A superhero is nothing but a vigilante. So i don't particularly understand that logic. If he were a totalitarian like in red son then he would be leading the authorities to attack the crowd,not stand against it.When clark went full totalitarian in red son he decided to attack US. A totalitarian regime expects absolute control over every aspect. There won't be any opposition.In this image, He is especially saving the kid. Even if jon does bottle metropolis there is something reasonable about it. I mean, in Bendis's legion metropolis is bottled up. Anyways, he is at best an authoritarian leader(that's pushing it) . He hasn't even gone full fascist. Especially, if he doesn't mind being protested against. Normally, authoritarians don't like that sort of thing. This is just gonna be like clark getting mon el stuck.
I wonder if its like the batman beyond thing where wings gets activated by the push of a button.