Parents' Guide to Superman: Red Son

In SUPERMAN: RED SON, Superman (Jason Isaacs) grows up in the Soviet Union instead of Smallville, USA. His superhuman strength and ability to fly becomes a propaganda tool of Josef Stalin at the height of the 1950s Cold War. The Eisenhower administration in the United States, with the help of the high-tech weapons manufacturer Lex Luthor (Diedrich Bader), attempts to counter with their own "Superior Man." After Superman prevents a satellite from crashing into Metropolis, Lois Lane (Amy Acker) gives him classified documents showing what life is really like for millions under the Stalin regime. After Superman discovers first-hand the horror of the Soviet gulag -- and finding the girl who protected him from bullies when he was a young boy imprisoned because she knew the real identity of Superman -- Superman confronts Stalin. Finding Stalin's justifications to be reprehensible, Superman kills him, and assumes power in the USSR. He creates an alliance with Wonder Woman, and uses his powers to tilt the balance of power to the Soviets. But for all his ideals, Superman finds himself increasingly corrupted by power in the 1960s, as he has dissidents lobotomized, reprograms Brainiac to be his advisor, and must confront a Batman whose family was killed in the Soviet labor camps. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor becomes President of the United States, ushering in a prosperity that threatens Soviet world domination. As the Cold War wears on, Superman and Luthor must come to grips with how power can be misused, and the chasm that exists between the ideals and realities of both countries' ideologies.