War’s early days and the height of McCarthyism hysteria.
On the kids cartoon series “The New Adventures of Superman,” the slogan evolved to “truth, justice, and freedom” by the 1960s. The “American Way” version was resurrected in the 1978 feature film starring Christopher Reeve, perhaps the most well-known “Superman” adaption, with the Man of Steel uttering the lines himself, further establishing them in the public consciousness as the superhero’s creed.
The “American Way” slogan, on the other hand, has gone out of popularity since then. Superman battled for “truth and justice” in the 1993 live-action series “Lois & Clark,” and in the 2006 film “Superman Returns,” starring Brandon Routh, Daily Planet editor-in-chief Perry White (Frank Langella) casually inquires if Superman still battles for “truth, justice, and all that stuff.”
Superman’s slogan was “Truth, Tolerance, and Justice” in an issue of DC Comics’ “Batman/Superman #16,” which writer Gene Luen Yang tweeted was meant as a tribute to the goal Clark Kent’s father gave him in a 1948 “Superman” film serial.
Nonetheless, DC’s choice to have the business’s CEO reveal Superman’s credo appears to be a purposeful message that the Man of Steel is a hero for everyone, part of a larger push across the industry to expand its representation. On Oct. 11, DC revealed that Jon Kent, Superman’s son and a superhero who wears the famous “S” shield, will come out as bisexual.
