Adding to Eminem’s collection of songs expressing his anger against ex-wife Kim Mathers, “Superman” contains a lot of harsh truths about the kinds of women that Eminem interacts with, partially due to his fame; however, Eminem may be trying to detail a sort of enlightenment in this song that, even though it has come as the result of suffering, he values.

The title of “Superman” in relation to women likely alludes to the classic situation of Superman himself saving women from dangerous situations and them being grateful to him, as well as sexually interested in him. Eminem describes himself as being the complete antithesis – “I can’t be your Superman” – to this kind of character, preferring to leave women to solve their own problems by themselves without his help. Broadly, the song discusses the need for men in relationships to abandon women with severe personal issues and leave these women to sort out said issues on their own (and not simply swoop in to save them and solve all of their problems, like Superman himself).

Eminem does not want to play the Prince Charming-esque character so desired by women and depicts himself instead as a battle-hardened soldier aware of what women genuinely want from men in relationships (this awareness gives Eminem a reason to avoid any sort of chivalry and sacrifice for women who will not return the favour).

It is also worth noting – whether or not this is intentional – that the song’s title could allude to Friedrich Nietzsche’s concept of the Übermensch, a word which can be translated into, “superman.” The link can be made by likening his divorce from Kim to Nietzsche’s death of God, given that the divorce essentially created a void where Eminem’s values once were (in a sense) and which are now being called into question (he’s rethinking his reasoning behind marrying Kim in the first place).

Instead of nihilistically giving up on life in the wake of this divorce, Eminem wants to construct new values by which he can live that do not mean that he will be dependent upon a woman (or, as Nietzsche would hypothesise, God) to be his source of wellbeing and meaning (and, broadly, he wants all men to aspire to this goal as well).