The weekly newsletter of the Mexico Solidarity Project

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September 17, 2025

Super Men and Ordinary Mortals

Meizhu Lui, for the editorial team

Courtesy DC Comics

What do DC comics and the Bible have in common?  That’s a question that only someone like artist Einnar Gaviño would think to ask! A cultural critic, we asked for his take on two summer blockbuster movies, Superman: The Movie and The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

Whether you were born around the time of Jesus when stories traveled by word of mouth or in the present age of social media, humans have always been fascinated by super men with supernatural powers who come to save us, our tribes or our entire world. And unfortunately, we never seem to have a dearth of real-life men ready to put on that mantle of superiority. Witness Trump — his magical image-making convinced too many people of his infallibility.

But Einnar noticed that other characters in the Superman movie without extra-human powers act more heroically than Clark Kent does. There’s journalist Lois Lane, who solves complex cases with her investigative skills. There’s the ordinary man, given only two minutes of screen time, who jumps in to help Superman when he’s dashed to the ground and later loses his life for doing so.

It’s fun watching creatures endowed with inhuman powers battle each other for the world’s future, while we the people appear as weakling bystanders, mere spectators. But today, we are engaged in an actual battle between the few who think they are super men, and the rest of us. We can’t afford to just watch, as if it were a movie. By acting both morally and ethically, it’s us ordinary mortals who can beat the villains, destroy their myth of invincibility, and together save the world.

A US Super Export: Superman Movies!

Do Mexican film buffs prefer Mexican or American movies?

American movies are more popular, not because they are better but because they get shown more in Mexican movie theaters. The mega-studios, Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney, dominate the film industry.

Mexico doesn’t have its own film industry or major distribution networks, so if you want to make a film, you usually depend on grants or work for transnational companies. Getting it shown would be a whole other obstacle course.

Our most famous filmmakers, who we call “The Three Amigos,” are part of a new wave in Mexican cinema that’s earned an international audience. Guillermo del Toro of Pan's Labyrinth and The Shape of Water, Alejandro González Iñárritu of The Revenant and Babel and Alfonso Cuarón of Gravity and Roma all work mainly for US-based companies and do much of their work abroad.

“The Three Amigos,” Guillermo del Toro, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Alfonso Cuarón

We once had a more robust industry, but unfortunately, over the last half-century, Mexican governments, including those of AMLO and Claudia Sheinbaum, have linked our cinema with tourism rather than with art and culture.

For example, my city, Guanajuato, recently hosted the Guanajuato International Film Festival, which is funded by federal, state and municipal governments. But the festival was in English, designed to attract tourists, not the people of Guanajuato. Far from being focused on cinema, its gala events were about entertainment, such as awards for singers, and not very good singers at that!

A few exceptions to the trend include the new Cineteca Nacional in Mexico City.

Interestingly, American films are released in Mexico even before the United States. Mexico serves as a test for the film's potential international success.

Two of the highest-grossing films this summer in the US were Superman: The Movie and The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Do Superman films have a Mexican audience?

A journalist from La Jornada asked the director, Zack Snyder, “Why that scene? Did you think Mexicans thought of Superman as if he were God?”

Snyder replied, “Superman is a god and you Mexicans love God.” And I thought that's true! We love magical thinking, like in religion, Jesus turning water into wine! Yes, it's crazy how many Mexicans love him!

What did you think of Superman: The Movie?

Let's look at the racial issues. It has a Latina character, and she’s a villain, an accomplice of Lex Luthor. Mr. Terrific, one of the Justice Gang superheroes, is Black. He is a technological genius, but like Black characters historically, he also provides comic relief. 

María Gabriela de Faría as The Engineer, Edi Gathegi as Mister Terrific, Rachel Brosnahan and David Packard Corenswet as Lois Lane and Superman: Superman, the Movie by DC Studios, 2025

The best part is that Lois Lane is finally taken seriously as a journalist. She’s the most human character — independent, brave, intelligent, compassionate and decisive — and all without knowing how to fly! It's a shame that in the end, she doesn't solve the plot through her profession but through the fantasy of a flying vehicle.

Clark Kent has morals, but he lacks ethics. When Lois asks him about the situation in Jarhanpur, a clear reference to Palestine, he says he will go and save the people because “I can do it!” In other words, I have the power, and I'm doing good. But people with the power to do good often intervene without considering the consequences for others. This moral but unethical behavior gets Superman into trouble. His personal interference in his country's foreign affairs becomes a major controversy. 

In the end, Superman doesn't save Jarhanpur. That's done by the superheroes of the Justice Gang. Are they ethical because they’re a team? Hmm, they work for a corporation owned by a private businessman! 

What about The Fantastic Four?

The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Marvel Studios, 2025

The superhero family faces a terrible dilemma. A planet-devouring monster tells the father — of course the father! — “If you hand over your son, I will spare your planet.” Will he choose to save humanity or save his son? Family values dictate that loyalty to his son matters above all else, including humanity.

Why are there so many superhero movies lately?

It's the degeneration and laziness of Hollywood. They're stealing ideas from comic book creators and making second-rate adaptations of the original material. An example of how they treat creators can be found in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Ed Brubaker created the Winter Soldier character for Marvel Comics, but when it became a Disney-distributed movie, he didn't receive a penny of the film's profits. 

Not only should creators and their surviving family members be paid fairly, but the original writers should be brought in to write the script. Maintaining greater fidelity to the original material would improve the quality of the film versions.

582 Million Pesos Invested in City Workers

Photo: Los Reporteros Mx/ Sebastian Juárez

This article was originally published in the September 9, 2025 edition of Los Reporteros. It has been edited for length and clarity. 

Mexico City's workforce has worked for many years on temporary and unstable contracts, but as of September 1, the Mexico City government is implementing the “Payroll Basification Program 8.” More than 13,000 workers on that payroll will be made permanent.

In front of thousands of employees gathered at the capital's Zócalo, Mayor Clara Brugada celebrated the Basification Program as an act of labor justice. The city is investing 582 million pesos in the project’s first phase, starting September 15. It will deliver to workers their first new paycheck, and as regular employees they will now be eligible for benefits such as pensions, housing loans and more. According to Mayor Brugada, the program aims to fill 100% of the targeted positions in the first half of 2026.

Most of the beneficiaries are from the municipalities of Iztapalapa, Gustavo A. Madero, and Coyoacán, some of the poorest areas of Mexico City.

"Our commitment was to safeguard labor rights and improve the working conditions of those who provide Mexico City government services; first and foremost, I want to thank them," said Clara Brugada.

Don’t miss an issue! Sign up for a free Mexico Solidarity Bulletin subscription.

For a deeper dive into current news and analysis in English,

check out our media website and the podcast ¡Soberanía! (Sovereignty) with José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth.

New episodes will now arrive weekly on Wednesdays, not Tuesdays.

Sin Muros from José Luis and Kurt is a weekly Spanish language Mexican TV show on Canal Once that analyzes Mexico-US relations. It's also on YouTube, with English subtitles.

And those of you with mad skills and/or interests we want to hear from you! Get in touch to find ways to plug in to the work. Drop a line to meizhului@gmail.com

Recent news reports and commentaries, from progressive and mainstream media,
on life and struggles on both sides of the US-Mexico border. Compiled by Jay Watts.

Stephanie Weatherbee and Alina Duarte, Mexico and the Fourth Transformation Tricontinental Institute. Since 2018, Mexico’s National Regeneration Movement (Morena) has sought to roll back neoliberalism and democratise the country. Though the ideological battle has advanced, economic transformation continues to lag behind.

Claudia Sheinbaum llama vende patrias a ‘Alito’ Moreno por viajar a EU a ‘acusar’ nexos con el narco El Financiero. La presidenta Sheinbaum acusó que ‘Alito’ Moreno fue a pedir la intervención de Estados Unidos en México.

Viri Ríos and Humberto Beck, The Mexican Model Dissent. Does Morena’s success offer a blueprint for the left? An exchange in the old, cold war, anti-communist journal with some interesting points, weighed down by a banal, liberal focus on the fraudulent notion of judicial independence.

Rolando Cordera Campos, Las decisiones que no deben ser pospuestas La Jornada. Falta la voluntad del gobierno, la llamada a articular visiones e intereses, remprender los esfuerzos de programación del Estado y arriesgar una oferta mayor: planear el desarrollo.

Drazen Jorgic and Laura Gottesdiener, Inside the CIA’s secret fight against Mexico’s drug cartels Reuters. President Sheinbaum denied that the CIA was operating in Mexico in her morning press conference a last week.

México se prepara para negociaciones complejas del TMEC con Estados Unidos y Canadá Los Reporteros. El gobierno mexicano revisará cada desacuerdo del TMEC mientras enfrenta la presión de Washington sobre energía, agricultura y propiedad intelectual.

Yielding to external coercion will only make Mexico more passive Global Times. A pointed editorial from one of the primary journals of the Communist Party of China implies that, by placing tariffs on certain imports, the Mexican government is doing the bidding of Donald Trump and could face a substantive response from the Chinese government. Canada faced a significant economy-damaging response from the Chinese government after putting tariffs on Chinese EVs.

Jared Laureles y Daniel González, Solo 1 de cada 10 trabajadores por aplicación accedió a seguridad social universal: UNTA La Jornada. La organización que encabeza Sergio Guerrero señaló que los llamados porcentajes de exclusión —que reducen hasta en 60 por ciento el ingreso reconocido como salario— “están generando una barrera estructural para el reconocimiento de derechos”.

Mexico's CFE seeks private investors for grid expansion amid budget cut Bnamericas. Further public-private partnerships in Mexico’s public sector have been a little commented on feature of Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration, in contrast to her predecessor.

Norberto Paredes, El boicot de las estrellas de Hollywood, un enorme concierto de Residente en México y otras acciones de protesta y solidaridad con los palestinos alrededor del mundo BBC News Mundo. El concierto, que fue organizado por la Secretaría de Cultura de la Ciudad de México, estuvo cargado de mensajes políticos.

The Mexico Solidarity Project brings together activists from various socialist and left organizations and individuals committed to worker and global justice. We see the 2018 election of Andrés Manuel López Obrador as president of Mexico as a watershed moment. AMLO and his progressive Morena party aim to end generations of corruption, impoverishment, and subservience to US interests. Our Project supports not just Morena, but all Mexicans struggling for basic rights, and opposes US efforts to undermine organizing and Mexico’s national sovereignty.

Editorial committee: Meizhu Lui, Bruce Hobson, Agatha Hinman, Victoria Hamlin, Courtney Childs, Pedro Gellert.  To give feedback or get involved yourself, please email us!

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