Can’t really agree with that. Saying he’s about “inspiring hope” says nothing whatsoever about his character or personality, it just shows how other people see him. And in fact those two stories you mentioned are built around subverting public perceptions of Superman, not really having anything to do with his actions. DKR takes the “American Way” Superman and makes him a government stooge. Injustice takes the “hope bringer” and makes him a fear inspiring tyrant. Neither one really cares about who he is beyond his surface level appearance and playing with his pop culture status. I’m not saying get rid of the “hope” stuff but way too many stories are obsessed with “well what does Superman MEAN?” and not enough are about “WHO is Superman and what does he WANT?”. Playing with his iconography is cool but making him solely about “hope” reduces his complexity.
It’s like making Jason Todd just about Batman’s failure as a father and mentor. Is that an important part of him? Absolutely, but it’s not the only part.
I try not to assume things before they’re confirmed. A lot of people thought Huntress was black and there was some backlash when it was confirmed she was just Sicilian.