Superman is always on the side of peace, truth, and justice. It's why it makes perfect sense that when his community holds a peaceful protest to stand up for him after his secret identity is revealed to the world -- cops begin to escalate the events -- Superman takes a clear stance against police brutality.
This week, peaceful protests across America in response to the death of George Floyd have been escalated to violent and destructive riots, with media coverage and amateur video raising serious and legitimate concerns about how police have escalated peaceful protests with violence. And to prove this issue is nothing new, one comic book already tackled police brutality head-on, as Action Comics #43, had Superman stand up to police who tried to use violence against peaceful protesters.
In Action Comics #43 by Greg Pak, Aaron Kuder, and Tomeu Morey, peaceful protesters take to the streets to support Superman after his true identity being revealed. Local police officers warn the protesters they have five minutes to disperse. Before the time runs out, a sergeant suggests the entire crowd get dosed with pepper spray. When one officer shoots pepper spray into a crowd and a protester hits it back towards the cop, the sergeant says the protestors are trying to assault them and urges his officers, wearing full riot gear, to move in. As protestors sit down to show they're peaceful, Superman emerges with chains (from a fight with a shadow creature) to block the police.
The sergeant calls in his S.W.A.T. team and starts attacking Superman. Clark (who actually gets bloodied from the fight since his powers are weak) stands his ground and takes hit after hit. After police spray the crowd with pepper spray, a fight breaks out between the officers and protestors. However, once Superman hits the sergeant back, he discovers he's not human - but instead, one of the shadow creatures working in disguise. After the monster slips away, Superman tells the crowd how brave they were when he was scared. He tells them it was more than just one bad cop (even if the cop was a monster) and that everyone has to look out for each other. It's a touching end to a terrific story about police brutality in an age of superheroes.
With the real-life protests going on, Kuder tweeted out the image of Superman with the caption "Superman is not the most important character in this picture. #BlacklivesMaters."
Action Comics #42 harkens back to the Golden Age of Superman, where he almost exclusively fought social injustice around the world. This issue has those sensibilities on display, and shows how peaceful protests can turn violent based on the smallest acts. Pak and Kuder put a needed spotlight on police brutality and its many different forms. It's a real problem, even in Superman's world.