The Superman Fan Fiction Workshop

[Bored at 3:00AM]

If you think about Superman stories set in the future, this is one place where it feels very very natural. Especially if you are a fan of the Golden Age, or the T-shirt Superman from Grant Morrison.

Your love of Morrison's All Star Superman and his Neo-Golden Age revamp are very apparent in your writing.

[Soubhagya]

I really enjoyed that. A very heady hard sci-fi approach towards the Superman mythos. My biggest suggestion would be to break it up a little more into more digestible chapters, so that readers can more easily take a break between each section, as all the science is a lot to take in all at once. It might be better delivered in smaller chunks.

I am glad you enjoyed that. Your suggestion is welcome. There is a natural division within the text: The Fortress of El, Superman's adventures on other planets, journey to the edge of the universe and the Legion paradox. Maybe i will come up with some chapter names to divide this into smaller chunks.

While writing this, i came up with the idea of making this a 'fictional book'. Something like 'Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them'. It is an actual textbook studied at Hogwarts within the Harry Potter universe. Now they are making the movies with no relation to the book, but it was an actual textbook which Harry, Ron, Hermione and others studied at school. The way i have arranged it, is its meant to be one chapter within the book written by Lois Lane, which is being continued by the Lois Lane's AI after her death. This is a deleted chapter from the book which would one day be found by the Legion. Getting the clue to Superman's secret identity will send them on a journey to the past. Setting up the meeting between a young Clark and the Legion.

I am glad you noted the more 'hard sci-fi' approach. While time travel is one of my favorite sci-fi concepts, even the best works don't stand under scrutiny. Bill and Ted Face the Music was one of my favorite comedies from the past few years. But its time travel didn't make a lick of sense. Endgame was standing relatively 'tight' within its logic of time travel, till Steve chose to stay in the past. Future Past is among my favorite X-Men films. But it surely was convenient that Kitty Pryde finds out a specific use of her phasing powers. I love time travel in stories. Even if they don't make a lot of sense. I am no expert in physics, but from what i have studied (which isn't much) this is the time travel which seems possible. Except for the phantom ghost part. This form of time travel from some older Superman stories always fascinated me.

Thanks again for creating this thread. Superman lovers who have some inclination to write can take advantage of this.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I am glad you enjoyed that. Your suggestion is welcome. There is a natural division within the text: The Fortress of El, Superman's adventures on other planets, journey to the edge of the universe and the Legion paradox. Maybe i will come up with some chapter names to divide this into smaller chunks.

While writing this, i came up with the idea of making this a 'fictional book'. Something like 'Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them'. It is an actual textbook studied at Hogwarts within the Harry Potter universe. Now they are making the movies with no relation to the book, but it was an actual textbook which Harry, Ron, Hermione and others studied at school. The way i have arranged it, is its meant to be one chapter within the book written by Lois Lane, which is being continued by the Lois Lane's AI after her death. This is a deleted chapter from the book which would one day be found by the Legion. Getting the clue to Superman's secret identity will send them on a journey to the past. Setting up the meeting between a young Clark and the Legion.

I am glad you noted the more 'hard sci-fi' approach. While time travel is one of my favorite sci-fi concepts, even the best works don't stand under scrutiny. Bill and Ted Face the Music was one of my favorite comedies from the past few years. But its time travel didn't make a lick of sense. Endgame was standing relatively 'tight' within its logic of time travel, till Steve chose to stay in the past. Future Past is among my favorite X-Men films. But it surely was convenient that Kitty Pryde finds out a specific use of her phasing powers. I love time travel in stories. Even if they don't make a lot of sense. I am no expert in physics, but from what i have studied (which isn't much) this is the time travel which seems possible. Except for the phantom ghost part. This form of time travel from some older Superman stories always fascinated me.

Thanks again for creating this thread. Superman lovers who have some inclination to write can take advantage of this.

I think giving titles to each section would work perfectly. I particularly enjoyed the non-fiction book within a fictional universe approach you took. It worked well.

I think time travel stories are always tricky, because it boils down to magic no matter how much writers try to justify it all. I personally didn't have any issues with the time travel in Endgame because the explanation of all the branching timelines of it all and assumed that's where Steve went at the end. It wasn't until the screenwriters claimed that he'd gone back to the main timeline that things got muddied, even though the directors have asserted that Steve's return to the past created another alternate timeline--because that's exactly what the film had established would happen.

[Soubhagya]

Your love of Morrison's All Star Superman and his Neo-Golden Age revamp are very apparent in your writing.

That's true. My favorite part from this is the journey to the edge of the universe. That has been done before in some form or another. In DC One Million, where he reaches the Source Wall and in Supreme, Alan Moore's homage to the Silver Age Superman. That section might be the one proper story within my writing, as this changes Superman such that he finally moves on from Earth, to continue his fight across the universe.

There are two things here. First, by this one can have stories like the Golden Age, where he would fight 'real' villains. Corrupt politicians, war, police state, etc. By sending him around the galaxy, such stories can never theoretically end. Maybe Superman can solve all of the problems within Earth. But can he do so around the universe? Seems improbable to me.

Speaking of impossible, the second point was about how he has no limits. Truly speaking for Superman nothing is impossible. While travelling towards the edge of the universe, he was flying at speeds beyond even his own comprehension. Billions of times the speed of light. Maybe million times billion the speed of light. Maybe more. But even then he couldn't reach the end. Upon giving up his connection to Earth and everyone, he perhaps could reach his destination. But that price was too much, and the journey was left incomplete.

I purposefully left it vague whether there was actually an end to the universe. 'Some infinities are bigger then other infinities'. Just a few days before i started writing i watched this fascinating video about the limitations of mathematics and mathematicians, and how that helped invent the modern day computers using which we are communicating. It maybe a bit complicated, but still its a fascinating watch. There are some true statements which we can't prove. That was the idea behind Superman's effort in trying and failing to understand the 'end' of universe. But in the end, it was still worth it.





In case you didn't catch this both All Star Superman and Whatever Happened To The Man of Tomorrow have happened in this story. They take place, but in a modified form. All Star Superman happened first. That changed Luthor for good. Thus, when the final siege at the Fortress of Solitude takes place it doesn't contain the Luthor-Braniac hybrid. Like this there are many minor and major changes. At the end of All Star Superman, its seen that he's repairing the sun. Yes he repairs the sun by constructing his Fortress of Solitude within the sun.

But like Moore and Morrison, i feel Cary Bates is quite important here. For he's the immortal Superman. For getting anything you have to pay the price. That's kinda my philosophy here. And for the price of Superman's supposed immortality, he's left as one of his kind. All alone. From Superman #400 and some of the posters here whose names i forget, i got the idea of making Superman a mysterious legendary figure. This would feel like a history book of sorts, for nobody knew what happened to Superman. There's stories of him surfacing here and there, but its not conclusive. Like that beautiful story, set in a human colony on the Moon, where one guy wants to sell his drink to a group of youngsters. He tries to sell the good effects of his drink using a story where an old Superman saved him. While everyone is enthralled by the story, one kid points out the holes within his story but accepts the drink as tasty. Everyone purchases it and go away. The man notes to his son, that its not important whether the stories are true.

A lot of this is by connecting to Indian philosophy. Which is one of my primary interests. There's ideas from the metaphysical Sankhya philosophy. The four spiritual orders as given in Vedas, and rebirth as in Bhagavad Gita. This is already mentioned, but one reason why Superman has a fiery temperament is because of his mother Lara. Eventually he becomes a scientist of sorts, like Jor-El. But his fiery revolutionary nature is very much due to Lara, who was a rebel/revolutionary. And of course Jonathan, who inspired him to direct his powers and anger to protect the weak and fight the powerful who prey upon them. This is kind of inspired from one of the characters in Mahabharata, the ancient Indian epic. For anyone interested i have a lot to talk about.


Like i said, i had a really good time writing this up. Not something, which would interest most readers, but then that's not my purpose. Fanfictions are stories written by fans, mostly for themselves.

I think giving titles to each section would work perfectly. I particularly enjoyed the non-fiction book within a fictional universe approach you took. It worked well.

I think time travel stories are always tricky, because it boils down to magic no matter how much writers try to justify it all. I personally didn't have any issues with the time travel in Endgame because the explanation of all the branching timelines of it all and assumed that's where Steve went at the end. It wasn't until the screenwriters claimed that he'd gone back to the main timeline that things got muddied, even though the directors have asserted that Steve's return to the past created another alternate timeline--because that's exactly what the film had established would happen.

Time travel. Yes its almost always like magic. I don't think parallel timelines makes much sense. Does that mean that by altering past events, we are creating new universes? An entirely separate world which comes out of nothing? That does not make much sense. But who cares? Endgame was a great movie.

I have modified this a lot. In one of my earlier drafts, Lois' AI was musing on the possibility that the various universes have come into existence because someone like Barry Allen, played with forces like the Speed Force. My way of time travel is also somewhat like magic. The Legion were only observing Clark, when the Time Bubble materialized. Due to some mysterious reason, there seems to be a means by which Clark could travel to and from the 31st Century. And that seemed to happen only in 21st Century Smallville. One possible explanation was Time itself was a living entity, of God tier nature who allowed this to happen. Or it was an unexplained behavior of the time stream. But there's no reason to bother with an answer. Leaving small unsolved mysteries are better imo. The point remained that Clark and Legion inspired and formed one another.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I don't think parallel timelines makes much sense. Does that mean that by altering past events, we are creating new universes? An entirely separate world which comes out of nothing?

Parallel timelines are the basis of the DC's current cosmology, essentially. With each choice made, new realities created in which different choices were made, an ever-expanding infinite multiverse generated by the free-will of all sentient beings.

Does any of that make scientific sense? Like you say, who cares? All that matters to the reader is whether or not the story is worth telling

[Falcon16]

THE PITCH: Brainiac goes into the body of a civilian to take over his brain and use him to get the missing part of his newest invention. Because Superman is out, Supergirl has to go in after Brainiac and fight him.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1giA...ew?usp=sharing

[RobinGA]

A writer with fan fiction is creating a new reality. Picking and choosing from continuity
is perfectly appropriate. After all we are in "it all happened," who is to say what is and
what is not real?

The only thing would be to follow a consistent conception of reality once choices are made.
Like making the river flow a certain way, you don't want to be going back and forth.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

A writer with fan fiction is creating a new reality. Picking and choosing from continuity
is perfectly appropriate. After all we are in "it all happened," who is to say what is and
what is not real?

The only thing would be to follow a consistent conception of reality once choices are made.
Like making the river flow a certain way, you don't want to be going back and forth.

Absolutely. For all the fanfic stories I write, I've set them in a history that, more or less, follows the same trajectory, time period, and story beats that the original comics did. This can lead to some headaches every once and awhile though, like trying to figure out how Lois Lane's globe-trotting army brat background could work when her childhood would take place in the 20s and 30s, which was prior to the America's post-war expansion wherein they had military bases all over the world. However, trying to find solutions to those problems end up prompting even more ideas, so it all kinda works out in the end.

In the end, fanfic is essentially a mental puzzle for me to unwind and have fun with the characters and world I love in ways that the comics generally don't explore.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

THE PITCH: Brainiac goes into the body of a civilian to take over his brain and use him to get the missing part of his newest invention. Because Superman is out, Supergirl has to go in after Brainiac and fight him.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1giA...ew?usp=sharing

This looks great! Looking forward to reading this one later today. Thanks for contributing!

[RobinGA]

Yes, you phrase it well Bored. People who have never done it how much time people
serious about it have to try and make all the strands fit together. It can be
very time consuming.

[Robanker]

In the end, fanfic is essentially a mental puzzle for me to unwind and have fun with the characters and world I love in ways that the comics generally don't explore.

Absolutely this. It's a fun way to interact with the universe that's usually very positive and helps to mitigate the frustration of your favorite characters languishing in obscurity as another Batbook gets announced.

I've got a whole host of projects I'm working on right now and one day I'll post them if I think they're up to snuff. I know I did a Mxy story that I shot by Bored the other day that was absolutely stupid in a way that made me smile all day at work while I was mulling it over.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Absolutely this. It's a fun way to interact with the universe that's usually very positive and helps to mitigate the frustration of your favorite characters languishing in obscurity as another Batbook gets announced.

I've got a whole host of projects I'm working on right now and one day I'll post them if I think they're up to snuff. I know I did a Mxy story that I shot by Bored the other day that was absolutely stupid in a way that made me smile all day at work while I was mulling it over.

You really should post that Mxy story. It's a lot of fun. This is a safe space

[Bored at 3:00AM]

THE PITCH: Brainiac goes into the body of a civilian to take over his brain and use him to get the missing part of his newest invention. Because Superman is out, Supergirl has to go in after Brainiac and fight him.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1giA...ew?usp=sharing

That was a blast. Very Innerspace meets Justice League Action. Hell, this easily could have worked as an episode of that show. I particularly liked how arch Brainiac's dialogue was, like he was portrayed in the LEGO Cosmic Clash, which my students loved.

Thanks for sharing!

[Falcon16]

That was a blast. Very Innerspace meets Justice League Action. Hell, this easily could have worked as an episode of that show. I particularly liked how arch Brainiac's dialogue was, like he was portrayed in the LEGO Cosmic Clash, which my students loved.

Thanks for sharing!

I have another draft of the script typed, showcasing camera angles and fixing some errors. I was trying to go for DCAU Brainiac with the dialogue, but I've only watched 3 episodes of Superman TAS in which he appears. Yeah. I'm not ready to write serious stories. Any idea how I can turn this into an episode of Superman TAS rather than JLA?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/16cm...ew?usp=sharing

(BTW the real endo episode of JLA I hated because they used Superman instead of Cyborg. Heath Corson actually apologized to me on Twitter and said my idea "would've been fun too.")

[Vathlonian]

I am glad you enjoyed that. Your suggestion is welcome. There is a natural division within the text: The Fortress of El, Superman's adventures on other planets, journey to the edge of the universe and the Legion paradox. Maybe i will come up with some chapter names to divide this into smaller chunks.

While writing this, i came up with the idea of making this a 'fictional book'. Something like 'Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them'. It is an actual textbook studied at Hogwarts within the Harry Potter universe. Now they are making the movies with no relation to the book, but it was an actual textbook which Harry, Ron, Hermione and others studied at school. The way i have arranged it, is its meant to be one chapter within the book written by Lois Lane, which is being continued by the Lois Lane's AI after her death. This is a deleted chapter from the book which would one day be found by the Legion. Getting the clue to Superman's secret identity will send them on a journey to the past. Setting up the meeting between a young Clark and the Legion.

I am glad you noted the more 'hard sci-fi' approach. While time travel is one of my favorite sci-fi concepts, even the best works don't stand under scrutiny. Bill and Ted Face the Music was one of my favorite comedies from the past few years. But its time travel didn't make a lick of sense. Endgame was standing relatively 'tight' within its logic of time travel, till Steve chose to stay in the past. Future Past is among my favorite X-Men films. But it surely was convenient that Kitty Pryde finds out a specific use of her phasing powers. I love time travel in stories. Even if they don't make a lot of sense. I am no expert in physics, but from what i have studied (which isn't much) this is the time travel which seems possible. Except for the phantom ghost part. This form of time travel from some older Superman stories always fascinated me.

Thanks again for creating this thread. Superman lovers who have some inclination to write can take advantage of this.

Your physics are a little wonky on the time dilation

But awesome job

Keep up the great work

We need more science god Superman