Superman's Fundamentals: A Discussion

[The Red Monk]

Man, it's been such a long time that I'm surprised my account is still functioning...

Anyway, in light of the recent announcement regarding Superman's reunion with his scarlet under, er, overpants and the resulting debate about them, I started wondering - just how many of Superman's character and lore "fundamentals" are a must for fans? What aspects are not so important? What aspects with render the character unrecognizable with their absence? So, I compiled a poll out of curiosity how CBR forum members think. I understand that some options may seem kind of reaching but I honestly struggled to think of more "fundamentals" beyond around 4 to 5. If you can think of more, be sure to post them and your thoughts!

[Dolores - The Worst Poster Ever]

None of the above.

[The Red Monk]

None of the above.

Sweet. Maybe elaborate a bit more? I was hoping to get a discussion and some insights going.

[GreatKungLao]

He has to be an altruist first of all.

Costume design is unimportant as long as it is red and blue with red cape.

Lois Lane is the end game. Always.

Daily Planet and co.

Kents can be both alive or dead as long as they raised Clark into a person we know.

Metropolis is a must.

What I definitely don't care about is him being represented as an American hero only or a character who represents values not of humanity as a whole, but of a single country. I prefer him as a hero of the world/universe. I don't like the idea of him looking at some humans with prejudice just because they are not Americans, we are a single species at the end of the day.

[Dolores - The Worst Poster Ever]

Sweet. Maybe elaborate a bit more? I was hoping to get a discussion and some insights going.

Doomed Planet. Desperate Scientists. Kindly Couple.

Superman.

That's the closest I've seen of the fundamentals of Superman summed up in a comic.

The only fundamentals beyond alteration are that Superman's from a distant planet that no longer exists, and upon arriving on Earth he begins to develop superpowers and is raised by Earthlings. Everything else is open to experimentation.

[Kuwagaton]

- Clark cannot be a doctor. That type of job, where his commitment to being there can directly mean life or death, doesn't work. It also grounds him to one practice, where his special abilities would go to waste and/or show odd favoritism. He doesn't exactly have to be a reporter, but he also doesn't have to be Superman. You can change him to Bellbottom Benjamin as his superhero name, right?

- Kryptonians are very special beings, so they need extreme limits. The Phantom Zone can have plenty of inhabitants, but they can hardly get out of that partially nullified existence. Kandor can have plenty of compromised inhabitants without physical compromise, except they can't really leave the bottle. Superman was once the last son of Krypton in a literal sense, he has to at least keep the technical sense going.

- taking Superman out of Metropolis serves no purpose. You can always just create other supporting characters if you don't like the current ones, but Metropolis is his home. And if moved, it should be another fictional city instead of say, Denver, for the sake of creative leg room.

- the secret identity is one of the core concepts of the character. Being Superman all the time removes him from mankind and eliminates the connection to Jerry Siegel.

[Agniwolf]

from all of those the idean of secret identity as a must is the one i think is the most overrated, superman can work without it, that is as long as there is any storyteller that really want to make it happen in a beliavable way

superman could be either a scientist or a businessman instead of reporter, he does not have that vital necessity of being reporter in this era as it was before the start of the information age, but he can still be a reporter, but that is more of a personal choice than a need to know what happens around the world

superwonder for life, but i still think that in a logical setting he should go for kara, they are the last of their species and that is something writers and fans are dismissing because "romance" and "shipping"

i liked the trunkless high collar nanotech armor, fight me

[Powerboy]

Okay, I revised my opinion and finally voted based on what I think has to be there. In every case, I'm okay with temporary changes, even ones that last a couple of years. But I think things have to eventually come home.

Although a restart can involve Superman "playing the field" and although that can be dragged out for quite a while, I think Lois Lane is the endgame. It is such a strong expectation that anything else makes him look superficial. This is the woman he loves.

I would have gone with "Superman's workplace is the Planet and he is a journalist. He cannot, say, be a doctor instead" but it's more a partially agree/ partially disagree. I think he needs to be a journalist in some form. Could be a reporter, a newspaper writer, a novelist, a television reporter. In this day and age with newspapers mostly hanging on by a thread, a blog could be his venue. But a reporter in some form. I don't think it absolutely has to be the Daily Planet.

I think things like New Krypton should be temporary but I haven't really followed that. So as long as Kryptonians aren't constantly showing up is what I'm saying.

I really think Superman's power set is locked in at this point. I don't have any problem with him developing temporary powers but he's already got a lot of powers. I think they could probably keep the Super Breath but lose the specific Super Cold Breath and only the most extreme fans would notice or care. But the early days when he can suddenly alter his appearance or where they can just make up a power and pretend he always had it are long gone. Again, I totally get temporary shakeups to boost sales and I'm fine with that. I'm talking about permanent stuff.

I think that, indeed, Metropolis is his home. But that's just a metaphor for a big city. If he takes an assignment in Australia, that's fine. Have him live there for a couple of years.

I think the secret identity is locked in. Rather than "Is he Superman or is he Clark?" "Is he Kryptonian or human psychologically?" the answer is yes. He is Superman and Clark, he considers both heritages equally important. But I think he loses too much by everyone knowing Clark is Superman or by living 24/ 7 as Superman.

I do not think Lex Luthor has to stay forever Superman's main opponent. In fact, he's so overused that I got sick of it, especially Post-Crisis. It was okay in the Silver Age days of "Woo ha ha. Here's my latest scheme that will inevitably fail". But in the Post-Crisis era when he was a fairly realistic and despicable individual who murdered his own parents and pulled scheme after scheme and got away with it, it was just annoying and tiresome. Even temporary redemptions just feel fake given his history.

I think Lois, Jimmy and Perry should be his main supporting cast. Sidelining them is fine as a temporary measure.