Superman and the Squirrel: The Value of a Life

‘Superman‘ has been available digitally for about three days at the time of me writing this. In that time, I’ve already re-watched it twice. Don’t judge; I’ve been starved for good cape media ever since ‘The Batman‘ came out.

There’s a lot to love about this movie. Krypto. The music. David Corenswet’s magnificent hair. But I’ve already gushed over it well enough. Today, I wanted to take a deeper look into exactly why I love this movie so much: the themes. Namely the value it places upon life.

I took my family with me to see this movie when it first released. Well, dragged would be more accurate. Of the four of us, I’m the only one who cared about the character. I can’t blame them; they only knew Superman through his prior less-than-stellar films. Imagine my surprise, then, when they walked out of that theater just as delighted as I was. When I asked my brother what his favorite scene was, he gave me a surprising answer:

“The part where Superman saved the squirrel.”

It’s not just him, either. That tiny moment of kindness hasn’t gone unnoticed by the internet. Go into any video analyzing the movie and you’ll find at least one comment about the squirrel. Red of Overly Sarcastic Productions highlights it in their new Detail Diatribe. Even Ben Shapiro points it out in his god-awful review. Though he confuses the critter with a chipmunk because he obviously wasn’t paying attention.

(Complete aside, but you should watch NerdSync‘s video debunking Ben’s terrible takes. It’s a much more entertaining watch packaged with some interesting tidbits of comic book history. Alright, tangent over, let’s get back on track.)

People aren’t enamored with this scene simply because Superman saves a cute animal. The Man of Steel has rescued hundreds of cats from just as many trees. Yet this moment, less than five seconds long, stands out. All because it perfectly sells how much Superman values life. In doing so, it guides us, the audience, into sharing that same view.

At its core, ‘Superman‘ is a movie about kindness. James Gunn all but shouted that from the rooftops leading up to the film’s release. It takes the simple concept of being compassionate and re-frames it as punk rock. Almost every conflict Superman is faced with isn’t about beating up a bad guy, but protecting innocent lives. Because to him, every life, be it squirrel or robot or person, is of unimaginable value.

Take his intervention in Jarhanpur. For almost the entire first act, everyone is upset at Superman for stopping the war. They tell him he shouldn’t have done it, that he didn’t think it through, that his actions will have detrimental effects in the long term. Even Lois and Jimmy get on his case.

And Superman is continuously flabbergasted. He saw the issue as simply as a child would. People were going to die. So he stopped it. Where America sees a distant border, Superman sees people only he could or would protect. No politics. No bullshit. Just a hero saving lives.

There are plenty of examples throughout the movie. In the aformentioned kaiju attack, he tries to save everyone, including the monster itself. While a proton river rushes him towards a black hole, Superman’s only priority is protecting baby Joey. After escaping Lex’s prison, still half-dead from Kryptonite poisoning, his immediate priority is rescuing everyone else still trapped inside. When the rift tears Metropolis apart, he doesn’t beeline straight for Luthor; he stops to save an evacuating civilian.

Even when Superman isn’t present, the movie stresses this point. During the evacuation, we don’t just see the people of Metropolis running for their lives. We see them gathering their pets. Dogs, turtles, Steve Lombard; they’re shown to be just as important as any human being. In these moments, we’re made to see the world as Superman sees it.

Which makes the Russian Roulette scene hurt so much worse.

Luthor’s evil schemes only have one confirmed casualty: Malik Ali. A kind man running a falafel stand. All he does is lift Superman out of a crater and give him words of encouragement. Yet that’s all the reason Lex needs to kidnap, torture, and murder him. Why? Because he knows it will hurt Superman. To him, that is all the value poor Malik had.

That single gunshot is the most haunting moment in the whole movie. Even Lex is shocked, albeit for the wrong reason. Just for an instant, everything comes to a stop. A moment of stunned silence within both the fictional pocket universe and the real movie theater. Broken by the dismayed wail of our hero. Malik is the only person that Superman could not save in the entire film. And it tears him apart.

In any other super hero movie, this moment would be unimportant. Just one casualty among many. Malik himself tries to convince Superman that he’s an unimportant background character. If this were a Marvel movie, poor guy wouldn’t have even gotten a name.

Here, it’s the film’s most crucial turning point. Metamorpho is spurred to help Superman, leading to Luthor’s ultimate downfall. More than that, it brings the Element Man to Jarhanpur with the Justice Gang to end Boravia’s second invasion. When all is said and done, Clark writes an article not glorifying Superman’s victory, but honoring Malik as Metropolis’ true hero. Because even one murdered innocent is too many.

For me, this extreme emphasis on life is as refreshing as an oasis in the desert. So much cape media these days completely disregards innocent life. Most Marvel movies don’t even bother with civilians anymore. Spider-Man only saved one person in ‘No Way Home‘, and only then because he wanted a scholarship. ‘Man of Steel‘ showcased apocalyptic levels of destruction without blinking an eye. Even the comics themselves are guilty of this with how frequently they regurgitate universe-ending crises.

In ‘Superman‘, all life matters. Be it a squirrel or a kaiju, a falafel chef or even Lex Luthor. It doesn’t matter if you come from America or the middle-east or another planet. All living things have value. And Superman shows us to love them as much as he does. In a world full of cruelty and apathy, he teaches us to be kind and caring.

Maybe that’s the real punk rock.

Thank you all very much for reading. I had a ton of fun writing this one, so I hope you enjoyed. Maybe now I can finally get this movie off my mind. Or I’ll end up writing another essay on why Jimmy Olsen is peak masculinity. Time will tell.

Until next time: stay safe, and be kind.