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In a world where “cruelty is the point,” kindness can be a revolutionary act. And into that world, perhaps unsurprisingly, comes Superman.

We are in a dark period here in the United States. The administrative state and any semblance of a social safety net – something that has long been lacking, relative to other industrialized democracies – is being torn away by robber-barons who will funnel that money to themselves and their friends instead, widening what is already one of the greatest wealth disparities in human history.

To make things worse, our arts, entertainment, and other forms of expression have become increasingly dependent on mega-corporations and “platforms” that actively contribute to this state of affairs. The recent firing of Trump critic Stephen Colbert has drawn headlines, but it’s only one in a number of similar moves made by the oligarchs who control what the vast majority of Americans see of the outside world.

It’s against this backdrop that James Gunn’s Superman has shone like a beacon of light and hope in a dark world. The movie is unapologetically optimistic, featuring a take on Superman who is perhaps a bit naive, but only because he sees goodness as an end unto itself, rather than a means to smashing the bad guys.

In one of the film’s key scenes, Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) ribs Clark about his pop-punk music taste, arguing that he isn’t really “punk rock” even though he would like to say he is. In that same scene, she tells him, “You trust everyone, and think everyone you ever met is beautiful,” to which Clark responds, “Maybe that’s the real punk rock.”

The importance of this sequence is underscored at the end of the movie. While Gunn, famous for his pop music needle drops in movies like Guardians of the Galaxy, mostly stuck with a traditional score for Superman, the movie’s final moments play out over “I’m a Punk Rocker” by the Teddy Bears with Iggy Pop, in a moment that instantly became a fan-favorite.

Superman is a movie about kindness. That’s something Gunn said in response to right-wing grievance merchants who objected to his characterization of Superman as “an immigrant,” although without seeing the film it seemed like a very general statement about Superman as a character. Having seen Superman, Gunn’s description is key to understanding his take on the character.

Gunn’s Superman, more than maybe any other on-screen portrayal of the character, really is just a good person. He struggles with nuance when it comes to a military conflict in which a U.S. ally is prepared to decimate a civilian population, arguing with Lois that whatever the optics might be, “people were going to die.”

While the conflict between fictional nations could be applied to any number of real-world global conflicts — presumably a choice designed specifically to avoid too much controversy — it comes against a backdrop of U.S. politicians failing to meet the expectations of their constituents when reacting to conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine right now. That few of our elected representatives seem capable of standing up and saying “this is wrong” puts a fine point on Superman’s innate goodness.

Gunn has referred to the first batch of DC movies as being themed for “Gods and Monsters,” a concept that’s name-dropped in Superman‘s opening crawl. It is not uncommon for people — particularly Lex Luthor, in-story — to refer to Superman as a “god,” and that’s something that Superman seems acutely aware of. In Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, director Zack Snyder famously saw Superman as a Messianic figure, even while characters in-universe decried him as a “false god.”

James Gunn takes a different approach, with only antagonists seeing Superman as some kind of “god,” and with Superman instead embodying one specific value of the Judeo-Christian God: unconditional love for all.

As Lois notes, he thinks everyone he meets is beautiful. He saves a dog, and later a squirrel, from being crushed in a super-fight. When Krypto is taken hostage, Superman turns himself in to a hostile government. When Lois argues that Krypto is “just a dog,” Superman agrees, noting that Krypto isn’t even a very good dog, but he’s alone, and probably scared.

Why is it important Superman saves bystanders? It’s not just to differentiate this take from the Superman of Man of Steel — that’s a petty and shortsighted take. It’s because that’s who he is on a fundamental level. Just ask Mitch Anderson.

One of the great Superman stories of my lifetime was the epic “Death and Return of Superman” storyline. The Man of Steel died after encountering a brutal monster called Doomsday, with the two pummeling each other to death in the streets of Metropolis after a days-long battle that ranged hundreds of miles and involved a half-dozen other superheroes.

Along the way, with the Justice League out of commission, Superman was inches from getting his hands on Doomsday and perhaps turning the tide of the battle. Below, a teenager was crying for help.

Mitch Anderson was a high school student who didn’t much care for Superman, preferring the antihero attitude of Guy Gardner instead. When the Justice League and Doomsday plowed through his house, Mitch’s mother and infant sister were caught in the crossfire and, with a the house burning around them, eventually trapped and seemingly without hope. Mitch called out for Superman, who was in the midst of the literal fight of his life…and the Man of Steel left Doomsday behind to save the Anderson family.

As a kid who never really “got” Superman, my 12 year old brain suddenly understood everything I needed to know about the character when that happened. It was like a light switch went off. And there were a number of moments that felt just like that in James Gunn’s Superman.

“Kindness is punk rock” and other similar messages have taken up a dominant space in response to Gunn’s Superman, and that’s wonderful. It’s also worth noting that in addition to Superman bringing those ideals to the table, that’s what Gunn is doing with the film.

Before Superman even hit theaters, some version of this piece was in the works, centered on folksinger Phil Ochs’s quote that “in such ugly times, the only true protest is beauty.” While Superman isn’t nearly as explicitly “political” as its most vocal critics would like you to believe, it does bring its fair share of beauty to the table, making it one of the few big, corporate superhero projects that can be seen as a “protest” movie taking on the ugliness of modern America head-on.

And that is, as even Lois would likely agree, pretty punk rock.