Has Superman ever been written with the Spider-man formula?

[Revolutionary_Jack]

This is one of those "problems" that fans make to be far complicated than it actually is.

Superhero serial stories by their nature depend on the fans for their engine and glue. If a problem appears and is percieved by the fans to be the case, there's no functional difference between "a problem that is actually complicated" and "a problem that is only complicated because the fans make it so".

Superman as a character was never created to have a strong psychological motive to do what he does. Batman was given a motivation because you had to explain why a rich guy without powers would risk his life to fight crime by his fists. Superman was never explained as to why he helps people and saves people, and uses his powers for good. It was presented as because he's a decent man and that was enough. Then you added his upbringing and that made sense.

But Superboy raised the issue of when he decided to sport the tights and become an actual superhero. If he had control over his powers in his teenage years and was an active superhero at the start, or if he became one as an adult.

That provided some room for psychology to enter into his character and that created issues because nobody is prepared to or can agree on what this psychology should be.

[Agent Z]

Superhero serial stories by their nature depend on the fans for their engine and glue. If a problem appears and is percieved by the fans to be the case, there's no functional difference between "a problem that is actually complicated" and "a problem that is only complicated because the fans make it so".

And Superboy/No Superboy is absolutely an example of the latter.

We have seen Superman work both with and without Superboy in his past. The Superboy thing is something fsns have complained about but it largely is not a big deal.

[Cyberstrike]

I think Spider-man stories go beyond his youth and include things like soap opera relationships with villains, humor, failures in one's personal life due to being a hero, etc.

The best ones did. Now of days it's more about Spider-Man than Peter Parker. And it's been that way same with Superman and the rest of the major DC heroes for the last 20 years.

[Agent Z]

The best ones did. Now of days it's more about Spider-Man than Peter Parker. And it's been that way same with Superman and the rest of the major DC heroes for the last 20 years.

Wait, you don't think the past Spider-Man stories have had soap opera, relationship failure and humor?

[SecretWarrior]

Smallville is when Superman felt the most Spider-man-like to me. Interestingly the creators of Smallville, Alfred Gough and Miles Miller would also go on to write the screen play for Spider-man 2 so the parallels may have been intentional.

On Smallville, Lana was Clark's 'Gwen Stacey', Lois felt like his 'Mary Jane' while Chloe was actually closer to comic book Lana Lang in being a reporter who helped Clark. The Lionel/Lex dynamic mirrored the Norman/Harry dynamic and Clark/Lex relationship had parallels with Peter/Harry relationship. Clark being a superhero in Smallville, albeit a secretive one, was from Superboy. Instead of 'responsibility', Clark was burdened by 'destiny' and his attempts to avoid his destiny ends up backfiring on him, much like it does for Peter. Clark even quits being his superhero self a few times. He lost his powers at the start of season 5 and when Tom Welling returned for the Crisis crossover, he had chosen to give up his powers and live a normal lives. He even has two kids (two daughters) , meanwhile Peter in MC2 has two kids (daughter and son).

Excellent points. One of the most likable interpretations of Clark too. Wish they got to do that Aquaman show they wanted to do.

[Frontier]

Excellent points. One of the most likable interpretations of Clark too. Wish they got to do that Aquaman show they wanted to do.

But then we wouldn't have gotten Justin Hartley as Green Arrow .