10. Why Can’t He Just Fix Everything?
Superman is the Übermensch. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster based their comic creation on the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s goal that he believed humanity should set for itself – a platonic ideal of our species that would be able to fix all problems and be morally perfect. Superman does that not with widespread social change, but by having all the superpowers possible to fix everything.
So… why doesn’t he just fix everything already? The Man of Steel spends all his time getting cats out of trees and fighting giant robots in low Earth orbit. Important things, admittedly, but there are many more important things in the world: ending world hunger, perhaps, or brokering peace between nations, scrapping nuclear weapons, that sort of thing. He certainly has that power.
An edition of the webcomic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal looked at a world where Superman has fought of all enemies, and is then installed as the power source for a perpetual motion machine that gives the world free electricity. And he does that forever. Until he dies. Superman could fix everything, but it’d be at the expense of other stuff, as well as treating him like a machine. And it’d be boring.
9. His Origin Makes No Sense
The Last Son of Krypton laid the basic template for all superheroes that came after him, from the costumes to the powers and the secret identity, including the necessity of a tragedy in his origin story. Batman’s parents might have lived and Spider-Man’s Uncle Ben might have been spared if Clark Kent hadn’t begun his superhero career being flung at supersonic speed from a dying planet.
Actually born Kal-El of the Planet Krypton, his father was Jor-El, a respected scientist on that far-off alien world, many light years from Earth, who was nonetheless ignored by his peers when he warned them there world was dying. Buoyed by their defiance, he decided to build a life raft so that one Kryptonian would live on, to tell their story and stop the race dying out completely.
But he made one that was only the size for his new born baby boy. If he was prepared enough to make that, why didn’t he make a bigger one that he could use? Well, for one thing, he wasn’t actually that prepared, having cobbled together that small ship because it took less time (a resource he had precious little of). Plus, an adult Kryptonian would have trouble adapting to – and being accepted by – another world.
8. There’s No Need For Clark Kent
A similar argument is made about the Dark Knight: Batman is his true self, and Bruce Wayne is the mask, so what’s the point in him even having that secret identity thing? Surely it’s just a distraction from his crime fighting gig? With Superman, the point is even more apposite. The Man of Steel is essentially a god, so why would he trouble himself walking amongst mortals the majority of the time? He’s got better things to do.
The answer is pretty much the same for Clark as it is for Bruce. If Superman was just a guy who floated around in space and fought supervillans 24/7 he would eventually become kind of run down, detached, and haunted by constant battle. He wouldn’t be able to connect with humanity, whom he has decided is his life’s work to protect. He’d feel even more apart from them.
That wouldn’t end well. Clark Kent is important because being mostly human grounds Superman. It stops him from being an alien without morals, without regard for the population he’s supposed to be saving. It’s also important because, despite being born on Krypton, he was raised as a human. That’s makes it easier for readers to sympathise with him, and also makes the character more interesting with the dual-identity thing.
7. Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow? Is The Best Superman Story
Alan Moore has a track record in comic books. Not only is his superhero work phenomenally popular, well-regarded and influential, but they all tend to be of a similar type: deconstructions of the superhero genre, and of specific characters. He started off down that path with Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow? and The Last Superman Story, that were each supposed to close out the character’s story before they rebooted him.
That meant Moore was tasked with closing out a good fifty years of Superman comic history, before John Byrne could update him for the eighties (by giving him a mullet). Often it gets hold up as a great celebration of the classic, innocent Golden Age of Superman, but in fact it was the opposite, with Moore dismantling the character in his usual inimitable fashion. Lots of crying, murder, and so on.
It’s a good story, but not really a Superman story. He’s not much of a murderous sobber. It’s subverting everything that Superman is. In fact, the best Superman story is almost certainly Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s All-Star Superman, a fun, friendly, colourful celebration of the character that revisits every classic enemy, concept, and supporting cast member as the Man of Steel realises he’s dying after restarting the sun, and sets about putting his affairs in order. And fighting Luthor one last time.
6. Batman Is Better
A lot of people set up DC’s twin titans in direct opposition to each other. In fact, Warner Bros. is doing it themselves with the upcoming Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice, the blockbuster movie which will see the Caped Crusader and Man of Steel duking it out, inspired by Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns – a comic not unlike Moore’s Superman story, as it tore the titular character apart, retooling him as a fascistic psychopath.
Plenty of stories since have also bore Miller’s influence, with Batman usually besting Superman through a combination of wits and Kryptonite. Batman is the superhero who gets things done, who will do what absolutely needs to be done in pursuit of the greater good. Plus he has all the cool gadgets and a less-goofy costume.
The flaw lies in the very foundation of this line of thinking. Batman and Superman shouldn’t be pitted against each other in the first place. They represent the opposite sides of a coin, the light and the dark. One isn’t better than the other. They’re both necessary, they keep each other in check and will push each other (but also pull back) when they need to. They’re BFFs, and they’re equals, so why even make the argument?
5. He’s Just An Imperialist American Weapon
The Dark Knight Returns is not a very subtle comic. In it, Frank Miller made text a subtext that had been discussed between superhero fans and critics for decades: Superman’s Truth, Justice and the American Way values meant he was nothing more than a jingoistic stooge, a super-powered weapon for the US that got deployed as a propaganda weapon during WWII.
In Miller’s hands, that meant that Ronald Reagan was literally using Superman as his personal superhero bodyguard/peacekeeper. Again, that characterisation has been carried over for decades by creators influenced by Miller. And again, it’s a stupid argument that doesn’t make any sense at all – for one thing, everyone remembers that Superman’s an alien, right?
He has adopted Earth, and the United States more particularly, as his home. He isn’t really American, and having him be a weapon for the country is boring. It’s way more interesting when, say, Lex Luthor gets elected president and he has trouble liaising with him. Or when he renounces his citizenship, as he did in Action Comics #900. Superman routinely saves the planet, not just America. And he does it for humanity, not just Americans.
4. The Underpants Look Silly
A running joke in comic book fandom is referring to superheroes as “underwear perverts”, meaning those tighty-multi-colours they often wear over their tights. That particular foible of superhero costume design comes from the early days, where they were originally inspired by the trunks that circus muscle-men used to wear. They were the strongest men around back then, hence superheroes wear them.
Overwhelming fan pressure meant that, when DC rebooted their entire continuity with the New 52 they also took the opportunity to redesign a lot of their characters. Which mainly meant that Superman (and Batman, and a few others) had their trunks taken away, and lots of fabric lines added to their costumes for some reason.
It’s an argument that makes no sense because, well, the pants aren’t the silliest part of Superman’s costume. All of it’s silly. It’s baby blue, it has a cape that doesn’t do anything, he has his first initial plastered across his chest. And it’s not just Superman: Batman, Spider-Man, et al. have goofy outfits. That’s just part of the deal, really. The pants are no more of less ridiculous tan any other element.
3. He’s Invincible
“What’s the point in Superman? There’s never any threat in his stories. He’s invincible. Nothing bad’s ever gonna happen to him.”
For many, that’s reason enough to disregard the character altogether. Not to mention that, in almost every respect, they’re totally wrong. For one thing, basically every superhero is invincible. Every hero in every piece of genre fiction and by narrative necessity is resistant to death to a frankly ludicrous degree.
Occasionally the writer’s will off someone, but in most cases they come back. Practically, Superman is an invincible as John McClane, as Captain Kirk, as Bruce Wayne – they’ll never die, because they’re the heroes. Superman is the only one to be invincible in-universe, though, which is where the real dismay comes in. Even that’s wrong though – he’s always been vulnerable to Kryptonite and magic. Plus there’s Death Of Superman, where he got bludgeoned to death by Doomsday, an alien-created killing machine that was the first enemy as strong as him. That’s proof that he can be killed, albeit temporarily.
That’s boring, though. The Man of Steel fighting another strong person isn’t interesting. His real vulnerability is his morals, his intention to never let anyone die. He’s fallible because he’s so morally good.
2. He Has Too Many Powers
It’s true that Superman has had some rather out-there abilities over the years. As time went by his skillset expanded past the faster than a speeding bullet/leaping tall buildings in a single bound/more powerful than a locomotive line up so that he could knock people out by kissing them, travel through time by flying around the world backwards, and even peel off his symbol to throw at people. Recently he even discovered the power to absorb a load of the solar energy and then unleash it in a nuclear explosion.
Even without all those recent additions, however, there are those who thing that Superman is already plenty overpowered, with the strength and the flying and the heat vision as well.
Obviously that’s down to him being the first modern superhero that was created, so he got all the good powers. He’s far from over-powered, though. The genre – in fact, DC Comics in particular – is full of characters who are essentially gods and who laugh in the face of Superman. It’s like the opposite of saying Batman only works because of his gadgets, but has the same answer: it’s the man who uses those powers that matters.
1. He’s Boring
Really, a lot of these arguments are facets of one grand, overarching misgiving many people have against Superman. He’s boring. Especially when compared to the multi-faceted angst of Batman. If there’s never any threat of him dying, then there’s no conflict, so all of his stories must be pretty boring, right? Plus he’s so nice – he’s like a big blue boy scout.
Well, that’s a matter of opinion, obviously. But really, how is Superman’s struggle any different to Batman’s? Both are orphaned, both struggle to make a difference with their powers whilst not going overboard – it’s just that, in the case of the Man of Steel, he’s always making sure he doesn’t lose his humanity and become a despotic god.
His supporting cast is not quite as capable of looking after itself as the extended Bat-Family, and so a lot of the conflict is found in keeping others safe whilst also saving the day.
Nihilism and cynicism is cheap and easy, leading to the likes of the Frank Miller Batman, unencumbered by morals so he can go break The Joker’s neck. Superman – who wields absolute power, but manages not to be corrupted by it; who always tries to do the right thing even when it isn’t easy or even the smart move; who tries to be better than human – is clearly more interesting.
Back To Home
0 comments:
Post a Comment