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  1. #1
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    Default was Clark/Superman's powers neutered after Pre-Crisis and if so why?

    I liked his powers just how crazy they were, being able to spin the world around time travel...I wish current Supe issues referenced his Pre-Crisis adventures and powers much like Grant Morrison did on Batman

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    Quote Originally Posted by CTTT View Post
    I liked his powers just how crazy they were, being able to spin the world around time travel...I wish current Supe issues referenced his Pre-Crisis adventures and powers much like Grant Morrison did on Batman
    For some people, it's too hard to write him when he is as strong as that. I mean the guy can pull planets, breaking the universe by flying, and so strong he can push universes. It's hard to find him a worthy villains to have contest punch to punch fight. But, then again it's also fun and imaginative, but it's also making him too out of reach. So, people at DC at that time try to 'grounded' his ability a little to make him a bit more relatable to audiences.

  3. #3
    Incredible Member magha_regulus's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CTTT View Post
    I liked his powers just how crazy they were, being able to spin the world around time travel...I wish current Supe issues referenced his Pre-Crisis adventures and powers much like Grant Morrison did on Batman
    The thing is, he was arguably the most popular super hero charcter in the world when he was at his most ridiculous levels of power. I completely disagree that his power level makes it hard to write him. Nobody raises that argument for green lantern or the flash, thor, or the silver surfer. Although I completely disagree with the reasoning, that is the excuse given. I think Superman is an intimidating character for many comics authors and i think its their inability to use their imagination to really get into his head and see through is perspective that's the real issue here. For as much slack as Bendis gets, he at least understood that Superman's super hearing was key to understanding the world from the character's point of view. Some authors get it, others don't. I'm right there with you in wanting more silver age references.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by magha_regulus View Post
    The thing is, he was arguably the most popular super hero charcter in the world when he was at his most ridiculous levels of power. I completely disagree that his power level makes it hard to write him. Nobody raises that argument for green lantern or the flash, thor, or the silver surfer. Although I completely disagree with the reasoning, that is the excuse given. I think Superman is an intimidating character for many comics authors and i think its their inability to use their imagination to really get into his head and see through is perspective that's the real issue here. For as much slack as Bendis gets, he at least understood that Superman's super hearing was key to understanding the world from the character's point of view. Some authors get it, others don't. I'm right there with you in wanting more silver age references.
    Yes they have. Silver Surfer in particular suffers from this given how much he struggles with maintaining an ongoing.

  5. #5
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    was Clark/Superman's powers neutered after Pre-Crisis
    No because he wasn't powered down back to his golden age level.

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    Quote Originally Posted by magha_regulus View Post
    Nobody raises that argument for green lantern or the flash, thor, or the silver surfer.
    They raised those questions for Thor and Silver Surfer too. I think we have to remember while Thor is now enjoying the place where he is one of the top sellers of Marvel Superheroes comic, he is in limbo for I think 10 years since the Dissasembled events and that's for the same reason as Superman is which is he is too strong, he had a very campy personality and uninteresting villain and cast. And the same can be said with Silver Surfer that struggles to maintain his title because his alien themed stories really unattrative to people.

  7. #7
    Mighty Member witchboy's Avatar
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    Batman's history is easier to tie together as he hasn't been changed as much through the reboots, more of his history can be intact.
    But Superman has had hard reboots to his history. Not just his power levels but his backstory and the personalities and lives he and his supporting cast have had. Pre Crisis Lex was a known super criminal while post Crisis he was publicly a respectable business man and philanthropist. The Kents were dead pre Crisis, but still alive post Crisis - then dead post Flashpoint, then alive again. It's a lot harder to force those different eras to co exist in one cohesive narrative for Superman than Batman, who is mostly the same character from pre and post Crisis.

  8. #8
    Took me a while, I'm back Netherman14's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CTTT View Post
    I liked his powers just how crazy they were, being able to spin the world around time travel...I wish current Supe issues referenced his Pre-Crisis adventures and powers much like Grant Morrison did on Batman
    From when I understood, whenever Superman time-traveled Pre-Crisis he became intangible and thus rendered unable to intervene unlike in the Donner movies.
    Pull-List:

    DC: Batman: Damned, The Green Lantern. Young Justice. Wonder Twins

    Boom!: Ronin Samurai.

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    the powers of superman have been reduced and the powers of other heroes have increased (flash and the force of the force), the reason is that for dc, superman is a tool, they want to show how bad and powerful a villain is, the villain beats up superman, they want to show how incredible a hero is, they make him beat up the villain who beat up superman, they don't feel like working they turn superman into a villain.
    that superman is very powerful and that is why it is difficult to write, it is silly.
    1: It doesn't matter if it destroys planets or galaxies, that metropolis is not reduced to dust at the first punch is ridiculous.
    2: Instead of giving everyone kryptonite, increase the power of the villains.
    3: take superman out of metropolis, it's so difficult for superman to have a history outside of that shitty city.
    4: explore his Kryptonian side, Kryptonian gods and demons etc.
    5: look for confrontations that go beyond the physical, that kidnap metropolis and superman has to think instead of throwing a punch.
    Unfortunately that will not happen, it would mean that DC would have to put in some effort and of course they would lose their tool.

  10. #10
    Astonishing Member Ra-El's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by NaVi View Post
    the powers of superman have been reduced and the powers of other heroes have increased (flash and the force of the force), the reason is that for dc, superman is a tool, they want to show how bad and powerful a villain is, the villain beats up superman, they want to show how incredible a hero is, they make him beat up the villain who beat up superman, they don't feel like working they turn superman into a villain.
    that superman is very powerful and that is why it is difficult to write, it is silly.
    1: It doesn't matter if it destroys planets or galaxies, that metropolis is not reduced to dust at the first punch is ridiculous.
    2: Instead of giving everyone kryptonite, increase the power of the villains.
    3: take superman out of metropolis, it's so difficult for superman to have a history outside of that shitty city.
    4: explore his Kryptonian side, Kryptonian gods and demons etc.
    5: look for confrontations that go beyond the physical, that kidnap metropolis and superman has to think instead of throwing a punch.
    Unfortunately that will not happen, it would mean that DC would have to put in some effort and of course they would lose their tool.
    Basically this. For DC, the notion that Superman is te most powerful hero is more useful than actually making him the most powerful. So when they need to establish a new threat or show how competent a hero is, they only need to have them beating Superman and the public gets the message.

    The new Suicide Squad game is a good example of this, they could have used Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Flash or any other JL member, but they chose Superman, because they new that by using him, they would establish the stakes much easier and the wow factor would be bigger. Eventually the knowledge that we, fans of comics have, that Superman would never win a fight against any "underdog" will branch to the general audiences too, then maybe we will have a pause on that kind of use for the character. Maybe Wonder Woman is the next one.

  11. #11
    Ultimate Member Phoenixx9's Avatar
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    I think I read once that the writers/DC claimed that they basically cut Superman's power down to 25% of what they were Pre-Crisis. They did not say why. Don't know if this is true or not.

    What shocked me was that by the time they had done Pre-Crisis stories for almost 50 years! All of a sudden Superman's powers were too awesome?

    However, Superman Post-Crisis still remains very, very powerful, and for all intents and purposes, the strongest DC character.

  12. #12
    Extraordinary Member Jokerz79's Avatar
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    Even in the Bronze Age during Pre-Crisis they started to depower him some his powers just went crazy levels during the Silver Age.

  13. #13
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    When talking about Superman's power levels, people need to remember that for most of the Silver Age and Bronze Age, Superman rarely fought really tough enemies.

    In the Post-Crisis era, Superman fought Doomsday, alien threats like White Martians, Darkseid and other World-Ender type threats. In the Silver and Bronze Ages, Superman stories were mostly comedies where Superman outfoxes and out-tricks people and he fought and overpowered a range of civilian threats here and there. Brainiac being the major and notable exception. It was a huge shock when Brainiac appeared because here was a villain who in his first appearance A) Got away with it, B) was so powerful Superman couldn't land a punch against. Nowadays Superman can land a punch on Brainiac and his deflector shields (the Injustice 2 game, as bad as it is with its Evil Superman claptrap, actually did get this part right in the cutscenes). So I'd say it's evened out.

    The Silver Age Superman by virtue of the enemies he fought he came off as being more powerful because the point was to sell Superman as the ever-competent adventurer whose powers are unbeatable. The Post-Crisis Superman, or the Late Bronze Age Superman, because it's a different era of comics had to raise stakes and so on.

    The power levels of a character, of any super-powered character, are likewise never a set-in-stone single power-meter kind of thing. It constantly fluctuates depending on the story, stakes, aesthetic changes and so on. Batman for instance is far more physically powerful now than he used to be even in the '70s. It used to be that Batman relied more on gadgets and that while great as a fighter, he could be ganged up on, and Joker and others could land a punch now and then. Now Batman is a god who can clear out rooms of ninjas without gadgets, without shirts, sometimes without pants...because he has become Batgod.


    ...and as for Superman "turning back time".
    A) That was a lame ending in the original Superman movie,
    B) Can never work as an actual ongoing power,
    C) Only makes sense with a small child's understanding of astrophysics.

    So I don't know why people want this back.

  14. #14
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    during early john byrne superman era , he wasn't as powerful as his pre-crisis self which is why pocket universe kryponians were all stronger and faster than superman ,superman costume weren't indestructable like before coie and he couldn't time travel like before.




  15. #15
    The Man Who Cannot Die manwhohaseverything's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Agent Z View Post
    No because he wasn't powered down back to his golden age level.
    I wouldn't call that neutered. I would love a more grounded take with guy who only jumps 1\8th a mile(at best) ,faster than a locomotive, left incredible weights, bursting shell durability... Etc.

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