Building back superman family

[manwhohaseverything]

Clark kent - superman
Chris kent/lor zod - nightwing
Connor kent - scion
Jon kent - superboy
Eradicator as Clark's jason todd.
John henry - steel
Jimmy olsen - ultra olsen with every single powers wierd he had throughout his career. Only in a random way.
Kenan kong- superman from china
Lois/lana - superwoman
Cir el - new flamebird
Kara - supergirl
Linda - new power girl
Edit-I just want clark to have more wierd ass friends like him to be around him. I wanted characters from Clark's publishing history to fill in as support cast. The wierder and diverse the better.



The wierder the better. The list i posted was just a place holder with characters thrown in. Tell me your picks.

[Kuwagaton]

I've never been a fan of franchise bloat. The current structure is sort of pushing it except that except for maybe Kara the others are really nothing like what Superman offers. Steel would be great to bring back at some point.

[manwhohaseverything]

I've never been a fan of franchise bloat. The current structure is sort of pushing it except that except for maybe Kara the others are really nothing like what Superman offers. Steel would be great to bring back at some point.

Maybe it's just me. I like it when there are way too many characters. Maybe it's because of i love one piece. I mean comic books are never ending tales. So, having way too characters make sense. You can take time developing them. Some develop accidentally in time.

[Kuwagaton]

I like OP too, but those characters have a great deal of diversity. Feature more of the Lanes maybe, like Susie or Louis, rather than more Supermen imo.

[Yoda]

I've long thought Action Comics should be a Superman family anthology book. Roll Supergirl, Lois Lane, and Jimmy Olsen into it. Add in a bit more Daily Planet focused stories with Clark Kent and Maggie Sawyer and the MCU.

Then have Superman be the Superman-centric solo title.

Same with Detective Comics being a Batman family book with Robin, Nightwing, Red Hood, Batgirl, Batwoman, and Gotham Central.

[manwhohaseverything]

I like OP too, but those characters have a great deal of diversity. Feature more of the Lanes maybe, like Susie or Louis, rather than more Supermen imo.

If you are talking about powers. Then i believe superfamily can have specialities and added special abilities. It's just a matter of developments. It has to fit the characters ofcourse. Otherwise, if you are talking about race, body type and sexuality. Those things can be worked on too. I mean, fat superman was a thing.

It's just awesome having multiple people running around screaming.

[Ascended]

I've never been a fan of franchise bloat.

Generally agreed.

Some franchises I want big; I think the Flash dynasty needs all those speedsters like Max and Jesse and XS and John Fox, (and the new faces like Wallace and Avery). And I've accepted the fact that half the GLC are going to be Americans and that Gotham churns out vigilantes like a Chinese factory whether I like it or not.

And Wonder Woman could use a few extra faces. It'd be nice if Donna was actually treated like part of Diana's mythos for a change. She's almost never been handled like part of the Wonder-world.

But Superman? Less is more. What he does, that isn't something that just anyone can do (and I'm not just talking raw power here). Even following in his footsteps isn't something that just anyone can pull off.

If I had my way I might not have a single legacy character in the mythos at all other than Steel. But since that's just my preference and would be bad for business.....

I'd include

Supergirl. I hate the "cousin from Krypton" idea, but Kara's been around too long and is too entrenched in pop culture to get rid of.

Steel. Arguably the only person "worthy" of carrying Clark's standard in my opinion. John Henry Irons is a gift to the DCU that DC managers have thrown under the rug, and I'd like to see that change. Natasha is okay, but I'd prefer leaving her in a support role. Not a fan of her being Steel 2. Just seems uninspired, and I think John has more potential as a character.

Conner Kent. I love this kid, and I think there's some potential in "Nightwing-ing" him, now that Jon's around to take the role of "heir apparent."

Jon Kent/Superboy. I dislike the idea of a Norman Rockwell Super-family and I'd happily remove Jon from the DCU. But if we're doing a Super-franchise, then Jon should be included.

Power Girl. Karen's a great character who I enjoy a lot, and I like her in the "black sheep" type role where her ties to the family are thin. Plus I ship her hardcore with Dick Grayson so she's gotta be around for that!

Valor. I'll never call him Mon-El. But he should be the Super-representative of the future (when a modern day Superboy isn't visiting). Sort of that "step brother twice removed" kind of thing, where he's part of the family but not really.

Five people in the Super-family, plus one permanently abroad, is plenty.

Now, what I'd *really* like to see is an extended group of heroes who aren't exactly part of the Super-family but owe their inspiration and motivation to Clark. An extended family of sorts.

Super-Chief. Chris Roberson briefly introduced a new version of this old Z-lister who still had all the old Super-Chief origin/mythos stuff but was inspired to action by Clark and wore a red leather "S" jacket (much like Clark was wearing in the Smallville show at the time). I'd actually like to see this guy in Diana's orbit more, but still keeping the loose ties to Clark.

Alpha Centurion. A Roman warrior who spent centuries in space and came back with some cool alien gladiator tech. Again, he seems more fitting and viable as part of Diana's cast but his relationship and dynamic with Clark is too good to ignore.

Gangbuster. I think it's past time we saw Jose join the MPD and become a "cop in Suicide Slum by day, vigilante by night." Sort of like Metropolis' Daredevil; using the system to work outside of the system.

Wonder Twins. Again, largely a JLA adjunct but who owe everything to Clark and hero worship the Man of Tomorrow.

Super-Man of China. Kenan was a cool guy, I don't want to see him disappear.

and of course, the Squadron Super. Also introduced by Roberson, this is a group of Supermen and Superwomen from across space-time inspired by Clark, working together to tackle threats so big even Grant Morrison would require some hardcore drugs to dream them up.

[Kuwagaton]

For me the shared universe (admittedly, all I generally read these days is Batman and the Terrifics) is enough that I don't have too much left the Spoilers, Arsenals, and Doomeds out there.

But: Lois, Jimmy, Kara, Jon, Kon, Steel, Maggie, and yes... Alpha Centurion. To me that's a really nice supporting group of worthy features. And yeah, Natasha and Kelex within their respective books.

Right now it's great that they are managing to juggle LoSH with Superboy, Young Justice, Lois, and Jimmy though. NS-M was so good and I regret that I still haven't read the last issues.

I've long thought Action Comics should be a Superman family anthology book. Roll Supergirl, Lois Lane, and Jimmy Olsen into it. Add in a bit more Daily Planet focused stories with Clark Kent and Maggie Sawyer and the MCU.

Then have Superman be the Superman-centric solo title.

Same with Detective Comics being a Batman family book with Robin, Nightwing, Red Hood, Batgirl, Batwoman, and Gotham Central.

I heard good things. I like that idea but I would never want Superman reduced to one book.

[Jackalope89]

Clark kent - superman
Chris kent/lor zod - nightwing
Connor kent - scion
Jon kent - superboy
Eradicator as Clark's jason todd.
John henry - steel
Jimmy olsen - ultra olsen with every single powers wierd he had throughout his career. Only in a random way.
Kenan kong- superman from china
Lois/lana - superwoman
Cir el - new flamebird
Kara - supergirl
Linda - new power girl

Eradicator? Try clone Bizarro, who actually is on a team with Jason Todd in the "Dark Trinity".

[Yoda]

I heard good things. I like that idea but I would never want Superman reduced to one book.

I don't necessarily want that either, it's great that we get a Superman or Superman adjacent book every week of the month now.

But around the time the rumor was that DC was cutting back it's monthly books significantly, I though that would be a good way to keep all the supporting families in books regularly. It still might come to that, DC much more so than Marvel is really trying to adapt its publishing to the new reality. We're kinda already seeing this in a way with all the new 100 page books like Supergirl/Batwoman.

[manwhohaseverything]

Eradicator? Try clone Bizarro, who actually is on a team with Jason Todd in the "Dark Trinity".

Bizarro isn't ideological driven unless he is super intelligent.

[Jackalope89]

Bizarro isn't ideological driven unless he is super intelligent.

Even when not super intelligent, Biz just wants to do good. Second arc of Red Hood and the Outlaws Rebirth, he protected and guided a bunch of refugees.

[Superlad93]

Where we're currently at is actually where I've most wanted to be for a while now. Not a fan of outright bloating the franchise with characters just for the sake of them, but I'm of a fan of the characters around Superman acting as a monument to the progression in his world. I think that's really the only time where it's worth it to have any substantial number, but that also means redundancy has to be cut down where it can be, and certain characters can still exist without actually being linked at the hip to his IP.

I think the mistake most tend to make is to think of Superman's family as anything like Batman's or even Flash's. The structure just isn't the same, and it doesn't need to be. People tend to think in those terms because it's simple shorthand. Batman is a testament to the idea of a found family, and forged support system. Flash is more or less comic's "upper middle class" family. But Superman's family functions far closer to royalty, or in today's case, a presidential First Family. There's this inherent standard of grace and gravitas that they all bring with them and that they all must carry themselves with that the other families have leeway on. This is not subtext. It's just plain text. There's something greater that's expected of you once you wear the shield, and you serve at the pleasure of the world and, honestly, all of creation.

[manwhohaseverything]

Generally agreed.

But Superman? Less is more. What he does, that isn't something that just anyone can do (and I'm not just talking raw power here). Even following in his footsteps isn't something that just anyone can pull off.

It's not about doing what Superman does though. It's about having rich diverse superpowered cast to bounce of from each other, compliment and Have conflicts with. The problem is clark has conflicts with bad guys. That's easy. That isn't personal. Clark should have conflicts with family members who are just as capable albeit in different ways.One of The best stories bruce has is under the red hood.
Similarly, one of the best fight luffy(one piece character) had is with his crew mate who is said to be the weakest usopp. Aftermath of that was very heart wrenching.

I want clark to have people who take him down a peg or gives him a new angle on things He normally doesn't view things from. For instance, i would love telepath, A magician, A vigilante who live on the edge of Clark's black and white morality, An athelete/warrior who follows bushido like ethics so on and so forth as Clark's friend. Because as powerful as clark is he isn't good at everything and can be rigid regarding many things. Rather than these being loaned from outside. superman family should itself have it. I have excluded mon el cause he is in the future and will stay there. A rich dynasty generally reflects story content and rich history that has largely stayed intact.

[manwhohaseverything]

Even when not super intelligent, Biz just wants to do good. Second arc of Red Hood and the Outlaws Rebirth, he protected and guided a bunch of refugees.

Him wanting to do good makes him like his pup pup. I just don't view bizarro as outlaw superman with a bone to pick who doesn't mind plunging into the abyss.