Originally Posted by
Last Son
My definitive Superman goes something like this:
Traditional no-frills Krypton backstory, none of the extra Byrne-era stuff(except for maybe including the Eradicator in some form). The Phantom Zone exists and is full of Kryptonian convicts, including Zod, Non, Ursa, Jax-Ur, Faora, and Nam-Ek. Brainiac shrink and steals Kandor and Argo City survives the destruction of Krypton somehow(could be a dome or a force field, or even transforming it into a space ark, which lifts off from Krypton just as it explodes), with Kara Zor-El later being born and sent to Earth as a teen and becoming Supergirl. The Superman symbol originates as the family crest of the House of El and later inspires people(particularly Lois) to name Clark "Superman" when they mistake it for an S.
Clark grows up on a farm in Smallville, raised by Jonathan and Martha Kent, doesn't become a superhero until adulthood but maybe has a few superheroics under his belt before he puts on the suit. He has some superhuman ability from the moment he lands on Earth but doesn't fly or have heat vision until he's much older. His friends are Pete Ross and Lana Lang(who is also his girlfriend for a time). His main high school rival is Brad Wilson(from the Donner movies) who also dates Lana for a time. He learns of his Kryptonian heritage through the ship or memory crystal or some other Kryptonian device with holographic recordings. He then uses the ship or a device from the ship to build/help build the Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic.
Clark adopts a disguise in his civilian identity that includes glasses and altered mannerisms(though this isn't to say that Clark is a disguise and being Clark Kent isn't part of who he really is) when he goes to Metropolis to become a reporter at the Daily Planet, where he works under Editor Perry White and his co-workers are Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Ron Troupe, and Steve Lombard.
His first major conflict as Superman is with his arch nemesis, Lex Luthor, who in my definitive version is purely a scientist/wanted criminal. He creates a cloning/duplicating device and uses it on Superman to create Bizarro and the first person to discover kryptonite and its effects on Superman. Later, criminal John Corben is in a wreck and Professor Vale discovers his body and uses him to create Metallo, powering him with kryptonite, maybe the same piece that Lex previously discovered and lost. This Metallo is built with an advanced metal alloy which is very difficult for Superman to damage(I never liked Superman being able to effortlessly break Metallo's arm once he managed to get a hold of him). Parasite is Raymond Jensen, a thief posing as a janitor at STAR Labs who attempts to steal a canister containing a substance Superman had collected while traveling in deep space and intends to sell it to a rival company but becomes exposed to it and becomes an energy-absorbing mutant who also takes on some of the abilities and characteristics of his prey, so when he attacks Superman, he has Superman's powers, not just the super strength.
I would also include some post crisis elements, like Vril Dox possessing Milton Fine, but he would be known as Brainiac 2, while the android is the original Brainiac. I've also thought of having two Lex's, with Lex Sr. as the businessman and Lex Jr. as the more traditional mad scientist version(Batman v Superman gave me the idea). This way, you could have pretty much all of the pre-crisis Lex stories and all the post crisis stories all in the same continuity.