Do you see Superman as the type to retire from hero life?

[Otto Gruenwald]

I like the idea of him eventually finding a way to pass the torch. Either he goes Superman Prime mode and lends his power to a universe full of his successors or Kingdom Come mode and becomes a figurehead for a new superhuman-human paradigm or Saga of the Supersons mode where he starts to ease his son into the role. I like Superman being a metaphor for the everyman and no one does the same thing forever. People change and retire and move on. I like the idea of Superman being immortal too much to have his story end in his death, so him ascending the throne as it were is a nice final page to his story.

[Flash Gordon]

No, Superman would never give up of retire. It ends for him in a blaze of glory.

[Adekis]

There have been a few versions of Superman where retirement could be seen as a viable and natural progression. The Smallville version for example; that's a guy who would hang up the cape at the earliest opportunity. But I consider versions like that to be going against type, playing with a concept that doesn't fit the character's proper shape.

Generally speaking? No, Clark wouldn't retire. Never. Not for anything. The entire planet could hate him and Clark would still save lives. The entire world could tell him to stop and he wouldn't listen.

If earth became a peaceful utopia Clark might take some time off to enjoy the fruits of his labor, but eventually he'd find another planet in need, some other job for Superman. It's the Never Ending Battle, not the Done At 65 Battle.

And I disagree with Sacred on this one. Death is no bar to his calling (Wheel of Time word play there; Horn of Valhere stuff). If Clark died, I fully believe he'd still get up the next morning and go on patrol as a ghost (or sentient ball of solar energy,) or what the hell ever. Instead of fighting Parasite in Metropolis he'd be fighting Neron in hell or something.

I absolutely agree with this. There's versions of Superman who would or have retired, but while I don't necessarily want to unilaterally excommunicate all of those iterations, I think they go against the grain of "Superman in general," who would never give up the never-ending battle for anything. As the name might imply.

[superduperman]

I think Earth 2 Superman is a good example here. He knew his powers were waning later in life and took a less active role going into semi-retirement and letting PG take over. He didn't want to put himself into situations he didn't think he could handle. All you do is put everyone else at risk when you do that. I don't see him staying in the game long past his prime out of ego just to prove he can. At some point, it's just irresponsible to put yourself in harms way when you can't handle certain situations. He's smart enough to know that. In terms of Smallville, I disagree with that decision. He's still capable of helping and I feel like he has a responsibility to do so

[Ascended]

Utopia is a foolish concept. It's never going to "arrive"

I know, that wasn't the point I was making. ?

I absolutely agree with this. There's versions of Superman who would or have retired, but while I don't necessarily want to unilaterally excommunicate all of those iterations, I think they go against the grain of "Superman in general," who would never give up the never-ending battle for anything. As the name might imply.

And there's nothing wrong with that. It's fun to go against the grain sometimes, and we can get good stories out of that. Kingdom Come, Red Son, etc. Plenty of great Superman stories based on going against convention in some way. But for "proper" Superman, I don't think retirement fits.

And I agree with Superduperman too. If Clark's powers started to drop, if he physically couldn't be Superman anymore, he wouldn't strut up to Darkseid just to prove he still can. Eventually he'd accept his weakened state and act accordingly. But there's other ways to help; leading the heroic community from the back lines, buying the Planet and fighting crime that way, whatever. If Clark couldn't be Superman anymore for some reason, he wouldn't quit the fight, he'd just change tactics.

[magha_regulus]

He'll never retire. It's not an option for him. Even if his powers wane, he's still going to find a way to be a champion of the oppressed. As long as there is corruption he's going to find a way to fight it.

[Vordan]

There have been a few versions of Superman where retirement could be seen as a viable and natural progression. The Smallville version for example; that's a guy who would hang up the cape at the earliest opportunity. But I consider versions like that to be going against type, playing with a concept that doesn't fit the character's proper shape.

Generally speaking? No, Clark wouldn't retire. Never. Not for anything. The entire planet could hate him and Clark would still save lives. The entire world could tell him to stop and he wouldn't listen.

If earth became a peaceful utopia Clark might take some time off to enjoy the fruits of his labor, but eventually he'd find another planet in need, some other job for Superman. It's the Never Ending Battle, not the Done At 65 Battle.

And I disagree with Sacred on this one. Death is no bar to his calling (Wheel of Time word play there; Horn of Valhere stuff). If Clark died, I fully believe he'd still get up the next morning and go on patrol as a ghost (or sentient ball of solar energy,) or what the hell ever. Instead of fighting Parasite in Metropolis he'd be fighting Neron in hell or something.

Yeah if Hellboy can still kick ass after dying why not Clark?

[stargazer01]

My first reaction is No. I think Superman will never retire entirely because he can't do nothing when people are in danger, but when he is very old and there are other superheroes around who can help protect the innocent, he can be semi retired to do more things he enjoys.

[Valentis]

Superman is a do gooder. He does not need to be retired to play hero.

[KC]

I think it would be a JSA situation where he is still fighting even when he is his 60's.

[SiegePerilous02]

I ultimately voted no, especially if it's an ageless Superman.

I love Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, but even there we don't necessarily have to take the "gold kryptonite robbed him of his powers" stuff at face value. Lois is telling a story to keep the press off their case after all.

[sifighter]

I think it would be a JSA situation where he is still fighting even when he is his 60's.

My exact thought, I’m sure he’d take more time to relax with Lois and let Connor, Jon, and Kara handle big problems but when he’s really needed he will appear.

[phantom1592]

There have been a few versions of Superman where retirement could be seen as a viable and natural progression. The Smallville version for example; that's a guy who would hang up the cape at the earliest opportunity. But I consider versions like that to be going against type, playing with a concept that doesn't fit the character's proper shape.
.

I was soooo disappointed with the Smallville 'retirement'. We spent 10 years watching Clark learn what it meant to be a hero and growing into the cape. Learning exactly HOW to balance a personal life AND save the world.... Only to have that entire arc flushed. What we end up with is a Clark who gave up his powers, had Lex Luthor become the most powerful person in the world... and then have the world wiped out in a Crisis while he sat back and did nothing. In all respects he was a failure of a Superman and a depressing end to the 10 year epic that was Smallville.


And really I can't picture a time or a situation where 'SUPERMAN' couldn't help. Even if his powers start to wain. Even if he gets old... He'll never be as weak as Wildcat or Nightwing or Ted Kord or any of the other 'mortal' heroes. Even a Weak Superman is better than 80% of all DC heroes ever. NOT being able to lift a building anymore wouldn't be enough to full on retire.

In my opinion Superman never really retires. EVEN if the world turns against him. Even if the society doesn't want him... Volcanos will still be stopped. Bullets will still mysteriously stop hitting their targets and the guns will be melted into slag.... Asteroids will still be stopped in space and Missles will still be detonated over their targets. If he can't be a symbol, if he can't be public... If 'Superman' is causing more trouble then it's worth.... He'll still be saving lives and helping people. That's one of the things that I really think they got right with Black suited Bearded Superman. He couldn't act in public... but he couldn't sit on his hands either.

[Celgress]

OP Question -

No, I don't. I simply can't see Kal/Clark ever hanging up the cape permanently.

[superduperman]

I was soooo disappointed with the Smallville 'retirement'. We spent 10 years watching Clark learn what it meant to be a hero and growing into the cape. Learning exactly HOW to balance a personal life AND save the world.... Only to have that entire arc flushed. What we end up with is a Clark who gave up his powers, had Lex Luthor become the most powerful person in the world... and then have the world wiped out in a Crisis while he sat back and did nothing. In all respects he was a failure of a Superman and a depressing end to the 10 year epic that was Smallville.


And really I can't picture a time or a situation where 'SUPERMAN' couldn't help. Even if his powers start to wain. Even if he gets old... He'll never be as weak as Wildcat or Nightwing or Ted Kord or any of the other 'mortal' heroes. Even a Weak Superman is better than 80% of all DC heroes ever. NOT being able to lift a building anymore wouldn't be enough to full on retire.

In my opinion Superman never really retires. EVEN if the world turns against him. Even if the society doesn't want him... Volcanos will still be stopped. Bullets will still mysteriously stop hitting their targets and the guns will be melted into slag.... Asteroids will still be stopped in space and Missles will still be detonated over their targets. If he can't be a symbol, if he can't be public... If 'Superman' is causing more trouble then it's worth.... He'll still be saving lives and helping people. That's one of the things that I really think they got right with Black suited Bearded Superman. He couldn't act in public... but he couldn't sit on his hands either.

I'd like to think that the Smallville we saw during COIE wasn't the REAL Smallville but one of many alternate universes. They had their own Crisis, after all. With an infinite multiverse, almost any version would have multiple counterparts. Smallville is probably my second favorite version of Superman. I'd hate to see him give up so easily. In terms of his powers waning, I could see him helping out with smaller scale crimes and what not but he'd leave the world beaters and Earth shaking threats to others.