Is Superman a genuinely good person? Or does he do good because he’s following orders?

James Gunn’s Superman raises these questions via its most controversial change: The intentions of Supes’ biological parents Jor-El (Bradley Cooper) and Lara Lor-Von (Angela Sarafyan).

Some mild spoilers, obviously.

Like in other iterations of Superman’s backstory, Kal-El/Clark Kent (David Corenswet) is an alien from the dying planet Krypton who was sent to Earth as a baby and is left with a message from his parents. However, half of it is corrupted, so he grows up believing his parents wanted him to do good.

This vision of his birth parents is decimated when his arch nemesis Lex Luthor (Nicholos Holt) repairs the second half of the message, in which Jor-El and Lara instruct Clark to rule over Earth with an iron fist and start a harem to save their race.

It comes off as either awkward or hilarious, depending on whether you get Gunn’s sense of humor. From a character development standpoint, it’s brilliant because it gives Superman an opportunity to prove to the audience what his values are — which are cornerstones of his character.

However, not all fans see it that way, and some are hoping for a complete U-turn. According to Gunn, they’re “s*** out of luck.

“That’s the whole point of the movie,” Gunn said in a recent interview. “It’s like taking accountability in the deepest way possible that his morality is not based on some figure outside of himself, but on his own choices.”

This change brings up interesting concepts of nature vs. nurture — Superman couldn’t be farther from the cold and calculated Kryptonians who created him because of the way the Kents raised him. Clark is also a uniquely empathetic guy; he sees all life as beautiful, likely because he grew up realizing how fragile everyone and everything is compared to him. No one close to him seriously thinks he could be a threat to humanity; the strongest legitimate doubts about Superman come from himself, which tells you everything you need to know about him; he agonizes over the message because he cares so much.

This change has been billed as the film’s biggest risks by several news outlets, though they overstate the importance of Jor-El and Lara. They’re both dead in most versions of Superman. Jor-El did come back as an artificial intelligence in Man of Steel, but that’s his ceiling; at best he’s a force ghost.

While his bio parents often inspire Clark to do good, they aren’t what makes him good. That’s his own convictions and how the Kents raised him.

Superman could take over the world easily. What makes him great is the fact that he chooses not to.

Most people could not handle the weight of being Superman. It takes a great man to get close to the standard version of this character; at best, most people’s tenures would play out like Man of Steel, with plenty of mistakes and massive collateral damage.

Superman doesn’t just talk about a brighter future; he puts the world on his back to make it happen.