Colossal Biosciences is working on bringing back a long-dormant animal, and it has found a partner to help. The genetics company is teaming up with director Peter Jackson to resurrect an animal resembling the giant moa, an extinct species native to New Zealand that died out about 600 years ago. Colossal is the same company that made waves in April for creating wolves with the genetic properties of the extinct dire wolf. And as with that case, there's more to this "de-extinction" than meets the eye.

'Working diligently'
Jackson seems like a natural teammate for Colossal, as the acclaimed filmmaker "owns one of the largest private collections of bones" of the giant moa and has long had a "fascination with the flightless ostrich-like bird," said The Associated Press. Colossal will work to resurrect a giant moa-type animal using $15 million in funding from Jackson.

The giant moa "remains a symbol for the people of the South Island" of New Zealand, and its "potential resurrection fits within the country's many ongoing conservation efforts," said USA Today. The Colossal team is "working diligently toward bringing back" extinct animals that "hitherto only lived in our imaginations," Jackson said in a press release.

Skepticism remains
It's unclear how far the company will get in recreating the giant moa. When the company "brought back" dire wolves, it did so by "editing parts of genomes sequenced from ancient DNA fragments into the genome of gray wolves, giving them dire wolf attributes," said Rolling Stone. This led to some in the scientific community arguing that they "weren't actually dire wolves, just genetically modified gray wolves with a stellar PR team." 

It appears that a similar process will be undertaken for the giant moa, as Colossal has "created a genome of the tinamou, thought to be the closest living relative of the moa," said USA Today. And while the dire wolf project involved implanting DNA from fossils into a domestic dog, the process with "extinct moa is harder since the incubating will be done outside the body, inside an egg," said Time. If Colossal accomplishes this, said the AP, it will be successful not in creating an actual giant moa but in "creating a tall bird with huge feet and thick pointed claws resembling the moa."

Director James Gunn's interpretation of comic book hero Superman and his canonical origins and character traits rankled ultranationalist conservatives following an interview last week with The Times. "Superman is the story of America," said Gunn. "An immigrant who came from other places and populated the country. But for me, it's mostly a story that says basic human kindness is a value and is something we have lost." Gunn's comments quickly piqued the right's ire. 

'Try not hating the American people'
Gunn's "woke" Superman reboot is part of the "radical anti-Americanism infecting Hollywood," conservative commentator Ben Shapiro said on his YouTube show. Star David Corenswet's statements stressing the character's commitments to "truth, justice and all that good stuff" is proof of a malicious industry-wide refusal to acknowledge that the "American way is good," according to Shapiro. 

"These millionaires" behind the superhero film "could try not hating the American people," whom they hope will pay to see their movies, columnist Batya Ungar-Sargon said on X. "The reason Hollywood can't get Superman right" is that Superman is "about what's good about America and Hollywood hates America," said right-wing commentator Stephen L. Miller on X. 

An expression of a 'simplistic American ideal'
That Superman is "by definition an immigrant refugee" is unsurprising to those with "even the most basic knowledge" of the character, said Rolling Stone. "That's exactly what the movie is about," actor Sean Gunn, the director's brother, said at the film's premiere. "We love our immigrants." Those in this country who don't support immigrants are "not American." 

Although the character was "created by liberals," Superman is ultimately an expression of a "simplistic American ideal that at its core is conservative, if not inherently nativist," said PJ Grisar at The Forward. Rather than immigration, Gunn's film is about assimilation, said Sonny Bunch at The Bulwark. The movie tells the story of a man "raised to do the right thing" thanks to his upbringing by a "nice couple from Kansas." It's Superman's "belief in his own righteousness," then, that eventually "turns him into the world's policeman."