Aniket Dixit

"Truth, Justice, and the Soviet Way: Superman and the USSR in Red Son"

In 2003, Mark Millar wrote his three volume comic book series Superman: Red Son, based on a simple premise: “Reversals always make the most interesting stories." Red Son is a story about an alternate reality where Superman grows up on a Ukrainian farm, becoming a Soviet superweapon at the height of the Cold War. Superman grows up as an idealistic Soviet superweapon, before taking charge of the USSR and attempting to create a global Communist utopia. Millar is no stranger to comic books, having written the comics that multiple blockbuster superhero movies were based on, including The Avengers. In Red Son, he paints a surprisingly sympathetic image of the Soviet Union, with mostly well intentioned leaders, but also portrays it as inevitably leading to oppression and military expansion.

The most interesting aspect of the comic is the portrayal of Superman. Superman is supposed to be a paragon of morality. His idealism in the classic comics is a large part of his pop cultural impact, and this part of Superman is surprisingly kept, even in his Communist form in Red Son. He still believes in the principles of “truth” and “justice," but also happens to buy into the principles and promises of the Soviet Union. Red Son, however, also largely highlights his “Soviet-ness." One of the first scenes in the comic shows Superman at a military rally being held for him. In Red Son, Superman doesn’t have an alter ego. He has no Clark Kent to transform into- everyone only refers to him as Superman. This way, while Superman’s morals are still kept the same, the story distances him from the people, which mirrors the author’s perception of the Soviet Union as a well-intentioned but distant entity.

While Superman leads the USSR, he’s also shown to grow more powerful and oppressive over the course of the story. While the United States, led by Lex Luthor, is shown as ruthless and “bourgeois," they are more free than the Soviet Union. Superman being perceived as (and acting like) a tyrant towards the end of Red Son acts as a parallel to the way the Soviet Union’s state power appeared to grow over the 20th century.

Millar’s interpretation and criticism of the USSR’s expansion was likely due to a lot of international tensions in the early 2000s. Starting in 2002 NATO began to expand into Eastern Europe themselves, admitting six new states, three of which were former Soviet republics. This was in addition to the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, which Russia heavily opposed. This NATO expansion might have led Millar to criticize them through the expansion of the Warsaw Pact in this comic.

Superman: Red Son shows the “what-if” world where Superman led the USSR in an arms race against the United States. Superman and his character throughout the story serve as a mirror to the actions and beliefs of the USSR itself. Through a classic pop cultural icon like Superman, Millar criticizes the oppressive structure and expansion of the USSR while showing surprising sympathy for their utopian ideals.