Does Superman in "Superman: Red Son" Fuck?
He does not.
I watched Superman: Red Son a few days ago on the soon-to-be dead DC Universe streaming service, and can only assume that the Superman portrayed in the film is a virgin throughout the story. Why is this important? It’s not. Don’t mistake every observation you read on the Internet as meaningful, but to me it was at least a little interesting.
Superman Red Son is an alternate timeline version of the character which sees him land in the Soviet Union shortly after the events of World War II. He grows up as a staunch believer in Stalin’s communism and eventually becomes the leader of the nation himself. I do not believe this Superman fucks.
Take the normal version of Superman. The boy scout who landed in Kansas, became a farmer then journalist then superhero. In Metropolis, the New York City equivalent, he meets Lois Lane, and we know this version of Superman definitely fucks — with numerous characters — especially with Ms. Lane. However, in Red Son, she’s shacked up with (gulp) Lex Luthor and at one point in the movie literally says one of the reasons she’s with him is because “the sex is amazing.” Seriously, she stops and says this in a Cold War laboratory where Sexy-Lexy is meddling with DNA experiments in an attempt to create a specimen to compete with mean ol’ Red Son. Do you know how good the sex had to be to say that unprovoked? Incredible.
Back to Supes. You might say, “well what about Wonder Woman?!” and while she does make an appearance in the film (not talking about the comic-version of Red Son, just the movie, don’t @ me), she tells our Soviet hero she’s attracted to women. She says this with a line that makes me think of that time in Seinfeld where Elaine tried to lure a gay man into a relationship with her. This kind of comedy would be less accepted on television today. Anyway, Wonder Woman is out as far as romantic partners are concerned.
In the case of other onscreen potential partners, we’re down to one character: Svetlana. Svetlana plays the role of childhood friend and defends Kal-El prior to him discovering his powers. After the unveil, she convinces him to reveal them to the State. But because of this, Stalin detains all the people who knew the Soviet Superman prior to his international fame and leaves them to die in a gulag. Because of the order of events, I’m going to assume that Svetlana and Kal never knocked boots. He saves her, yes, but she dies in his arms immediately after. If she was a child when she told him to let the government in on his super skills, then it’s likely she was sent to the gulag not long after. Because of this, I’m willing to rule her out as a sexual partner.
Now, we get to real question of did Superman have sex with someone offscreen. Here’s what we know:
He is not married by the end of the film?
Premarital sex in Soviet Union Russia was not good, and Superman very much held these strict beliefs throughout his life, only taking over from Stalin because of things like torture and the gulags. However, Superman himself implanted devices in people’s heads to make them behave. Did he go as far as correcting folks who banged before marriage? I don’t know, but it’s possible.
He never mentions any romantic entanglement.
His best friend is a AI, but it was Braniac, and not the AI from Her.
He gets his ass whooped by Russian Batman, which I find hilarious and utterly unrelated to the question we’re trying to answer. I just think it’s funny that Superman’s actual fighting skills are so dependent on his powers that all Russian Batman had to do to beat him was even the playing field. As soon as you change Superman’s biology to that of a human he becomes a barroom brawler with no martial arts skills and a weak ass chin.
He only dances with Wonder Woman at the ball, and she told him she’s gay, so it’s clear that sex isn’t a huge priority for him. This is fine, and I’m not judging, but it sheds light on where it ranked in his mind.
Ok, so basically it comes down to this. Did Superman have break Soviet Union norms by having sex with women even though it would make him a hypocrite. I think the answer is NO. Here’s why: Superman is a damn boy scout. The Soviet Union was hard on sexuality and any behaviors that lent themselves to such, and even though in reality by the 1970s premarital sex became more accepted, Superman in the film seemed less likely to adapt with the times because he was a dictator with all-world powers. Not to mention Russian Batman was an anarchist terrorist who had access to bombs and other tools, so it’s likely the guy would have heard about any dalliances and revealed them to the world. Because he was mum on the subject, I’m thinking no woman unlocked Supes chastity belt.
In conclusion, Superman in Superman: Red Son ended the film a virgin. But did he have sex afterward? Duh.