Hey guys. I'd like to state my opinion on a topic in superhero fiction that is recurrent every now and then, which is why the title of this piece is a question. A question that has to do with one of the most popular superheroes who has numerous appearances in comic books, animated properties and live action adaptations. Personally, I think he is one of the most misunderstood superheroes as well.
People generally have a way of summarizing things they have seen at one point in time or the other whether they are interested in it or not. For instance, if someone mentions a book or a movie you have read or seen before, you'd be inclined to pass your opinions on it. So when the word 'Superman' pops up, folks tend to go all 'meh, he's boring'
Superman is referred to as a boring character because he seems very straightforward in the sense that his world isn't so deep or that intriguing or even relatable to the human society. It's basically this dude with powers who can easily save people from burning buildings or any kind of danger. What kind of evil would he even face? He has all these amazing abilities that makes life and being a superhero very easy for him and all. That's just pretty much how some people see Superman which links the two major things I'm focusing on this post (boring and overpowered). This take shows how much Superman is misunderstood.
Superman represents the best in us. He inspires us to be a force for good anywhere we find ourselves. His story is one of hope. He is not boring to me because he has shown countless times that his superpowers is not why he is a good guy. Sure, it's always cool to see him use those abilities, and that's when the whole gist about him being overpowered comes up. But in the context of fiction, there is a reasonable fact to that. It's not like he was born on Earth in the first place. Lol it seems people tend to forget he's an alien, maybe because he always looks so good as a human. But he is actually an alien, born on Krypton (you know the rest of the story), could have become anything but intentionally chose to become a journalist, to help bring out the truth no matter what. He is basically a god with those abilities but he hangs out with regular folks in the streets of Metropolis, helping out in anyway he can, as Clark Kent and Superman. Tom Taylor, a comic book writer clearly stated this in a tweet about Superman:
Superman is referred to as a boring character because he seems very straightforward in the sense that his world isn't so deep or that intriguing or even relatable to the human society. It's basically this dude with powers who can easily save people from burning buildings or any kind of danger. What kind of evil would he even face? He has all these amazing abilities that makes life and being a superhero very easy for him and all. That's just pretty much how some people see Superman which links the two major things I'm focusing on this post (boring and overpowered). This take shows how much Superman is misunderstood.
Superman represents the best in us. He inspires us to be a force for good anywhere we find ourselves. His story is one of hope. He is not boring to me because he has shown countless times that his superpowers is not why he is a good guy. Sure, it's always cool to see him use those abilities, and that's when the whole gist about him being overpowered comes up. But in the context of fiction, there is a reasonable fact to that. It's not like he was born on Earth in the first place. Lol it seems people tend to forget he's an alien, maybe because he always looks so good as a human. But he is actually an alien, born on Krypton (you know the rest of the story), could have become anything but intentionally chose to become a journalist, to help bring out the truth no matter what. He is basically a god with those abilities but he hangs out with regular folks in the streets of Metropolis, helping out in anyway he can, as Clark Kent and Superman. Tom Taylor, a comic book writer clearly stated this in a tweet about Superman:
On the same point, Batman once said this about Superman:
It's a remarkable dichotomy. In many ways, Clark is the most human of us all. Then, he shoots fire from the skies, and it is difficult not to think of him as a god. And how fortunate we all are that it does not occur to him.Another point about "Superman being overpowered" is that there is always a villain that can match his strength and outwit him and there are issues he can handle easily, just like every other character (Batman, Flash, Wonder Woman etc). Villains like Braniac, Mongul, Zod, Metallo, Doomsday always give Superman a tough time not to mention his arch nemesis, Lex Luthor. I personally like the idea of Lex as his arch nemesis as opposed to villains like Braniac or Zod. Lex Luthor is the opposite of what Superman stands for, representing the dark and selfish shadow of the human society. It's basically the most powerful man in the world versus the most intelligent man in the world.
A balance to Superman being boring and overpowered is how his powers can be dampened with the use of Kryptonite and the Red Sun. Several Superman fans dislike this 'weakness', because it feels so weird to see Kal demonstrate such incredible abilities like heat vision, freeze breath, super speed this second and then in the next second, he's down on the floor, dying just because he got exposed to a green rock or the radiation from a red sun. I think this 'weakness' is used to show that Superman is not just about his superpowers. It's one of the things I loved about one of DC's animated movies (Justice League Dark: Apokolips War) - Superman had no powers due to the Kryptonite substance that had been infused to his skin (a present from Darkseid) but he still amassed the resources available to him and led other heroes to save the world from the control of the evil Apokoliptian overlord.
Superman is inherently good, he wants to help any way he can. I still laugh anytime I remember how he gave out his lunch to one of the workers at the Daily Planet on his first day. Little details like that demonstrates the very nature of Superman. I'll also like to add this to the idea of comic book fans saying "Superman is useless without his powers. He can't even fight like Batman or Wonder Woman." Lol these same fans forget that Superman is a friend to Batman and Wonder Woman (two highly skilled martial artists) in the context of fiction. Do you really think he wouldn't have learnt some martial arts skills from them? Talkless of other superheroes in the DC universe. Plus he's a founding member of the Justice League. And superheroes training/learning how to fight is major in groups like that. So yeah, Superman can fight (martial arts wise) and let me just add a strikethrough to this meh take (
Yeah, I'm done. There are so many opinions about Superman that show how much he is misunderstood. Which is kinda funny because he has a lot of adaptions on-screen not to mention the numerous comic books and animated properties he has featured in. My favorite Superman movie is Man of Steel, directed by Zack Snyder. Henry Cavill was absolutely incredible in his portrayal of Superman and I hope he comes back to play the character again beyond the Snyder Cut. If you're into comic books and you love Superman, you should check out Superman: Unchained (written by Scott Snyder and illustrated by Jim Lee and Scott Williams). It happens to be my favorite Superman comic book. Do enjoy reading and watching stories from the Man of Tomorrow.
The featured image for this post is a piece of art by Jorge Jimenez
P.S: I prefer Man of Tomorrow to Man of Steel 😊
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