When asked where Superman gets his strength, most people would answer that it comes from the yellow sun. Without it, even his ability to heal is hindered.
After watching the 2025 film, however, I have realized something else. This one is deeper. And this is where Superman’s true strength comes from. (Note: There will be Spoilers ahead.)
But before going to that, let’s first have a little background on the movie. In this film, Superman is already on a mission to help humanity. He has consistently done so despite political pressures and false accusations.
Throughout the movie, he can be seen battling powerful beings, showing his strength in many ways. Even though there were times when members of the Justice Gang like Mister Terrific, Hawkgirl and the Green Lantern came to help, it cannot be denied that Superman remains the most powerful of them all.
Indeed, Superman was the strongest, but his strength is not only about his physical powers. Superman soared most of all because of his inner strength.
Despite the odds against him, he never despaired. He kept on fighting for what is good. He continued to save people regardless of their opinion about him. Even to his enemies, he offered hope and a chance for change.
While members of the Justice Gang also had their own strength and goodness, Superman surpasses them all in terms of his inner light and belief in other people’s goodness.
Lois Lane couldn’t have said it better during their conversation when she clarified why she was different from Superman. She said that while she doubts everyone, Superman trusts everyone and sees each one’s beauty.
Why was he like that? What was his secret?
One scene from the movie can give us a clue. It was a very significant scene from the Fortress of Solitude where Superman listened to the recorded message of his biological parents.
In that scene, Superman learned that he was sent to Earth because it was the place where he could accomplish the most good. It was where he could help people.
Superman must have listened to this message a thousand times and imbibed it deep in his heart until it became a part of who he is.
Superman had such a sense of goodness because that was the way he saw himself, the way he believed his parents saw him to be.
This sense of himself was so vital to his being that he suffered more from its damage than from all of his physical wounds combined.
When Lex Luthor claimed to have restored the message of Superman’s biological parents and said that they wanted Superman to rule Earth and destroy those who oppose him, Superman suffered a deep identity crisis and had to retreat while he tried to sort things out.
What gave him light in the end was his adoptive father’s reminder that it is our choices and actions that define who we are.
That healed whatever caused those cracks in Superman’s sense of self. And that restored his true strength!
I can’t help but compare Superman’s journey to our own. In our search for strength and goodness, have we looked at how we see ourselves?
Who do we see ourselves to be? Can we also see the heroes we can be? Or are we afraid?
Sometimes I feel that many of us doubt ourselves and even fear giving in fully to goodness and heroism. We try to play it cool. We use words that offend other people. We act rough and tough, afraid to show gentleness and compassion for others.
Does this come from the fear of not being good enough? Of being called hypocrites? Of letting people down? Of disappointing ourselves in the end?
In our fear of not reaching perfection, we act like we’re consciously choosing to avoid it.
But have we ever paused to think what could happen if we start seeing ourselves in a different light?
How would it affect the way we speak and act? How would it change the way we see and treat other people?
In Christianity, this sense of self-worth comes from our belief that we were made in the image of God. This is where our dignity as human beings comes from, long before we perform any act of goodness.
With this belief comes our sense of who we are, our purpose and our faith that we can be vessels of light and goodness to the world around us.
Superman has successfully reclaimed the source of his true strength and continues to believe in the beauty of every being. Can we take the same challenge and reclaim our faith in the heroes that we can be?
You may also want to read “Inspiring Lessons for Our Time From “All the Light We Cannot See”
Jocelyn Soriano writes about faith, relationships and writing at “Single Catholic Writer”. She wrote the books To Love an Invisible God, Defending My Catholic Faith and Questions to God.
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