Dean Cain, who played Superman in the 1990s series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman — and played him very well, I might add — appeared on Fox & Friends to express his disdain for DC Comics' announcement that Clark Kent's and Lois Lane's son, who is the "new" Superman, is bisexual and will have an affair with a "hacktivist" while fighting climate change and defending illegal aliens.  Cain made the excellent point that this storyline isn't fresh and bold; it's hackneyed, boring, and singularly lacking in bravery.

First, Cain pointed out something that I had missed since I pay little attention to comic books, which is that one of the sundry iterations of Robin, from Batman and Robin, finally came out of the closet.  As Cain said, and we all must agree, "Honestly, who's really shocked about that one?  I had some thoughts about that a long time ago."  (In fact, Robin is now bisexual.)  Those of us who grew up on the camp 1960s TV Batman always knew that Robin was a little light in the loafers, as they used to say back in the day.

And it's not just Robin.  Marvel announced this past June, in honor of Pride Month, that Captain America, the onetime all-American patriot in the lead-up to and during World War II, is also gay now.  Indeed, if you want to see how LGBT-obsessed superhero comics have become, check out this Daily Mail story, which has lots of pictures.

So when Superman Jr. starts smooching with a guy, Cain knows what it is: "I say they're band-wagoning[.] ... 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 have been bold and brave."

You know what?  He's right.

Cain went on to describe some ideas that would be really bold and brave.  Currently, DC Comics plans to use stories that come from the mainstream media.  Most notably, as far as Superman Jr. is concerned, the big evil isn't a modern Hitler or Lex Luthor or any other crazed criminal seeking world domination.  Instead, Little Superman is going to do his bit to fight climate change and make America safe again for deported illegal aliens.

Pshaw!  Cain's having none of that:

Brave would be having him fight 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 him fighting real world problems like climate change, the deportation of refugees, and he'll be dating a hacktivist — whatever a "hacktivist" is. I don't know.

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 actual slavery going on. It would be brave to tackle those issues. Shine a light on those issues. I'd like to see the character doing that.

Dean Cain's discussion about a really brave Superman starts at about the 2-minute mark. https://t.co/X8hO7WeeT9

— Bookwormroom (@Bookwormroom) October 13, 2021

Cain is right.  Leftist navel-gazing about climate change (a natural phenomenon, although it's true that China is polluting regional air and water, with India close behind) and gay rights ignores what Cain correctly characterizes as "real evil in this world today."

There's a reason Dean Cain was the best Superman.  He's a genuinely intelligent and decent guy, qualities that he brought to the screen when he played a fictional superhero in an enjoyably silly TV series.

As for me, in a world in which, despite two decades of relentless proselytizing, the LGBT crowd still represents less than 6% of the population, I don't see a huge market for all these gay superheroes.  My children's friends, all nice liberal kids who were assiduously not homophobic, nevertheless would have no interest whatsoever in seeing bisexual male cartoon characters making out.

Image: Dean Cain.  Fox News screen grab.

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