What are the main events Superman's life story that you'd like to remain?

[Bored at 3:00AM]

There's a continuity storm a brewin' again, which means that some stories are gonna stick and others are going to dissolve back into limbo.

If you had to create a bare bones life story (so far) for Superman and his supporting cast for future creators to follow, what you include and what would you omit?

[sifighter]

God this is rough but I think I can make a decent enough list, but can’t say everyone is going to like it.

-The Doomsday Clock/Secret Origins Superboy upbring, where the JSA inspired him to be a young hero and the Legion of superheroes (doesn’t matter the iteration) come to train him as a teenager. Also Ma and Pa Kent are alive.
-Him joining the Justice League
-The death and return of Superman, that’s a huge part of his story and I want Steel and Conner in his life
-The Wedding of Clark and Lois
-Jeph Loeb’s Batman/Superman Supergirl, or something akin to it where his cousin is back in his life
-The Birth of Jon Kent
-Supersons
-Zod and Superman truce and the establishment of new Krypton by Zod.
-Superman reveals his identity to the world and creates the United Planets

Okay I’m going to have to explain that last one, see....I actually like how Bendis has handled the identity reveal that instead of a sad fest like the new 52 reveal that people have accepted Clark and it’s in a more positive light. I also think that at some point Clark would feel comfortable enough or feel the need to reveal his identity to the world, to be honest with world as he put it. I also think that I’m sick of this being the second time he’s revealed his identity, and I honestly want DC to stick with it instead of just retconning it away again, they wrote this story and made it a big deal so I think they need to stick to their guns.

[manwhohaseverything]

Superman fighting for the little guy.

[Riv86672]

Superman fighting for the little guy.

^^^ALWAYS.

Last Son Krypton.
Secret identity.
Works at The Planet.
Romance w. Lois.
Ma and Pa Kent are alive.
Lex is his arch enemy.

[Vordan]

My ideal timeline would be:
1. Doomed Planet, Desperate Scientists, Last Hope, Kindly Couple
2. Clark grows up in Smallville and spends his youth hanging out with the Legion, but doesn’t remember until much later in his adulthood
3. Ma and Pa Kent die
4. “Lost Years” where Clark goes to college and travels the world
5. Debuts as t-shirt and jeans Superman, starts off at the Daily Star
6. Fights Lex, Metallo, and Brainiac, Steel makes his debut, gets his classic uniform and the Fortress of Solitude
7. Gets a job at the Daily Planet
8. Lex forms Lexcorp
9. Parasite is created by accident at Lexcorp, Bizarro is created deliberately
10. Clark rescues Krypto from the Phantom Zone, meets Xa-Du, Zod escapes with Kal and Krypto, Clark and Lois start dating
11. Superman and Mxy have their first battle of wits, Superman fights Zod, believes he killed Zod (Zod survives unknown to Kal), Clark exiles himself from Earth
12. Clark meets Mongul and fights as a gladiator on Warworld, his dumping of Lois causes her to reject his attempts at reconciliation when he returns, Diana and Kal date briefly for a period before parting as friends
13. Kara arrives on Earth, Lois and Clark reconcile
14. Clark proposes to Lois
15. Clark battles the Eradicator and Hank Henshaw’s family dies as a result of their mutations
16. Clark outs himself as Superman to Lois, Lois calls off the engagement to deal with her feelings about Clark lying and gaslighting her all those years
17. Clark and Lois get back together, Doomsday arrives, Death of Superman/Reign of the Supermen, Kon makes his debut, Steel returns to active duty
18. Lois & Clark get married
19. The Electric Blue Superman Saga happens
20. Jon is born
21. President Lex is inaugurated
22. Superman vs. The Elite, Ending Battle
23. Public Enemies occurs, Lex is impeached, Infinite Crisis, and 52 occur
24. Up, Up, and Away takes place, Superman & The Legion of Superheroes arc occurs, Supes gets his childhood memories back of the Legion, Camelot Falls occurs
25. Final Crisis occurs
26. As a result of the bomb attempt on Lois, the Kents go into hiding, Lois writes her book about Intergang, Jon learns that his favorite hero Superman is also his dad, Superman fights Ulysses and the Mechanist
27. Basic events of the Tomasi and Jurgens Rebirth runs occur
28. Steel and Lana get together, Lana manifests superpowers and becomes Superwoman
29. Bendis Man of Steel occurs, Clark learns that the future has shifted because of what happened to Jon, a new Legion is created, Jon is aged up and goes off to be with them
30. Clark reveals his identity to the public, United Planets is formed, present day

Plenty of gaps there to slot in some of his Pre Crisis adventures or any Post Crisis stuff there too.

[Sacred Knight]

Honestly? I'd pick an origin, which ever origin they wanted. And that'd be it. Nothing else would stay. Even if you don't start from year one or anything, if you just go right from him being a vet, his past exploits are all vague. Nothing staunch to have to follow or adhere to. The incoherent history is the problem, its so watered down in retcons that's its worthless. so keeping any of it is pointless now in my eyes. Its not going to happen, but I stand firm its what should happen.

[Jon Clark]

Honestly? I'd pick an origin, which ever origin they wanted. And that'd be it. Nothing else would stay. Even if you don't start from year one or anything, if you just go right from him being a vet, his past exploits are all vague. Nothing staunch to have to follow or adhere to. The incoherent history is the problem, its so watered down in retcons that's its worthless. so keeping any of it is pointless now in my eyes. Its not going to happen, but I stand firm its what should happen.

That sounds similar to the problems with Post-Crisis and the New-52. The idea that "something" happened before the first story but we don't know what. I might not care about Superman's 9th battle with Brainiac, or whether he had lunch with Batman last Tuesday, but I would like to know the rough history of his "relationships" with Bruce and Brainiac. Did Doomsday and Superman have a battle that resulted in Superman's "death"? Are Superman and Wonder Woman just close friends or was there a romance that just didn't work out in their past? If Power Girl exists just what was her relationship with Clark? With Supergirl?

I know we won't get all of this on "day one" of any relaunch, but please don't give us another five-year gap like new-52. Or a Post-Crisis situation where Superman has been active for years but no one knows or can agree on what did or didn't happen in those years. One writer has Superman operating in secret as "superboy" as a teen. Another states Clark's powers didn't fully manifest until he was 18. A third insists Superman debuted as a vigilante who leaped rather than flew. We get a teen heir to a fortune Lex Luthor in one story while someone else tells of how Lex founded LexCorp with the insurance money from his Suicide Slum parents' deaths.

I want more than a single origin story that lays out a few basics and then every creative team getting to add their favorite stories back in. I want someone with the authority to say "No that was a great story but it no longer fits what we are building" to any creative team that is using Superman in the shared universe (ie not Elseworlds or one-shots, but including stuff like that cameo in a JSA flashback or his showing up in this month's Flash)

[Sacred Knight]

Fair enough, but one aspect where I think it might help is if the continuity is generally just really vague, they wouldn't have to worry about it anymore. I'm just over continuity and all the damn headaches it causes. It just gets in the way of good storytelling far more often than not. I mean, look what's going on now. Lead up to the next event....to try to fix continuity. Its a never-ending dance.

Ideally, I'd just reboot from scratch again. Only this time do it right, everything starts over, no gap. But of all the unlikely ideas, unfortunately I think this one is the most unlikely.

[Gaius]

I'd probably go with something along the lines of the Superman 2000 pitch since I think most of that would still work for a fresh reboot. At least in terms of stuff that was backstory (Jor-El and Lara not knowing if Kal made it, wandering years, being mentored by old JSA members, and the villain re-inventions).

[Restingvoice]

Idk much so
Krypton
Birth
Kents
Superboy
Lana Lang prom
Legion of Super-hero
Daily Planet internship
Daily Planet
Superman
Lois
Jimmy
Luthor
All the other villains
Death
All the Super family origins
Return
Marriage
Jon

My problem is more Kara and her age since DC likes to keep her at 17. The Kara who's older than Dick is Power Girl but even when I wanna make it that way when the second Kara should arrive and who is her peer? Barbara Gordon or Stephanie Brown?

Oh I have no problem him dating Diana before settling with Lois

Oh and he has to be modern age to keep all the supporting cast alive so unless JSA is on Earth 2 he cant be the world first superhero

So JSA is on Earth 2