Can Superman Renounce his US Citizenship?

https://foxhugh.com/2011/05/05/can-superman-renounce-his-us-citizenship/

Superman verbally renounces his US citizenship in Action #900 (The

Incident, pgs 70-78). Superman decides to show up at Azadi square in Tehran. Iranian pro-
democracy protestors are in a face-off with Iranian security and Superman flies down and plants
himself between the protestors and Iranian security. Iranian security does not fire on the protestors
probably because of Supermans presence. When Superman flies away after 24 hours, one of the
protestors offers a rose to an Iranian policeman who has a rifle aimed at the protestor and the
Iranian policeman lowers his weapon and accepts the flower.
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This upsets the US government so much that a meeting with Superman is demanded Superman
meets with a National Security advisor in a park. Superman spots a couple of US government
snipers with rifles aimed at him and loaded with kryptonite bullets in winter cameo that he can spot
anyway with his infrared vision. The National Security advisor tells Superman the snipers are there
just in case because his actions have alarmed the US government. The story is interesting on several
levels. Action #900 is acknowledging the current Arab Spring, Superman is engaging in
international political activism but most of all renounces his US citizenship because in his words,
truth, justice and the American way. Its not enough anymore.

In my post The Myth of Superman Revisited, I comment on Umberto Ecos critique of

Superman. Eco points out that Superman engages in tasks such as catching bank robbers that are a
waste of time relative to his potential. Superman could deal with root causes of the human malaise
and change fundamental economic and political conditions. In this post I point out that while
Superman has kept his boy scout persona, the issue of superheroes taking extreme political action
has been explored a great deal since Eco wrote his article. Superman political activism or lack of it is
an interesting issue but in this post I want to focus on a legalistic issue about Supermans
renunciation of his US citizenship.

Perhaps Superman cannot renounce his US citizenship since he may be an illegal alien! Superman
landed in a cornfield in Kansas and was adopted by the Kents but never applied for citizenship and
therefore is in the US fraudulently.

In the Silver Age, Superman was given UN citizenship more than once and so this would make
Superman citizen of the US since the US is part of UN. The problem with UN citizenship is that it
would be an extension of the dual citizenship concept and would mean that Superman would have
both the rights and responsibilities of all the countries he is a citizen of. Thats an awful lot of
taxes and an awful lot of laws to memorize and follow. Like many Silver Age constructions, the UN
citizenship idea can be dismissed as fanciful and irrelevant.
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In the Death of Superman story arc, Superman was given honorary US citizenship. The problem is
that Superman is an alias not a legal identity. Can you give citizenship to what is essentially a non-
person legally? You might even have the very confusing situation whereby Superman is a citizen and
not Clark Kent. This seems like legal contradiction that cannot be accepted. So does this mean
Superman cannot renounce his US citizenship because he is not a citizen legally in the first place?

Maybe not, the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 allows certain foreign-born, biological and adopted
children of United States citizens to acquire United States citizenship automatically. The child must
have at least one U.S. citizen parent by birth or naturalization, be under 18 years of age (have been
born on or after February 27, 1983) live in the legal and physical custody of the U.S. citizen parent,
and be admitted as an immigrant for lawful permanent residence. In addition, if the child is adopted,
the adoption must be full and final.

Superman appears to meet all this criteria except for being born on or before February 27, 1983. So
whether or not Superman is a US citizen in the first place is dependent on the date of his
birth. Superman is perennially middle
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aged, thirty-something. If Superman was born in 1983 then he would be 28 in 2011 and this is
unlikely. Therefore Superman is not a US citizen in the first place so his renunciation is invalid!

Even if Superman is a US citizen then renouncing citizenship is a really bad idea. Renunciation of
citizenship includes renunciation of all rights and privileges of citizenship. A person who wants to
renounce U.S. citizenship cannot decide to retain some of the privileges of citizenship, as this would
be logically inconsistent with the concept of renunciation. Only citizens can enter
and leave the US without a visa. Superman would have to apply for a visa every time he landed on
US soil! All this time getting a visa will seriously hamper his crime fighting career.

Superman could fly over the US but even that would be problematic. There is no international
agreement on the vertical extent of sovereign airspace (the boundary between outer space which is
not subject to national jurisdictionand national airspace), with suggestions ranging from about
30 km (19 miles) (the extent of the highest aircraft and balloons) to about 160 km (99 miles) (the
lowest extent of short-term stable orbits). Superman could apply for a multiple re-entry visa but
such a visa probably would not be given to a person who has renounced US citizenship in the first
place.