How would YOU have rebooted Superman in 2011?

[bat39]

Inspired by the thread about the 1986 reboot of course.

I'll go first:

First of, I would make sure that Superman had been around unequivocally longer than the New 52 five-year timeline. I'd have him debut about seven or eight years ago.

I would mostly have pretty much stuck to what Morrison did with his run in terms of establishing the new backstory. I would have perhaps leaned more heavily into the idea that Vyndyktv had tampered with Superman's history, orchestrating the deaths of the Kents. I'd actually have it strongly implied, if not revealed, that Vyndyktv had subtly changed things such that Lois and Clark didn't get involved.

I'd try keep the 'broad strokes' of Silver Age, Bronze Age and Post-COIE stories intact - including Doomsday, and the Death and Return. In the present-day, Superman would wear a suit akin to either of the two Rebirth suits, but I'd reveal that he wore the classic suit, trunks and all, for a major chunk of his career, and it would show up in flashbacks.

Superman would have 'outgrown' his early vigilante self, and I'd have him be a lot closer to Post-COIE Superman personality-wise, but he would still be a tough customer. He's one of the few heroes who has good relations with the authorities and there is some degree of mutual respect, but it'll be made clear that he answers to no one. I'd lean more heavily into the idea of Superman being the unofficial leader of the superhero community, being the first real superhero in this particular timeline. He has a friendly equation with Batman, despite some initial friction with the Dark Knight early in his career.

I would keep the angle of Lois Lane having become a TV reporter and news anchor for WGBS, with Clark now being the Daily Planet's top reporter. The way I'd play it is that Lois tends to focus more on Superman and stuff pertaining to the superhero side of things, while Clark focuses more on stories concerning the common man and 'ordinary' stuff like crime, corruption and politics. In this way, they are both equals in different domains. Clark and Lois would be close friends, and they may have dated briefly in the past but they don't really have a relationship as such. Superman and Lois sorta 'dated' years ago, but now their equation is more 'professional'. Clark is aware that in another timeline, he and Lois get together and he sometimes wonders about pursuing that relationship. I would reveal that Superman and Wonder Woman were briefly involved during their early Justice League days.

Lex Luthor in the past ran LexCorp and pretty much was the corrupt corporate mogul of the Post-COIE era. He later became a public villain, green armored suit and all. In the present-day, Luthor has been parolled and is trying to give the impression of having reformed, with Clark unsure of whether that's true or not.

And that's pretty much the basics of my approach.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

First off, I would have fired Eddie Berganza

Next, I would allow Grant Morrison to do his own thing, but made his run a special mini-series that came out bimonthly or more so that Rags Morales was able to do the art for the whole run, rather than sporadically and with various levels of quality.

Then, I would have Morrison sit down with George Perez (on the Superman monthly) and Greg Pak (on the Action Comics) and have them hash out the particulars of Superman's new history so that everyone is on the same page, but with the general mandate that, like Batman & Green Lantern, the broad strokes of all his prior history (Pre & Post-Crisis) is relatively intact (minus some $#!++* stories nobody liked anyways).

After the T-shirt and jeans era, establish that he adopted the classic suit before adopting his modern suit. However, this time, toss the Jim Lee-designed in the garbage can and use the Reborn suit instead.

[Miles To Go]

First, no romance with Wonder Woman. Build to Lois being "the one" ultimately, and go the Smallville route of making Lana the long-term love interest in the meantime, and possibly involve him in a triangle with her eventual endgame Pete Ross. To spice up the love life further, eventually bring in Lori Lemeries by giving Clark more of an undersea connection to Atlantis and Arthur Curry than Bruce Wayne. I'd even make Arthur part of a new "trinity" that still consists of Clark and Diana, just not with Bruce. Batman can be a mountain range that Clark sees in the distance, but can't get close to, Bruce is an enigma for a time, and is uneasy playing with others. Clark, Arthur and Diana have to work at getting him to earn their trust more.

I'd make Lex aware Clark and Superman are the same person fairly early on, and like all Machiavellian plotters, uses this knowledge at times where it's convenient to his purposes and it's the true trump card he uses to keep Clark's mits off of him wherever he starts crossing lines. Whenever Clark tries to defy Lex, Lex doesn't simply attempt to out him, but just sort of strings things along to meddle with his relationships, such as firing his friends, or making it appear Clark snitched up the Daily Planet's exposes on him to his international criminal backers, which send agents off against people he cares about. We could also borrow plot elements from the Smallville series where Johnathan is running for a congressional office and Lex offers to back him.

[Netherman14]

First, no romance with Wonder Woman. Build to Lois being "the one" ultimately, and go the Smallville route of making Lana the long-term love interest in the meantime, and possibly involve him in a triangle with her eventual endgame Pete Ross. To spice up the love life further, eventually bring in Lori Lemeries by giving Clark more of an undersea connection to Atlantis and Arthur Curry than Bruce Wayne. I'd even make Arthur part of a new "trinity" that still consists of Clark and Diana, just not with Bruce. Batman can be a mountain range that Clark sees in the distance, but can't get close to, Bruce is an enigma for a time, and is uneasy playing with others. Clark, Arthur and Diana have to work at getting him to earn their trust more.

I'd make Lex aware Clark and Superman are the same person fairly early on, and like all Machiavellian plotters, uses this knowledge at times where it's convenient to his purposes and it's the true trump card he uses to keep Clark's mits off of him wherever he starts crossing lines. Whenever Clark tries to defy Lex, Lex doesn't simply attempt to out him, but just sort of strings things along to meddle with his relationships, such as firing his friends, or making it appear Clark snitched up the Daily Planet's exposes on him to his international criminal backers, which send agents off against people he cares about. We could also borrow plot elements from the Smallville series where Johnathan is running for a congressional office and Lex offers to back him.

See, because Nupes doesn't have to be the mainstream incarnation. I believe a few liberties can be taken, like say: he doesn't get together with Lois anymore. and as you've said, the Trinity being Superman, Wonder Woman and Aquaman. Lana being a Homo Magi who moved to Gotham from Smallville when she was 8 years old, where she discovered her ability to use magic when her parents were threatened by a Joe Chill-type low level criminal similar to the Waynes. where she was trained by John Zatara alongside his daughter, after completing her training as an adult. Lana departed from Gotham to Metropolis, saying goodbye to her parents. where she discovered a now-22 year-old Clark Kent, who's working for the Daily Star. one of the changes being that because she left with her parents when she was so young she never became childhood friends with Kent, and never fell in love with him either. so they have only a distant memory of each other from their youth. they slowly start becoming closer, first as friends and ultimately lovers.

[JAK]

It depends on how it's approached.

If we're talking "DC wants a reboot not a merger and that's that" then:

EVERYBODY starts from square one. No "time jump" between books. Let every bit of it play out in a whole new universe. Yes, that means no Robin, no Steel, no lots of characters we care about (at least, not as we know them). Clark stays in the T-shirt and jeans for awhile and Batman (and everyone) is still finding their way. You want to have a young universe, then have one - but unlike what DC did, it wouldn't be trying to have it both ways. Everybody starts fresh in a shared universe, and we see it all unfold "as if for the first time". (this is what I expected originally in 2011 before they spoiled it, lol)

If we're talking "do what you want", then:

I'd do something like Reborn did, but across DC - merge all time together so everybody has an "it kinda-sorta fits if you squint" history like Batman has. In addition, start an "Ultimate"-style universe and let all young/fresh/edgy writers just run crazy however they want. At times, have the two universes meet, but largely keep them separate. A lot of the ideas on this thread already show very well how this could go, and I love a lot of them.

[bat39]

It depends on how it's approached.

If we're talking "DC wants a reboot not a merger and that's that" then:

EVERYBODY starts from square one. No "time jump" between books. Let every bit of it play out in a whole new universe. Yes, that means no Robin, no Steel, no lots of characters we care about (at least, not as we know them). Clark stays in the T-shirt and jeans for awhile and Batman (and everyone) is still finding their way. You want to have a young universe, then have one - but unlike what DC did, it wouldn't be trying to have it both ways. Everybody starts fresh in a shared universe, and we see it all unfold "as if for the first time". (this is what I expected originally in 2011 before they spoiled it, lol)

If we're talking "do what you want", then:

I'd do something like Reborn did, but across DC - merge all time together so everybody has an "it kinda-sorta fits if you squint" history like Batman has. In addition, start an "Ultimate"-style universe and let all young/fresh/edgy writers just run crazy however they want. At times, have the two universes meet, but largely keep them separate. A lot of the ideas on this thread already show very well how this could go, and I love a lot of them.

I was talking from the point of view of the New 52 reboot, as it happened. What would you have done if you had to reboot Superman in that context?

A reboot starting from square one will never actually happen. Its just not feasible for DC to do that - unless they start it as an Ultimates-style universe that runs concurrently with the 'mainstream' earth before there is a 'passing of the torch', so to speak, to the new universe.

[Jon Clark]

I'd have taken Action Comics #1 from 1938 as a starting point and built backwards from there with the idea that Action #1 now needs to be set in 2011.

Start the story off with Clark Kent arriving in Metropolis. He's about 25 years of age. Graduated from a midwestern college a few years back with a journalism degree. And he's got referral letters from a few teachers and small town editors that he hopes will get him an interview with Perry White at the Daily Planet. Clark's resume doesn't get him that interview, but while in the building he does overhear enough to get a lead on a story Perry wants his reporter's to land. And between some old contacts and some careful uses of his powers Clark lands a tentative job at the Planet.

At the same time we'd see the birth of Superman. He'd start out sort of like Morrison's T-shirt and jeans guy but without the cape or insignia. It would be more of Clark simply intervening with random street crime or trying to track leads looking "unClark-like". Other than using flight or speed to aid with getting from place to place or making a fast exit, he'd mainly rely on being a strong guy who is hard to hurt. Eventually he'd encounter something that called for him to use his powers in a more prominent manner (maybe a fire where he has to fly up to make a rescue or a need to chase a vehicle. That would lead to the Superman label and the costume would follow (maybe the cape is a way of helping him be more precise with flying) similar to Byrne's take or the one in the Lois & Clark show.

Lois is a TV journalist and a former protégé of Perry. She is not on the best of terms with him after leaving the Planet in the last year for her television gig. There would be rumors around her that she used sex to get stories. While they are untrue they would make her leery around Superman since her attraction to him would be warring with her efforts to keep it businesslike with "the story of the millennium". Her relationship with Clark would also be a bit complex. He's a professional rival, so she doesn't want him on HER stories. But she does like him (in a lost puppy way) and sees helping him out as a way of making amends with Perry.

Lex Luthor is not a politician and he is not a businessman. Both jobs involve dealing with stuff that bores the hell out of Lex. Sure if he set his mind to it he could account for every penny he's ever made, but that is what his AI is for. And his company has more contracts with governments than almost anyone this side of Ferris Air or Wayne Industries, but he has no patience for explaining things to bureaucrats and blowhards. As long as the checks keep clearing to pay for his private lab, those rare DaVinci sketches, that expedition looking into an island of dinosaurs and stuff like that; Lex is happy. Just so the local officials he's paid off keep anyone from looking into those missing persons cases until Lex cracks the problem that is killing his test subjects.