Why didn't Superman's vegetarianism stick?

[marhawkman]

I think the issue was that it made Superman take somewhat of a political stance and it made it seem like those who weren't vegetarians or vegans were somehow in the wrong.

May seem silly but that was the issue I remember at the time.

Yeah, a lot of people DO take that absurd stance. "Fur is murder, and so are hamburgers!" It's ridiculous and stupid.

[Jon Clark]

This isn't meant as a criticism of the thread, but what does it really matter whether Superman eats meat or not?

Does anyone actually remember what Superman ate last on panel? Or when?

I'd figure the reason it fell by the wayside was basically because the use of it would be almost nil. The subject of Superman's diet just doesn't play enough of a role in most stories for writers to keep track of it or to make a point of showing it even if they favored his being a vegan. It is ultimately the type of trivia that would only come up on the page if a writer made an effort to put it there and I suspect most creators don't care enough one way or the other to work it into a story.

[Alan2099]

It's a suspension of disbelief thing for me.

I can by that he's a human looking alien that can fly and shoot lasers out of his eyes but expecting me to believe he's a good old fashion down home country boy at heart and that doesn't eat bacon and eggs or some nice sausage, that's just going too far.

[Jim Kelly]

It’s not something I ever thought about, but Birthright was never recognized in the main continuity and the 1990 continuity was never completely discarded before Flashpoint (and now it’s back), so it would have confused readers to insist Clark never ate meat when there were many past stories showing him do just that. Not that it’s above DC to confuse readers about long established Superman dogma.

Now let me go back to eating my rocks.

[marhawkman]

This isn't meant as a criticism of the thread, but what does it really matter whether Superman eats meat or not?

Does anyone actually remember what Superman ate last on panel? Or when?

I'd figure the reason it fell by the wayside was basically because the use of it would be almost nil. The subject of Superman's diet just doesn't play enough of a role in most stories for writers to keep track of it or to make a point of showing it even if they favored his being a vegan. It is ultimately the type of trivia that would only come up on the page if a writer made an effort to put it there and I suspect most creators don't care enough one way or the other to work it into a story.

This is why it comes across as political soapboxing. It's utterly irrelevant in most stories.

[Batgrayson]

Maybe because most people eat meat, vegetables, and other things, so it would be normal for Superman to eat all kind of food, too.

[nonsense man]

He grew up on a farm I think they just eat more than vegetables there

[Lightning Rider]

I thought it was a cool and valid take (especially since I loved that "soul vision" detail), but to insist upon it would probably alienate more readers than create any interesting narrative potential. In my head cannon he doesn't normally eat and isn't opposed to eating meat occasionally but holds himself to a higher standard and realizes that he's outside of that cycle of life most humans are a part of.

[Jim Kelly]

Yeah, when I was a little kid, long before Birthright was even a gleam in Mark Waid’s eye, I used to spend long hours puzzling over Superman’s no kill policy. It seemed he didn’t hold with killing any living creature and I wondered how far he took that. Did he avoid killing spiders and flies? What if he stepped on a worm? Yet with his amazing powers, it seemed like he could pull it off, if he was sworn to do so.

Given that I thought about this on my lonesome, I’m sure other kids did, too. So it’s not like Waid was introducing a completely new idea.