Superman and Cyberpunk

[Raijin]

I always enjoyed works like Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell and Altered Carbon. But I’m curious. Could Superman and his mythology be reimagined in a cyberpunk setting? Aliens don’t really have room in cyberpunk stories, which means there would have to be a complete 180 on the character. Even though Superman fans aren’t the most open minded when it comes to change. It worked well for Spider-Man and Batman. What do you guys think?

[manwhohaseverything]

I always enjoyed works like Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell and Altered Carbon. But I’m curious. Could Superman and his mythology be reimagined in a cyberpunk setting? Aliens don’t really have room in cyberpunk stories, which means there would have to be a complete 180 on the character. Even though Superman fans aren’t the most open minded when it comes to change. It worked well for Spider-Man and Batman. What do you guys think?

Dude, this idea is pretty standard here. Everyfan has been going #cyberpunk4superman for a while Now. The way i see it. I think a standard cyberpunk environment would be uninspiring.

[Raijin]

Dude, this idea is pretty standard here. Everyfan has been going #cyberpunk4superman for a while Now. The way i see it. I think a standard cyberpunk environment would be uninspiring.

Yes. But the question is: Could it work?

[manwhohaseverything]

Yes. But the question is: Could it work?

Beats me. I mean, Robocop is sorta cyberpunk. Isn't it?i liked the old movie.i know the reboot didn't work. Robocop and clark are both straight shooters with awesome themes to boot. So, maybe it can work.

[lotchj]

Not something I'd like to see!! That's not superman!! Let him stay like he is!! Find better writers!!

[Vordan]

I always enjoyed works like Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell and Altered Carbon. But I’m curious. Could Superman and his mythology be reimagined in a cyberpunk setting? Aliens don’t really have room in cyberpunk stories, which means there would have to be a complete 180 on the character. Even though Superman fans aren’t the most open minded when it comes to change. It worked well for Spider-Man and Batman. What do you guys think?

A lot of the basic tropes for Superman already feel very cyberpunkish to me. You’ve got powerful corporations that dominate government (Lex with Lexcorp). You’ve got technology that augments or reshapes human abilities but doesn’t improve human nature (Metallo/Parasite). You’ve got cloning (Bizarro/Kon), you’ve got government black ops (CADMUS), you’ve got social issues such as the death of journalism. If anything the Superman franchise already incorporates many Cyberpunk tropes, although I think Metropolis should definitely lean in more to a cyberpunk aesthetic.

Now the key difference between the superhero and the cyberpunk genres is that the cyberpunk genres tend to focus on cogs in the machine so to speak, people who’s rent that important or powerful. Superheroes don’t mesh well with that because the entire appeal of them is that they are powerful. Even “street” heroes like Spidey get to date supermodels and fly into space.

So I’m not certain to what extent you mean reimagine his mythos as cyberpunk. If you’re talking about say, making him human and ditching the Kryptonian aspect, I would be very hesitant about that. That would be the equivalent of saying Bruce Wayne is a middle class librarian who fights crime in the suburbs. It’s a massive change. And I don’t really agree that aliens can’t exist in cyberpunk settings. The Mass Effect games for example have some very strong cyberpunk aesthetics in ME2, and the aliens didn’t detract from places like Omega at all. So Clark could still be Kryptonian and fit in just fine to that genre.

I can see two issues with making Superman cyberpunk however.

1. Clark is extremely powerful and his basic origin stories for the last couple of years have involved him going to war with Lexcorp to free Metropolis. One could argue that Clark is the catalyst for preventing Metropolis from going full cyberpunk and letting it turn into a city where the rich like Lex can do whatever they want with zero regard for the law. A big aspect of cyberpunk is the traditional protagonist simply isn’t strong or powerful enough to enact change, whereas Clark can and does. Stripping him of that ability means that you risk turning him into a feckless loser who can’t accomplish anything which raises the question of why we would even bother to read him. Cyberpunk isn’t about saving the world it’s about saving yourself. Superheroes meanwhile ARE about saving the world.

2. People screamed bloody murder when this happened:

Cyberpunk is political. Cyberpunk is edgy. Cyberpunk is frequently anti-capitalism or at the very least anti-corporation. The New 52 Superman was political, he took sides on social issues like police brutality, and people were quick to complain about that. The odds of DC making something like what you would want from a Cyberpunk Superman in one of their mainline corporate books? Very low, especially With the pandemic.

TL;DR I think he could fit in a cyberpunk setting fine with his basics intact, but his very nature would either force the setting to be less cyberpunkish and DC isn’t in any mood to let him go down that path right now.

[Kuwagaton]

The Superman 2000 team was collectively into cyberpunk and it bled into the comics. So it's not hard to picture, but he'd need something like his electric power set to fit in.

[Masterff]

The Superman 2000 team was collectively into cyberpunk and it bled into the comics. So it's not hard to picture, but he'd need something like his electric power set to fit in.

Even better is NEW52 KON EL!!!!!

In Futures End he was infected by a virus and lost the ability to fly, so he used a FLYING MOTORBIKE...
AND his suit definetely fills perfectly into a Cyberpunk World.

NEW52 Kon El with his genius level intellect, his superior senses (he had psionic senses and was able to find out which chemicals were in the drink) and he can use his Telekinesis to scan things and could also control computers as he showed on Krypton.

So I was often imginating how cool it would be to give him a Solo-Book which is a Cyber-Punk Detective Story like "Ghost in the Shell" or "Psycho Pass".
His Skills would better match a Batman character than a Superfamily Character.

[Flash Gordon]

1,000,000%!

I've long thought Superman should embrace cyberpunk. Superman as an enemy of billionaires run amok. Weird science. Cyborg assassins. Genetic monsters. Clandestine labs. Black ops.

The bleaker side of 'Tomorrow', seems like a job for the Man of Tomorrow.

[Adekis]

I think Superman writers are often afraid to get political enough to say something meaningful. If the remove of a more visually science fiction setting embolden people to make real statements, then I say it's worth an experiment at the very least.

The fact is, cyberpunk is more an aesthetic than anything else. I doubt the substance of the stories would change much, but the superficial changes might be liberating.

Fun thought: Jimmy Olsen's "Elastic Lad" form as the result of "bio hacking" his DNA to give himself powers!

[Flash Gordon]

I think Superman writers are often afraid to get political enough to say something meaningful. If the remove of a more visually science fiction setting embolden people to make real statements, then I say it's worth an experiment at the very least.

The fact is, cyberpunk is more an aesthetic than anything else. I doubt the substance of the stories would change much, but the superficial changes might be liberating.

Fun thought: Jimmy Olsen's "Elastic Lad" form as the result of "bio hacking" his DNA to give himself powers!

You're right, Superman has become so bland in terms of metatextual content. Outside of Morrison and Lobdell, who else has really tried to say anything with modern Superman? Bendis touches on things but never really lands the plane (though I'll admit he's still trying and that's worth enough, his ideas sure are interesting).

I'm not sure if Superman will ever get to stand for much in the lines, or in between the lines, again. Most of the fandom seems content with just A to B stories.

A transhumanist Superman story or even aesthetic probably would a difficult sell, just like trying to take the character back to his roots is a tough one. Or giving him a little of his Silver Age magic back is a tough one.

In Robocop the Omnicorporation is ever present, always making life harder for everyday people. Crime skyrockets while social institutions crumble, underfunded. It's a world that is not THAT much of an exaggeration of our own, and a Paul Verhoeven Superman sounds just stellar.

[Raijin]

I think Superman writers are often afraid to get political enough to say something meaningful. If the remove of a more visually science fiction setting embolden people to make real statements, then I say it's worth an experiment at the very least.

The fact is, cyberpunk is more an aesthetic than anything else. I doubt the substance of the stories would change much, but the superficial changes might be liberating.

Fun thought: Jimmy Olsen's "Elastic Lad" form as the result of "bio hacking" his DNA to give himself powers!

I guess writers don’t want to upset fans and be accused of being “preachy” when it comes to politics. For some fans, comics are just escapist fantasy where politics don’t belong. I call BS on that though.

[Raijin]

I’m sure I’m in the minority with this. But I can totally buy a futuristic elseworld story where Superman isn’t an alien, but he’s genetically engineered. One could say that’s not Superman. But at the same time it’s an elseworld story. I think I would power him down a little bit. I would definitely still keep him as a journalist.

[lotchj]

Again not something i'm interested in seeing!! But there is one thing I don't get?? Why they always want to power superman down??? The villains are getting stronger and stronger!! The Tech is getting more and more powerful! Do you want to make superman and superheroes in general into punching bags?? Do they really want stories about good guys always getting their asses kicked?? It seem writers do love writing stories about destroying heroes lives and making them suffer as much as possible! Heroes don't really win anymore, somebody saves them or the villain does something dumb to cause them to lose! The hero is there to take a beating!

[Raijin]

Again not something i'm interested in seeing!! But there is one thing I don't get?? Why they always want to power superman down??? The villains are getting stronger and stronger!! The Tech is getting more and more powerful! Do you want to make superman and superheroes in general into punching bags?? Do they really want stories about good guys always getting their asses kicked?? It seem writers do love writing stories about destroying heroes lives and making them suffer as much as possible! Heroes don't really win anymore, somebody saves them or the villain does something dumb to cause them to lose! The hero is there to take a beating!

Not the point i was trying to make.