Reinvigorating Superman

[stargazer01]

While there was room for improvement in Batman v. Superman, I enjoyed that movie and I do agree that Man of Steel should have gotten a proper sequel before a team-up with Batman. And no, I don't contradict myself when I say that I can enjoy Batman v. Superman and still believe we should have gotten Man of Steel 2 over Batman v. Superman.

All I ask Warner and DC for the next Superman movie/TV show is to make Superman the unequivocal protagonist instead of forcing him to share the spotlight with another superhero. Outside the comics, Warner and DC seem to have lost faith in Superman's ability to carry a story all by himself.

Well Death of Superman movie was unequivocally his movie and Lois. And Reign was Lois and Lex'.

I think it also had to do with rushing the universe to catch to the mcu. WB suits are pretty much id!ots and clueless about Superman and the DCU in general. They are lucky they found Patty J and James Wan to save their a$$e$.

[Vordan]

While there was room for improvement in Batman v. Superman, I enjoyed that movie and I do agree that Man of Steel should have gotten a proper sequel before a team-up with Batman. And no, I don't contradict myself when I say that I can enjoy Batman v. Superman and still believe we should have gotten Man of Steel 2 over Batman v. Superman.

All I ask Warner and DC for the next Superman movie/TV show is to make Superman the unequivocal protagonist instead of forcing him to share the spotlight with another superhero. Outside the comics, Warner and DC seem to have lost faith in Superman's ability to carry a story all by himself.

I want a movie, animated or live-Action, where Batman doesn’t show up. I’m sick of them shoving him into everything.

[jimmy]

Yeah, see, that's kind of the problem with the franchise. It's fine if he exists on his own world alone with just his supporting cast, but if you're more familiar with, say, Batman, seeing Superman swoop in and completely take a problem Batman could never solve like it was nothing is just going to make you resent him. You wouldn't want the Spectre to come in and deal with Mxyzptlk for Superman, would you?

Behind the Curtin'
Quite frankly, I'm surprised that hasn't happened already - however- there was that time where Spectre interfered with Superman, who at the time, was moving so fast, that he Superman, was smashing barrier after barrier like it was tissue paper and, was going to pierce the last vail of time to access untold and hidden realms until Spectre step in and stopped him.


Superman Resentment, for me personally, -NO-
Now, maybe because in my mind, Superman should have an intelligence factor that matches but... Doesn't Batman pull off the inhuman feat even when in the company of more powerful beings.

[HeroVladimir93]

The best solution I can think of for this particular problem is to assign a team of dedicated creators, writers and producers dedicated solely at producing Superman content over at Warner and DC. More than just comics, these people could pitch ideas for a movie/TV show/video game/whatever starring Superman. Not everything that happens to Superman must influence the larger DCU. Much like Batman and Spider-Man, Superman should have his own little corner of the DCU all to himself. Yes, getting Superman to interact with other superheroes is a lot of fun but this standalone approach could help the Superman team experiment with Superman and his community and discover what works/doesn't work for the Superman universe.

[DochaDocha]

If I had to interview guys applying to be the caretaker of Superman in other media, I'd start interviewing each candidate with the following two questions:

1) If Superman and Batman fought ten times, how many times would Batman win?

2) If you could write for any other DC hero but Superman, which character would you choose?

If you answer more than once for 1, you're disqualified. If you answer "Batman" for 2, you're also disqualified unless you prefaced it with "only if I couldn't write for Superman."

I'm being facetious here, but I feel like these are two issues bogging down Superman: writers and creators who underestimate Superman's abilities, and really treat Superman as a stepping stone to writing for something like Batman or the JL. I feel like if either of these apply to you, chances are you lack passion and creativity to write for Superman. Sorry.

I'm not saying that if you happen to like Batman more than Superman then you must not write for Superman, but there's just a high correlation for me for guys who think Superman is merely OK and my not really digging those guys' Superman.

It's part of the reason I really dug Justice League Action's Superman: even if they weren't necessarily Superman fans (I don't really believe they were), they had fun with the character and rarely put limitations on the character because, hey, Batman has to do something important and smart.

[jimmy]

If I had to interview guys applying to be the caretaker of Superman in other media, I'd start interviewing each candidate with the following two questions:

1) If Superman and Batman fought ten times, how many times would Batman win?

2) If you could write for any other DC hero but Superman, which character would you choose?

If you answer more than once for 1, you're disqualified. If you answer "Batman" for 2, you're also disqualified unless you prefaced it with "only if I couldn't write for Superman."

I'm being facetious here, but I feel like these are two issues bogging down Superman: writers and creators who underestimate Superman's abilities, and really treat Superman as a stepping stone to writing for something like Batman or the JL. I feel like if either of these apply to you, chances are you lack passion and creativity to write for Superman. Sorry.

I'm not saying that if you happen to like Batman more than Superman then you must not write for Superman, but there's just a high correlation for me for guys who think Superman is merely OK and my not really digging those guys' Superman.

It's part of the reason I really dug Justice League Action's Superman: even if they weren't necessarily Superman fans (I don't really believe they were), they had fun with the character and rarely put limitations on the character because, hey, Batman has to do something important and smart.

(Not so) Facetious like "Many a true word is spoken in jest" as you have pretty much hit the nail on the head or at least come extremely close to it..

I always thought that the underlying pangs of jealousy and ego has a lot to do with identifying with Batman, who is a "pure human" head to toe, that relies on earth based physical abilities, tech and his brain IQ to get the job done as these are capabilities with*in* the grasp of every person on earth.

Superman, may look the part of human, of that there is no doubt but, this is only "mere appearance" as he is far beyond human capabilities - thus - out of reach for earthlings like us, as opposed to Batman's make up - which - is much closer to the natural human range we all know and love, that is preferred by some.

So when Batman does something "important and smart" - that is an 'allegory' -of sorts- for the human beings amongst us, (ahem...writer) for doing somthing of great substance.

There are many ways to give Superman "challenges" that in a way are legit but, doesn't make him look weak, limited or down right bad. These challenges don't always have to be physical in nature either, as there are other aspects that can be tapped and taken advantage of - that can show different aspects and dimensions of Superman character.

Just for the record - Answers:
1. Superman Sweeps each fight last no more that 5 seconds and that's being generous.
2. The Green Lantern - the mythos always made for a great background story the council of OA and such.

[Vakanai]

1) If Superman and Batman fought ten times, how many times would Batman win?

Anywhere in between and including zero times and ten times. Frankly, it'd depend on the story, what the message would be, who'd be in the right, and what would just make for more interesting developments in that one given story. But personally I wouldn't want to write or read them fighting that many times. If I had to, I'd just do the customary mini-fight heroes often do when first meeting each other before quickly realizing they're on the same side, and end it in a bit of a draw. But I'm a tease like that. Gun to my head, had to write ten fights between them? Make it an even 50/50, so five wins and five losses for both, no one looks bad, both look great, and hell maybe I'd start an ongoing gag with them constantly getting into friendly battles just because they're that kind of pals, like they got an ongoing bet that the loser buys the other dinner or beer or something. Actually that'd be kind of fun, they haven't been great friends in a while, and if they can bond over their love of punching each other, then cool.

2) If you could write for any other DC hero but Superman, which character would you choose?

Batman, he and Superman are my all time favorite characters in DC. You just got love the history and wealth of stories for each.

If you answer more than once for 1, you're disqualified. If you answer "Batman" for 2, you're also disqualified unless you prefaced it with "only if I couldn't write for Superman."

Well poopy!

I'm being facetious here, but I feel like these are two issues bogging down Superman: writers and creators who underestimate Superman's abilities, and really treat Superman as a stepping stone to writing for something like Batman or the JL. I feel like if either of these apply to you, chances are you lack passion and creativity to write for Superman. Sorry.

I can agree with this, trying to make Superman the League's Worf or just use him to prop up Batman is no way to respect the character, and not the kind of relationship they should have. You pound on the villains to make heroes look good, not other heroes.

I'm not saying that if you happen to like Batman more than Superman then you must not write for Superman, but there's just a high correlation for me for guys who think Superman is merely OK and my not really digging those guys' Superman.

Yeah, whether you like Batman more or not, you should at least think Superman is pretty darn great in his own right I think. Just barely enthused or indifferent to the character isn't typically going to end in a good story.