Originally Posted by
Adekis
When Grant Morrison described the changes he made to the post-Flashpoint Superman from the pre-Flashpoint version, he said this:
I'm in a similar boat to SuperCrab above. I definitely found things to like about Rebirth Superman. Among them were the fact that unlike pre-Flashpoint Superman, who was often "that weird emo Superman that was around for a long time", Rebirth Superman still had a bit of kick-ass to him, a bit of a backbone. If as Lvenger seems to imply, he's not like that anymore, I will be very put out, as to me, even though that trait was basically the last thing remaining from the New 52 Superman, it improved so massively over "that weird emo Superman" that its persistence lessens the blow of all other retcons.
Get rid of the pseudo-Golden Age with the t-shirt and jeans from the backstory, get rid of the progressive social consciousness, get rid of the Clark with enough journalistic integrity to feel deeply uncomfortable emphasizing Superman in his news assignments, get rid of the Bronze Agey power levels, get rid of the Silver Age reference Fortress in Space! I'll be very upset, but it's okay! Ultimately it's all still okay, because he doesn't let angst keep him from using his powers anymore, because he still enjoys being Superman again, because he'll still get up again if you knock him down. Rebirth Superman wasn't perfect, but I definitely had a sense that he was better than pre-Flashpoint Superman in about a hundred ways, and it all came down to that. Even if the "Reborn" merge screwed over the post-Flashpoint Superman in every other way, that one trait is all it takes to make me basically okay with it.
But based on what I saw in DC Nation # 0, Clark certainly didn't seem "feisty". He seemed downright milquetoast, plus he was drawn to look about sixty years old. But hey, I thought, we've all got bad days. Maybe he's just having a bad day, Rao knows there were issues or arcs here and there in the New 52 where a writer messed up and had Clark moping or brooding, but those didn't define the character overall. Clark's comportment probably makes sense in the light of the plot, and it only seems intrinsic to his portrayal because I don't know the plot yet. And we know Bendis is using different artists, I know Clark won't always look like "your grandpa's Superman", using the phrase despite the fact that my actual grandpa's Superman was the young, progressive and action-packed Golden Age Man of Tomorrow. And I've got to hope that Bendis will keep the last seven years of "Superman-has-a-backbone" characterization. I keep telling myself that he won't go back to that thing that bothers me so much.
But I ultimately fear that in reality, Superman will just go back to being the milquetoast he could be at his worst pre-Flashpoint.
NOTE: I actually like Batman v. Superman, I just think that it does a better job executing hated tropes than it has a right to, and obviously most people disagree about the execution. Also, pre-Flashpoint Superman wasn't always awful, he just could be. Grounded's a good example.