Does Superman Have To Be the DCU's First Superhero To Be Inspiring?

[GlennSimpson]

I don't feel strongly one way or the other, but I always say that it's not like Michael Jordan was the first person to ever play basketball.

[bat39]

I don't think it makes sense that Batman become a hero first. I think it makes sense Batman became a grief counselor, a cop, or a alcoholic.

To me, putting on a costume, using your talents to become a superhero, all the ridiculous stuff associated with Superheroes, it makes more sense that it happened first with Superman. It's even why they call these heroes Superheroes. . He introduces the fantastic into our mundane world.

In James Robinson's Earth 2, Wonder Woman debuts first and the heroes are called Wonders.

It totally detracts from the Batman mythos if Bruce Wayne decided to become Batman because he saw Superman on TV :P In fact, it just about contradicts every Batman origin story we've ever been told.

[manofsteel1979]

He doesn't HAVE to be the first...but it helps his "case" if he is regarded as the first, at least the first of a new heroic generation. I didn't mind so much Post-Crisis that the JSA came first,but I've actually come to like the fact in the new 52 he IS the first. It works either way as long as it's written well.

[DochaDocha]

So really, it makes perfect sense for Batman to debut first

When people say things along these lines, I figure that's perfectly fine if you mean, "There's no reason why Batman shouldn't have come first," as opposed to "The most logical scenario is that Superman came after Batman."

[Johnny Thunders!]

It totally detracts from the Batman mythos if Bruce Wayne decided to become Batman because he saw Superman on TV :P In fact, it just about contradicts every Batman origin story we've ever been told.

The bat crashed through a window long after the headlines came out about a Superman in Metropolis.

[Johnny Thunders!]

What's funny to me, in the real world, what was actually realistic, what made sense, what actually happened, Batman came after Superman. I don't understand why it makes more sense. It's actually completely unlike the real world for Batman to come first.

[DochaDocha]

What's funny to me, in the real world, what was actually realistic, what made sense, what actually happened, Batman came after Superman. I don't understand why it makes more sense. It's actually completely unlike the real world for Batman to come first.

You can argue that Superman was born ready, whereas Batman had to finish his training/preparation before he could debut, i.e. Superman could debut at a much earlier age.

[Johnny Thunders!]

You can argue that Superman was born ready, whereas Batman had to finish his training/preparation before he could debut, i.e. Superman could debut at a much earlier age.

Especially in a continuity that includes Superboy and the Legion. He'd already had saved the Cosmos by the time Bruce started doing push ups.

[misslane]

Especially in a continuity that includes Superboy and the Legion. He'd already had saved the Cosmos by the time Bruce started doing push ups.

Unless, of course, Bruce is 5-10 years older than Superman.

[Johnny Thunders!]

Batman V. Superman aims to fit that scenario!

Besides our world, the world in which Siegel and Shuster created Superman first. I like the parallel in Marvel's Miracle Man. A superhuman shows up and then a pantheon grows around him. One impossible event makes more impossible events happen.

[DochaDocha]

Unless, of course, Bruce is 5-10 years older than Superman.

Which he shouldn't be, but that's just my knucklehead opinion.

For as much as I dislike those stories when Bruce and Clark conveniently meet as pre-teens, at least those stories generally portray them as similar in age.

[misslane]

Which he shouldn't be, but that's just my knucklehead opinion.

What sort of fundamental difference would five years make? It's not a big deal at all.

[DochaDocha]

What sort of fundamental difference would five years make? It's not a big deal at all.

I don't want to recycle old discussions we've had, but the reason why they generally make them about the same age in the comics is that it shows they've had similar amounts of life experience. You can say when guys are 33 and 38, that's about the same, but I'd disagree, and of course the younger the guys get the more pronounced the age difference becomes, e.g. not many 15-year-olds are besties with 10-year-olds.

Plus, it takes away opportunities for writers to get lazy and say Bruce is older and wiser ('cuz, y'know, Clark's naive and stuff, and Batman always knows best). People describe Supes and Bats to be like brothers, but note that the relationship is rarely ever described as big bro/little bro.

[Johnny Thunders!]

I've contradicted myself on every page, even in our world, other costumed adventurers precede Superman. Just not BATMAN, who I love, but dog gone it, Superman, then Batman.

[George Taylor]

He doesn't have to be the first to be the best and greates of them all, like in the pre-Flashpoint DCU. Even in the real world he wasn't the first customed hero but he still was the first DC superhero preceding everyone including Batman. Yet, I loved th idea of him as the first superhero like with Kal-L on o' Earth-2 as well as how DC said he is the first in the New 52.

I know Batman was stated to have had at least 5 years of experence before the formation of the JL to explain that all his continuity remained the same but with Zero Year it appears he appeared 6 six years ago like Superman and not 10 years ago. So it seems that they debuted at around the same time give or take a few weeks.