This is just my opinion, obviously, but whenever I read Superman: Secret Origin, I feel that Geoff Johns tries to connect to the everyman aspect of Superman and rather than depict him as a mythical and legendary hero, he instead writes him as just a guy trying to do the right thing. First, let's remember what an everyman is: a character that gets put into extraordinary circumstances and is meant to represent the audience. Secret Origin is my favorite origin story for Superman, and one of the big factors for that is that it humanizes Superman and makes him more likable to the average reader.
Superman is a highly versatile character and can be put into several roles; such as champion of social justice, spacefaring adventurer or even reluctant messiah, but it takes a genuinely skilled writer to make those stories as effective and amazing as possible; after all, creativity is an art, not a science. Not every story out there needs to characterize Superman as an everyman, and some stories can only work if they portray Superman as epic and larger-than-life as possible, like All-Star Superman; but in the right hands, Superman can work as an everyman, the same way Spider-Man does over at Marvel. This is an interesting approach that DC should at least consider for Superman in future stories.
Do you think Superman can benefit from an everyman approach? Do you know any other stories that portray Superman as an everyman? I'd like to read your opinions below.
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