Things you'd like to see restored to canon...

[superduperman]

What elements of Superman lore would you like seen restored to Superman's history and continuity? My list in no particular order:

Powers from day one on Earth: Not necessarily all of them but at least some degree of strength and invulnerability. Something like the New 52 origin would be about perfect.

The removal of the trunks being a recent thing: Like only within the last year or so. I know that the WW Annual showed him sans trunks in their first meeting but I'm hoping that's just an artistic error on their part due to continuity confusion.

Conner: This one's a no brainer and it looks like we'll be getting it! Not sure what his role will be post-Jon though.

The Kents still alive: This one looks like it's not happening but I'd love for them to know Jon. Superman's been rebooted enough times it shouldn't be too hard to bring them back.

Power Girl: I have no idea how this will work. Or if she even should be connected to Superman. I know there is a legacy Power Girl running around with the Titans but I'd love to see Karen restored to continuity somehow.

Pete Ross being in on Clark's secret: Far as I know, he's never even shown up post-Rebirth.

I'm indifferent to the Legion but it looks like we'll be getting them back too. Which means we may be getting his history as Superboy back as well.

What do you want to see?

[FishyZombie]

I may be in the minority, but I wish Lex's former presidency was canon. Since Clark's been Superman for over a decade, and especially Lex was impeached before finishing his first term, they could have easily squeezed that in, but idk, maybe they thought it would drive up some Trump comparisons they probably aren't interested in tackling.

[Adekis]

I'm firmly of the opinion that "canon" is too fleeting and ephemeral to be worth dwelling on, not to mention that there's literally no reason to conflate canonicity with continuity.

That said, I will always want the pseudo-Golden Age t-shirt and jeans era to be there for the first six months to a year of Superman's career, as a way to read any Golden Age story into the character's history by putting it during that period. That's the really big one.

I also think Lar Gand should always be in Kal's childhood, but that's not nearly so big of a deal.

[Jon Clark]

The Kent General Store: Maybe as a way of combatting the "big dumb farmboy" idea, they could restore that the Kent farm was gone during Clark's childhood and Jonathan had moved the family to town to run a store like in Pre-Crisis Earth-One. If nothing else it would give them some differentiation from every live action version since 1978.

Kara as Superman's "Secret Emergency Weapon": Establish that prior to her public debut Kara spent time training and acting in secret. I'm not suggesting re-introducing the Linda Lee, orphanage part so I'd rather they set her up with the Danvers earlier or give her somewhere else to live (the Fortress, Paradise Island, a private boarding school paid for by Bruce). But I think a period of time where Clark and Kara were working closely together in secret might be a nice way to build up a backstory that keeps them bonded (as opposed to her being independent from day one like the new 52 or dropped off with the Danvers and "forgotten" as implied the first season of the TV show).

Friends from Smallville not named Lana: Pre-crisis we had a few people besides Lana and Pete that popped up in modern Metropolis from Clark's childhood. The Master Jailer had been a dorky classmate with a crush on Lana. There was another kid who had temporarily gained mental powers in a Superboy story then later showed up as an adult in a back-up story. Though not technically from Smallville there was also the Yellow Peri who had been a minor villainess who came back in a few stories as an adult creating havoc Heck even Kenny/Conduit gave us a connection to Clark having a life Pre-Planet and Pre-JLA.

Dick Grayson having a relationship with both Clark and Jim Olsen: Pre-Crisis had played up Jimmy as Superman's counterpart to Robin when they needed to have a adult-vs-"kid" dynamic. Jimmy was even one of the few people who knew that Bruce was Batman (and yet still unaware who Superman was). So it'd be nice if they could re-establish Dick Grayson (or at least his Robin) having shared adventures alongside Jimmy and the World's Finest team. While they were at it they could also restore Superman as the hero second to Batman that most influenced Dick's career. Even if Bruce remains less a pal to Superman during their history than he was Pre-Crisis, you could establish that Dick Grayson wasn't as aloof from day one and saw Superman as a sort of uncle he could turn to on superhero things when he and Batman weren't seeing eye-to-eye.

[Rod G]

I may be in the minority, but I wish Lex's former presidency was canon. Since Clark's been Superman for over a decade, and especially Lex was impeached before finishing his first term, they could have easily squeezed that in, but idk, maybe they thought it would drive up some Trump comparisons they probably aren't interested in tackling.

Forget it.

I for one am glad that was erased Post-Flashpoint.

[Powerboy]

I know I'm hugely in the minority here but I've always felt it is the job of later writers and stories to maintain continuity with what has already been established. I'm not talking about every little detail of every story but the big things.

I would like to see DC do what Marvel did until recently: the entire history happened. Maybe it happened more recently and we have to squint our brains a lot and imagine there were differences because something from 1961 now happened in 2008. Or just don't update and explain it. Just say it happened. Let's say I never read Iron-Man before but I read the latest issue and want to know the history. So I go back and read the first appearance. Okay maybe Vietnam is now Iraq but the story still basically happened. The stories all happened. Maybe the Cold War with Russia is now Hydra. Or maybe let's just not explain it. It's Iron-Man's history and it happened.

What I hate with DC is I can't do that. The Nu Superman was a good attempt to recreate the Golden Age Superman. In a way, what I'd prefer to see restored is whatever was the original continuity. Albeit you can explain that some things you thought you saw wasn't what really happened. Let's face it. Over at Marvel, the greatest retcon in history was Captain America being frozen and reawakening later- and it just got better and better the further from his time the reawakening occurred.

But just in general:

Superman being the first super hero. Whether this is done by having him debut in 1938 or by throwing out all the World War II stuff and no super beings show up until Superman debuts.

To maintain continuity, the Kents should die before he becomes Superman BUT this is comic books. They can always be brought back.

The Kents should be running the General store. In fact, holy mundania, Batman. There could be a story about how they are being put out of business by the rise of the huge National companies like Wal-Mart.

Superman having been Superboy is not the original continuity, of course. Though there are rich stories there. To this day, when someone says, "Superboy", it means, "The adventures of Superman when he was a boy" then reality sinks in and I realize they are talking about Kon-El or someone.

At any rate, I'm just ranting as I realize this stuff isn't likely to happen.

[Powerboy]

I'm firmly of the opinion that "canon" is too fleeting and ephemeral to be worth dwelling on, not to mention that there's literally no reason to conflate canonicity with continuity.

That said, I will always want the pseudo-Golden Age t-shirt and jeans era to be there for the first six months to a year of Superman's career, as a way to read any Golden Age story into the character's history by putting it during that period. That's the really big one.

I also think Lar Gand should always be in Kal's childhood, but that's not nearly so big of a deal.

This is more or less what I meant. I could read any early Golden Age story and feel like it happened in current continuity.

In fact, I think the Nu stuff rushed it by introducing too much later Superman stuff from the Silver Age too soon and without enough explanation for newer readers or rusty ones.

[JBatmanFan05]

The removal of the trunks being a recent thing: Like only within the last year or so. I agree.

President Lex happened: I didn't know it was suggested as not having happened. It will always happen in my canon.

A better origin: I'm not cool with what we have on Superman's origin. The very subpar and poor Secret Origin it seems being what fans should mostly turn to, DC suggests. I want a more Bronze Age style origin restored (that still fuses some things from prior and later origins). I myself would pull a lot from 1973's Amazing World of Superman. Get some superman top talent, try to churn out a simple classic feeling origin. I hate origin retellings a lot too, but you have to do them when the origin situation is so broken.

[superduperman]

I know I'm hugely in the minority here but I've always felt it is the job of later writers and stories to maintain continuity with what has already been established. I'm not talking about every little detail of every story but the big things.

I would like to see DC do what Marvel did until recently: the entire history happened. Maybe it happened more recently and we have to squint our brains a lot and imagine there were differences because something from 1961 now happened in 2008. Or just don't update and explain it. Just say it happened. Let's say I never read Iron-Man before but I read the latest issue and want to know the history. So I go back and read the first appearance. Okay maybe Vietnam is now Iraq but the story still basically happened. The stories all happened. Maybe the Cold War with Russia is now Hydra. Or maybe let's just not explain it. It's Iron-Man's history and it happened.

What I hate with DC is I can't do that. The Nu Superman was a good attempt to recreate the Golden Age Superman. In a way, what I'd prefer to see restored is whatever was the original continuity. Albeit you can explain that some things you thought you saw wasn't what really happened. Let's face it. Over at Marvel, the greatest retcon in history was Captain America being frozen and reawakening later- and it just got better and better the further from his time the reawakening occurred.

But just in general:

Superman being the first super hero. Whether this is done by having him debut in 1938 or by throwing out all the World War II stuff and no super beings show up until Superman debuts.

To maintain continuity, the Kents should die before he becomes Superman BUT this is comic books. They can always be brought back.

The Kents should be running the General store. In fact, holy mundania, Batman. There could be a story about how they are being put out of business by the rise of the huge National companies like Wal-Mart.

Superman having been Superboy is not the original continuity, of course. Though there are rich stories there. To this day, when someone says, "Superboy", it means, "The adventures of Superman when he was a boy" then reality sinks in and I realize they are talking about Kon-El or someone.

At any rate, I'm just ranting as I realize this stuff isn't likely to happen.

I actually thought of a way to do this! Superman accidentally gets sent back to 1938 with a severely reduced power level. He stops a crime in front of witnesses but nobody gets a picture of him. So when newspaper reporters show up, the witnesses give a description to a sketch artist and the drawing that comes out looks like the GA Superman. This story goes around the world along with the drawing. This inspires other people with super-powers to come forward and take up the "costumed hero" mantle. Superman stays in the past long enough for his powers to fully return until someone like Dr Fate can return him to his own time.

[Powerboy]

I actually thought of a way to do this! Superman accidentally gets sent back to 1938 with a severely reduced power level. He stops a crime in front of witnesses but nobody gets a picture of him. So when newspaper reporters show up, the witnesses give a description to a sketch artist and the drawing that comes out looks like the GA Superman. This story goes around the world along with the drawing. This inspires other people with super-powers to come forward and take up the "costumed hero" mantle. Superman stays in the past long enough for his powers to fully return until someone like Dr Fate can return him to his own time.

That could work on many levels. Maybe Superman was the first superhero because anybody before him with powers didn't come out of hiding. So when he goes back in time, he becomes the first superhero but he always was because it was only his inspiration in the past that changed things and caused the World War II heroes to reveal themselves.

I suppose that really as the Silver Age went on, there were a number of immortal characters who were around before Superman and he was just the first publicly known superhero. So his truly being the first was retconned away long ago.

Sometimes I find it funny when a superhero's origin is retconned to be more recent and yet culturalisms that are a result of that hero are portrayed as existing before he did. An example is that Iron Maiden based the song "Iron Man" partly on the character Iron-Man. But now, since Iron-Man in current continuity started in the 21st century, it's portrayed as if Tony Stark based his code name on the song. Another even more blatant example is that I would swear that, in "Smallville", someone said something along the lines of "You're a real Brainiac" before Braniac was introduced because "Brainiac" for a smart person is now part of our cultural and linguistic terminology but it only exists because of Superman comics.

[Sacred Knight]

I like the vague history set up but I'd have it based on Morrison's template, or an entirely new one. Just not Secret Origin. Literally the worst origin story for the character ever told and that has to be the one that sticks because the CCO wrote it.

[Adekis]

This is more or less what I meant. I could read any early Golden Age story and feel like it happened in current continuity.

In fact, I think the Nu stuff rushed it by introducing too much later Superman stuff from the Silver Age too soon and without enough explanation for newer readers or rusty ones.

I definitely agree. I could read the whole Golden Age into Superman's history, but it all happened in the six months between Action # 0 and # 1? Seems too rushed. Plus, they were using the Golden Ageyness of the t-shirt Superman as a selling point for Action and it was almost entirely gone within three issues. I could also read the Silver and Bronze age stuff into Superman's history, and it worked decently well, give and take some weird things about Superman's age that I didn't mind much if at all. I think they could still maintain that sort of thing with regard to Reborn, if they were willing to try. Morrison's Action is my favorite nineteen issues of Superman, but it's not really a totally complete version of the character, more like a blueprint or template that DC didn't devote enough attention to filling in.

[superduperman]

I like the vague history set up but I'd have it based on Morrison's template, or an entirely new one. Just not Secret Origin. Literally the worst origin story for the character ever told and that has to be the one that sticks because the CCO wrote it.

This is the equivalent of Joe Quesada getting rid of the Spider-marriage just because he personally didn't like it. The actual fans reading the comic and paying his bills be damned. Yesterday I was looking at the new Superman trade that collects his new history and I just kept thinking to myself, "God, what a mess!" I go back and look at the New 52 origin or the new Earth One Superman and the more simplistic version and it's just so much more appealing to me. I think a lot of this stems from the whole "this counts, but this doesn't" mentality. Marvel is kind of bad about that too but they lampshade over it a lot better than DC does. Yes, Iron Man's origin has been outright changed but everyone accepts that's a necessity to maintain the passage of time issues. When a comic that came out last year isn't canon, there's something wrong.

[TruthAndJustice]

I actually thought of a way to do this! Superman accidentally gets sent back to 1938 with a severely reduced power level. He stops a crime in front of witnesses but nobody gets a picture of him. So when newspaper reporters show up, the witnesses give a description to a sketch artist and the drawing that comes out looks like the GA Superman. This story goes around the world along with the drawing. This inspires other people with super-powers to come forward and take up the "costumed hero" mantle. Superman stays in the past long enough for his powers to fully return until someone like Dr Fate can return him to his own time.

Heh. I thought of something like that years ago too. Great minds think alike. That was what I wanted from the "Time and Time Again" story so many years ago. Alas...

[TruthAndJustice]

I don't think it would be very hard to make most Superman stories between 1986 and 1992 firmly canonical if a few details are changed here and there. Example: you can throw out the whole Pocket Universe story and Superman would've gone into exile anyway based in part over his belief that he was responsible for the deaths of thousands of disembodied brains-in-jars in the "Hfuhruhurr" story from Adventures of Superman Annual #1 (1987).

Tweak some details regarding the origins of Matrix-Supergirl and she still "fits" easily. By extension, so does Linda Danvers.

And really, the Kents were in so many stories for so long that I'd like it firmly established that they didn't die early, they DID know Lois (and Jon), but Pa Kent died as he did in the Johns/Frank "Brainiac" story and Ma died soon after, we just didn't see it.

And some very, very abbreviated version of the "New Krypton" story took place after the "Brainiac" story. (Include a story about how Zor-El's death later led to his return as the second Cyborg Sueprman.)

And I still want "Last Son" to be canonical -- just place it earlier in the lives of Clark and Lois, like soon after their marriage. No important details to change.

And Ron Troupe and Lucy Lane are still married. And Lana Lang and Pete Ross are still divorced.