Nineties Superman star Dean Cain had some fiery words for DC Comics’ over its decision to make the famous superhero bisexual.
Dean Cain starred in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman from 1993 to 1997. Appearing on the news show Fox & Friends, Cain didn’t hold back on how he felt about the decision.
“They said it’s a bold new direction, I say they’re bandwagoning. Robin just came out as bi — who’s really shocked about that one? The new Captain America is gay. My daughter in [The CW series] Supergirl, where I played the father, was gay. So I don’t think it’s bold or brave or some crazy new direction. If they had done this 20 years ago, perhaps that would be bold or brave.”
Cain said that if DC really wanted to be bold or move in a truly new direction the company would have Superman tackling difficult worldwide social or economic issues.
“Brave would be having him fighting for the rights of gay people in Iran where they’ll throw you off a building for the offense of being gay. They’re talking about having him fight climate change and the deportation of refugees and he’s dating a hacktivist — whatever a hactivist is. Why don’t they have him fight the injustices that created the refugees whose deportation he’s protesting? That would be brave, I’d read that. Or fighting for the rights of women to attend school and have the ability to work and live and boys not to be raped by men under the new warm and fuzzy Taliban — that would be brave. There’s real evil in this world today, real corruption and government overreach, plenty of things to fight against. Human trafficking — real and actual slavery going on… It’d be great to tackle those issues.”
The current Superman in the comics is Jon Kent. He’s 17, the son of Clark Kent and he came out as bisexual on Nov. 9 in an issue of Superman: Son of Kal-El. Jon Kent is also in love with a reporter, although it’s his college friend Jay Nakamura.
Writer Tom Taylor said making the new Superman just like his dad would’ve been a missed chance.
“The idea of replacing Clark Kent with another straight white savior felt like a missed opportunity … [a] new Superman had to have new fights — real-world problems — that he could stand up to as one of the most powerful people in the world,” Taylor told The New York Times.