Inspiration being an aspiration vs being a convenient side effect is one I guess. Or at least it's one I've seen more recently.
Inspiration being an aspiration vs being a convenient side effect is one I guess. Or at least it's one I've seen more recently.
Rules are for lesser men, Charlie - Grand Pa Joe ~ Willy Wonka & Chocolate Factory
Tried to compile all the most interesting "Sticking Points," and cut out the commentary to a limited extent. Some of the emphases are mine, some are original to the posters, because I thought they should all be in bold.
v v And then I just thought Sacred Knight here made a pretty good point about the utility of parallel universes. v v
Unfortunately, DC just doesn't seem to have much interest in keeping two ongoing but distinct Supermen going concurrently. The start of Rebirth would've been the time to launch into that, but they went with "Final Days" instead.
"You know the deal, Metropolis. Treat people right or expect a visit from me."
I think the major problem with this is that a lot of these relationships and opinions evolved over time. Take "Lois knowing Superman's secret".
While fans in the early stages might've enjoyed secret identity, they treat it as a tired trope nowadays even if they don't enjoy Lois and Clark being together.
But a modern interpretation of Hercules (and Samson but Herc is better) is EXACTLY what he was designed/conceived as being based on primary and secondary historical artifacts.
The only change from them to now is the reader more widespread understanding of physical science and the modern reduced tolerance for the whimsical.
Well yeah because Superman very early on was defined as a true superspeedster and a peer of Hercules in physical strength whereas Aquaman's concept/design did not have anything like that.
Where Aquaman does outdo Superman by his own design as opposed to Johns-level can ranking is marine based telepathy and knowledge of and influence over the Deep.
No matter how many reboots, new origins, reinterpretations or suit redesigns. In the end, he will always be SUPERMAN
Credit for avatar goes to zclark
Why does superman always seem reckless in asserting his powers over oppnents that can counter his powers or smart enough to out wit him in combat
That doesnt make it okay for his opponent to have the cards in his favor because superman is basically ooc and doesnt use his own smarts and capabilites. I mean people like batman or any magic user throws supes under the bus because how dumb and straight forward he is with his ignorance of knowing nothing how to fight or out think his opposition because hes written as a over reliant spoiled scrub with his powers and nigh invincibility.
I think part of that is a bad side-effect of being a lynchpin of a shared universe. You could have a creative team that crafted stories where Superman is competent and interesting for the next decade, but if that team (or an editor) isn't handling Superman's appearances in Justice League or guest appearances then odds are Superman continues to be perceived as powerful but unskilled.
One thing continues to puzzle me is whether Kal-El being superhuman under a yellow sun was something everyone knew about on Krypton of was it a byproduct of Jor-El and Lara-El research into a suitable world. Another stream of stories seemed to suggest that Kal's benefits were unique to him as a product of the El's genetic augmentation of their baby boy. It seems like the continuity was all over the place over the years with Post Crisis onward leaning heavily into the All Kryptonians Are Super Everybody Knows.
But that bewildered me because why wouldn't they bail and go to a yellow sun system rather than be all 'sploded.
The original design seemed silent on the matter with these details being added well after the characters debut. Anyone have any thoughts , clarifications, or preferences?
In the Golden Age Krypton was "home to a race of supermen" who were simply more evolved than us, This was back when Superman could still be stunned by a strong enough electrical shock or explosion. Whether they were on Krypton or Earth they had the same "powers". And if you had blown up Earth Superman would have died just like all those people on Krypton.
In the Silver/Bronze Age you had a weird situation where it was implied space travel was almost non-existent ... except for the dozens of rockets Superman encountered with survivors and artifacts. The idea they'd gain powers on other planets seemed to be known but not something anyone really thought about. And top scientists largely thought Jor-El was nuts for thinking Krypton could be destroyed. It was never clear if his theory was made public. And most of Jor-El's scientific believers were in Kandor working on escape vessels when the city was removed by Brainiac.
Post-Crisis we got a Krypton that in addition to not believing Kor-El was also later stated to be bonded to Krypton. If you left the planet you died due to some genetic tinkering done to keep Kryptonians united as a single culture on one planet. Jor-El had to reverse that genetic "flaw" in Superman before he launched the ship. That might be what you read implying that Superman was augmented, but it had nothing to do with producing his powers.
My personal preference would be to simply isolate Krypton.
Look at it this way- if we didn't have places like the Moon or Mars we'd have to travel 4 light years to reach another planet. Now imagine what it would take for us to develop space flight if the closest place to go to was that far away. We might send probes, but manned flights?
And I'm a Silver-ager who likes the old "high gravity plus solar rays" explanation for the powers. So in addition to having nowhere nearby to go in space the high gravity makes getting things into space a lot harder. You might need rockets twice as powerful as we use to launch parts of the international space station just to put a baseball in Krypton's orbit.