Superman's immigrant status is a key aspect of his appeal.

[175][176][177] Aldo Regalado saw the character

as pushing the boundaries of acceptance in America. The extraterrestrial origin was seen by
Regalado as challenging the notion that Anglo-Saxon ancestry was the source of all might.
[178]
Gary Engle saw the "myth of Superman [asserting] with total confidence and a childlike
innocence the value of the immigrant in American culture." He argues that Superman allowed
the superhero genre to take over from the Western as the expression of immigrant sensibilities.
Through the use of a dual identity, Superman allowed immigrants to identify with both their
cultures. Clark Kent represents the assimilated individual, allowing Superman to express the
immigrants cultural heritage for the greater good. [176] Timothy Aaron Pevey has argued other
aspects of the story reinforce the acceptance of the American dream. He notes that "the only
thing capable of harming Superman is Kryptonite, a piece of his old home world." [42] David
Jenemann has offered a contrasting view. He argues that Superman's early stories portray a
threat: "the possibility that the exile would overwhelm the country." [179] David Rooney, a theater
critic for The New York Times, in his evaluation of the play, Year Zero, considers Superman to be
the "quintessential immigrant story...(b)orn on an alien planet, he grows stronger on Earth but
maintains a secret identity tied to a homeland that continues to exert a powerful hold on him
even as his every contact with those origins does him harm." [180]