What if Clark Kent/Superman was a "Slacker"?

We've seen a lot of hypotheticals where Clark wasn't raised on Midwestern values. Usually, Clark takes a wrong turn (like being raised by a billionaire couple from Gotham, or by the Amish), but is "righted" in the end to become the Superman we know and love. Then again, in a few hypotheticals, he becomes a bad guy.

But what if Clark was raised in a post-modern environment that had no Midwestern values, and just became, well, a slacker? Would Clark become the Superman we all know and love? He could still be a news person, having a channel on YouTube, do some vlogging, do some gaming on his other channels like Twitch, use other social media outlets to make a living.

Even, with that aspect being the same in previous incarnations, could this version of Clark become a hero, if not the premier hero of the DCU?

The (really pretty mundane) Adventures of... Slackerman!!! Why would anyone want to spend money to read [I]that[/I]?

I feel like almost all heroes must be, to some degree, self-motivated. They don't become heroes, otherwise (unless you have a just-in-it-for-the-money setup). Likewise, I can't ever think of a hero as risk-averse. They just can't be those things and do what they do, with very rare exceptions.

[QUOTE=dswynne;5258983]We've seen a lot of hypotheticals where Clark wasn't raised on Midwestern values. Usually, Clark takes a wrong turn (like being raised by a billionaire couple from Gotham, or by the Amish), but is "righted" in the end to become the Superman we know and love. Then again, in a few hypotheticals, he becomes a bad guy.

But what if Clark was raised in a post-modern environment that had no Midwestern values, and just became, well, a slacker? Would Clark become the Superman we all know and love? He could still be a news person, having a channel on YouTube, do some vlogging, do some gaming on his other channels like Twitch, use other social media outlets to make a living.

Even, with that aspect being the same in previous incarnations, could this version of Clark become a hero, if not the premier hero of the DCU?[/QUOTE]
He’d be Major Bummer.

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[IMG]https://static2.cbrimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/covers/2016-01-14-supermanamericanalien.jpg[/IMG]

He'd be like seen like Shaquille O'Neal. Shaq had no physical peers when he played. In fact, since his prime ended in the early 00s, I don't think anyone ever came close to duplicating his exact impact. But nobody really has any impressions of Shaq as some sort of gritty guy. You still hear a lot of comments on how he coasted on his physical gifts, didn't bother to learn FT shooting, came into various seasons out of shape, etc. I think some of that is unfair, but some of it is spot on. Anyway, Shaq will always be considered an all-time great, but it's fair to wonder if he had worked harder he would've cemented himself as the GOAT.

Incidentally, I didn't mean to reference how Shaq adopted the Superman nickname and got so pissy about it when Dwight Howard adopted it, too, but maybe that should be Shaq's nickname, Slacker Superman.

I know a lot of fans like to What-if? with Superman, especially questioning why he's not better at martial arts. How many times have you heard a fan suggest that if Batman had Superman's powers, he'd be completely unstoppable because Batman is much more driven to be the best hero he can be, whereas Superman just does enough, and gets by on his powers alone (hence the Shaq analogy)? Even if you had this cynical view of Superman, you'd still have an uphill climb to argue that he hasn't accomplished a lot by a mortal person's standards.

[QUOTE=seismic-2;5259136][IMG]https://static2.cbrimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/covers/2016-01-14-supermanamericanalien.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE]

But,that's bruce wayne.

If Superman was a slacker he’d likely be a more powerful toned down version of Hancock.

Compared to the days when it was expected most stories would be finished in a single issue he basically is a slacker along with most modern heroes.


[QUOTE=DochaDocha;5260265]He'd be like seen like Shaquille O'Neal. Shaq had no physical peers when he played. In fact, since his prime ended in the early 00s, I don't think anyone ever came close to duplicating his exact impact. But nobody really has any impressions of Shaq as some sort of gritty guy. You still hear a lot of comments on how he coasted on his physical gifts, didn't bother to learn FT shooting, came into various seasons out of shape, etc. I think some of that is unfair, but some of it is spot on. Anyway, Shaq will always be considered an all-time great, but it's fair to wonder if he had worked harder he would've cemented himself as the GOAT.

Incidentally, I didn't mean to reference how Shaq adopted the Superman nickname and got so pissy about it when Dwight Howard adopted it, too, but maybe that should be Shaq's nickname, Slacker Superman.

I know a lot of fans like to What-if? with Superman, especially questioning why he's not better at martial arts. How many times have you heard a fan suggest that if Batman had Superman's powers, he'd be completely unstoppable because Batman is much more driven to be the best hero he can be, whereas Superman just does enough, and gets by on his powers alone (hence the Shaq analogy)? Even if you had this cynical view of Superman, you'd still have an uphill climb to argue that he hasn't accomplished a lot by a mortal person's standards.[/QUOTE]

The funny thing about is that much of the modern world has been about Batman shedding all responsibilities so that he doesn't even really run his company, doesn't have to take care of his kid, doesn't have to do much of anything besides be Batman and yet he works at best the same amount of hours he did in the golden but more than likely even less. By comparison Superman usually at least has his job at the Daily Planet ALONG with his work as Superman that he can't just put aside for hours at a time because it isn't the right time of day.

The whole idea that drive or commitment to something has to be born from sort of trauma is so childish it's hard to believe adults are the ones pushing it.

[QUOTE=manwhohaseverything;5260918]But,that's bruce wayne.[/QUOTE]

That's what [I]he[/I] said! Yeah, I get your point that it's actually Clark when he takes advantage of the situation by [I]pretending[/I] to be Bruce Wayne (who, he was told, never attended the parties on his own boat), but since the pretense wasn't really necessary I'm going to say it's Clark's being a slacker.

[QUOTE=seismic-2;5261087]That's what [I]he[/I] said! Yeah, I get your point that it's actually Clark when he takes advantage of the situation by [I]pretending[/I] to be Bruce Wayne (who, he was told, never attended the parties on his own boat), but since the pretense wasn't really necessary I'm going to say it's Clark's being a slacker.[/QUOTE]

i was just joking.Generally,I don't mind clark letting himself go sometimes.