Shouldn't superman have an edgy, cool and mysterious sidekick?

[K. Jones]

Yes, yes he should.

For a storyline, at least.

As is the case with Batman and Robin, it should be a kid who has a back-story that mirrors Clark's, making him have that drive to mentor the kid. So for that I'd say Super-Robin ought to be an alien sent from a doomed world to be raised by humans in some regard. Probably not Kryptonian - but maybe a Daxamite. In that regard a more youthful version of Mon-El would work if he weren't from the Future. Obviously in some ways Supergirl fits this bill but is already too established and not as in need of mentoring. And thinking generationally anyway, Supergirl from 1960 falls more in line with the Dick Grayson generation of sidekicks, Conner obviously with the Tim Drake generation and Jon with the Damian generation so this would maybe be a 1980s-period flashback to when Superman had his own Jason Todd-era temporary sidekick? Back when everyone had the edgy sidekick.

So I think Matrix would be a good bet here if you were retconning, as a strange alien refugee who won't quite have as "easy" a time assimilating into Earth-culture as Clark had, what with being an extradimensional flamebeing Phoenix-Force scenario.

Then you know, just do a weird Phoenix Saga riff.

[Jackalope89]

Yes, yes he should.

For a storyline, at least.

As is the case with Batman and Robin, it should be a kid who has a back-story that mirrors Clark's, making him have that drive to mentor the kid. So for that I'd say Super-Robin ought to be an alien sent from a doomed world to be raised by humans in some regard. Probably not Kryptonian - but maybe a Daxamite. In that regard a more youthful version of Mon-El would work if he weren't from the Future. Obviously in some ways Supergirl fits this bill but is already too established and not as in need of mentoring. And thinking generationally anyway, Supergirl from 1960 falls more in line with the Dick Grayson generation of sidekicks, Conner obviously with the Tim Drake generation and Jon with the Damian generation so this would maybe be a 1980s-period flashback to when Superman had his own Jason Todd-era temporary sidekick? Back when everyone had the edgy sidekick.

So I think Matrix would be a good bet here if you were retconning, as a strange alien refugee who won't quite have as "easy" a time assimilating into Earth-culture as Clark had, what with being an extradimensional flamebeing Phoenix-Force scenario.

Then you know, just do a weird Phoenix Saga riff.

Yeah, Jason kind of falls into a weird era where new kid sidekicks weren't much of a thing. There was Kid Devil, whom he was pen pals with, and briefly a member of the New Teen Titans (very brief, admittedly). So, yeah. That's kind of why the Rebirth Outlaws worked pretty well. Artemis and Clone Biz, both not really falling into any one group like Jason, made for a very interesting trio.

But the thing about Jason; when he first came back, he wasn't Punisher-esque. Instead, he became a crime boss and controlled crime. Yes, he did a number on those that disobeyed his rules, especially about targeting kids for drugs and such. But otherwise, he ran a tight ship. And then New52 added the All-Caste to his time after his resurrection (the All-Blades do a number on magical beings, including Amazons).

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

I'd have him mentor Osiris, Black Adam's brother in law. There's an interesting storyline where he tries to help this misguided kid come back to the light.

Same with Terra or YJ Geo-force. If Anarky didn't die recently, I'd add him to the list because of his political beliefs and anti-villian status.

[marhawkman]

I'd say Lor-Zod could fill that role.

Hmm... maybe, but Lor-Zod has either... not been edgy or not a sidekick(of Superman). He's been both but not at the same time.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Hmm... maybe, but Lor-Zod has either... not been edgy or not a sidekick(of Superman). He's been both but not at the same time.

It's a new continuity. He could do both now.

[Jabare]

oh lord

the last thing Superman needs is to be more like Batman

[manwhohaseverything]

oh lord

the last thing Superman needs is to be more like Batman

Well too bad,batman was made because of and inspired by superman.. That's not the point.The point is having a wide variety of cast

[Vic Vega]

It would be kinda dull for Superman to have a sidekick that had his exact power set. But the sidekick has to be at able to keep up with Supes or why is he even there?

So for this to work the sidekick would have to have a similar but different power set that he might barely be able to control. That's why Superman is mentoring him... to prevent him and his powers from being a danger to himself and others while showing the kid the ropes of the hero game.

So I'm thinking that maybe this kid got the Superman Blue/"Electric Superman" powers and the whole Superman Blue deal. So he needs a containment suit and has no powers in his human form ( maybe the kid refuses to ever power down because of this making his power even HARDER to control).

As far as his personality would I'm thinking he'd be cocky with a bad temper but basically a good kid. I'm not sure Superman fans want or need Superman mentoring a second Jason Todd or Damien Wayne.

So I'm thinking something like 90's Superboy but with a temper and even more ego.

Of course if DC hadn't aged up Jon Kent, this exercise would be moot. Supes had a sidekick the fans were happy with. Then Bendis decided to age him up.

[marhawkman]

Heh, One could argue that Leslie Willis was Superman's sidekick, but she's not exactly a teen...

[RobinGA]

I think there are separate issues between Superman mentoring a young hero, with having an actual sidekick.

It has been 80 plus years, Superman hasn't needed one, there is no reason to change things.
No matter how much has gone wrong lately, it is hard to see how a sidekick would improve the direction.

I do think for the younger heroes that Superman provides a degree of validation, a different voice.
That was the role that Superman played with a young Dick Grayson.

[Ascended]

While I still maintain that Clark isn't the "sidekick" type and wouldn't accept one, if he *had* to take one on for in-story reasons, why not a member of the Forever People? If any kid is going to keep up with Clark and be more of an asset than a liability, it'll be a New God. At the same time, the Forever People are young (by their standards) and might consider Superman someone worth learning from. For them it could be a "summer internship" sort of thing; something to be done before joining the war effort against Apokolips.

[Robotman]

They could bring back Cir El and give her the Flamebird codename.

[PCN24454]

Discussions like these are why Superman marginalized Superboy in Young Justice.

[SuperX]

Discussions like these are why Superman marginalized Superboy in Young Justice.

How do you mean marginalized him?

[Lukmendes]

I mean.. Kara was Red Lantern for a while. :P Is that edgy enough?

The irony is how Kara with a red lantern ring was less edgy than in the previous issues lol.

She also has a point about the drinking thing being Earth nonsense.

Either way, he definitely should get one of those, and the character should be named Jason, so fans who read Batman's and/or Diana's comics can get an idea on what kind of insufferable ******* Supes is getting .