Superman is such a single note character that the good things that came out of his existence can all be counted on one hand. I get that he was foundational to the concept of superheros, but it shows in this day and age.
I will say the monologue in justice league while he’s slapping around Darkside is immaculate though.
The best thing to come from Superman is Lex Luther. No villain can go toe to toe with Supes, except maybe Doomsday, but does he really count as a villain? Mindless kill machine. Anyway, Lex has to beat Superman who can punch him into mist, or roast him by looking at him too hard, or literally blow him to the moon. How do you write a villain to counter that? By making them cunning and lovable to the public so that if Superman does any of those things, the public turns against him. Superman’s weakness isn’t only kryptonite, he craves social acceptance, if he didn’t he would just punch his way into being in charge and dare anyone to stop him. Lex gets how razor thin that edge is and takes full advantage.
That’s a fair comparison. Superman is powerful enough to always make the right choice, even when it’s hard. The appeal comes from Superman discovering and making the right choice.
Batman makes the necessary choice (apart from killing), which isn’t always the right choice. The appeal comes from stories where Batman walks the line between criminal vigilante and hero who saves the day.
Yeah but batman is literally just as crazy as the villains he fights. Gotham is just glad he has a weird justice obsession instead of a weird clown or scarecrow kink. That’s more interesting than superman just being perfect at everything. I’ve been reading through “Alan Moore in the DC universe” and like, each of the superman stories are just so one note. He is good at everything, until a random mcguffin comes up and then another charcter comes along to pick it off the ground, and then Supes beats up whoever brought the evil space flower to him in the first place.
I’ll be intrigued to see how Gunn handles him too, but in a life time of reading comics the only superman stories I found interesting was elseworld stuff red son and kingdom come where they treat him as a concept more than a charcter.
Superman has had its good moments like the world made of cardboard scene. Nowadays I think saitama from one punch man makes for a better all powerful hero as the narrative really focuses more on the consiquences of that power on himself and the people around him rather than just having him save the day over and over.
I couldn’t care less about Superman.
Superman is such a single note character that the good things that came out of his existence can all be counted on one hand. I get that he was foundational to the concept of superheros, but it shows in this day and age.
I will say the monologue in justice league while he’s slapping around Darkside is immaculate though.
The best thing to come from Superman is Lex Luther. No villain can go toe to toe with Supes, except maybe Doomsday, but does he really count as a villain? Mindless kill machine. Anyway, Lex has to beat Superman who can punch him into mist, or roast him by looking at him too hard, or literally blow him to the moon. How do you write a villain to counter that? By making them cunning and lovable to the public so that if Superman does any of those things, the public turns against him. Superman’s weakness isn’t only kryptonite, he craves social acceptance, if he didn’t he would just punch his way into being in charge and dare anyone to stop him. Lex gets how razor thin that edge is and takes full advantage.
Lex can beat Superman, but not homelander
Homelander has the additional power of corpo-political PR
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Eh, Batman is exactly as single-note as Superman is.
Superman requires very good writing from someone who understands what to do with the character.
I’m pretty excited to see what Gunn does with him, tbh.
That’s a fair comparison. Superman is powerful enough to always make the right choice, even when it’s hard. The appeal comes from Superman discovering and making the right choice.
Batman makes the necessary choice (apart from killing), which isn’t always the right choice. The appeal comes from stories where Batman walks the line between criminal vigilante and hero who saves the day.
Yeah but batman is literally just as crazy as the villains he fights. Gotham is just glad he has a weird justice obsession instead of a weird clown or scarecrow kink. That’s more interesting than superman just being perfect at everything. I’ve been reading through “Alan Moore in the DC universe” and like, each of the superman stories are just so one note. He is good at everything, until a random mcguffin comes up and then another charcter comes along to pick it off the ground, and then Supes beats up whoever brought the evil space flower to him in the first place.
I’ll be intrigued to see how Gunn handles him too, but in a life time of reading comics the only superman stories I found interesting was elseworld stuff red son and kingdom come where they treat him as a concept more than a charcter.
Main universe or any of the movies? Meh.
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I disagree. Superman has as much depth as Batman. He’s just more morally pure, and people mistake “dark” for “complex”.
I’d argue Batman’s equally bad, it’s interesting that he’s not super by the definition everyone wide uses, but trauma an only carry you so far
There’s an entire song about this.
Superman has had its good moments like the world made of cardboard scene. Nowadays I think saitama from one punch man makes for a better all powerful hero as the narrative really focuses more on the consiquences of that power on himself and the people around him rather than just having him save the day over and over.
They wrote themselves into a corner making him that strong.