Why isnt Supermans cast as popular as Batmans cast in spin offs

[Hoodj]

You get Superboy, some Superman alts like Kenan and Superman Jon, supergirl and sometimes lois alonside Lex, Brainac, sometime Bizarro for the villains. But compare them to the Robin legacy, Nightwing, Jason, Batgirl(Babs, Cass, Steph, etc) and the Birds of Prey, Batman alts, Joker, Catwoman, Harley, Ivy and even the Gotham Police. Its odd that the former gets all these equal side stories and they arent as popular or recognized as the latter. Why is this?

[Stanlos]

You get Superboy, some Superman alts like Kenan and Superman Jon, supergirl and sometimes lois alonside Lex, Brainac, sometime Bizarro for the villains. But compare them to the Robin legacy, Nightwing, Jason, Batgirl(Babs, Cass, Steph, etc) and the Birds of Prey, Batman alts, Joker, Catwoman, Harley, Ivy and even the Gotham Police. Its odd that the former gets all these equal side stories and they arent as popular or recognized as the latter. Why is this?

Batman didn't have a Man of Steel style hiccup where editorial mandated the removal of some of those bits. So Bats has a head start on Supes there. Both have a headstart on WW--I mean even MOS isn't as egregious and significant a change to the origin as Flashpoint/52. They literally popped a squat on her mythology

[walk]

I think the fact PKJ is the first writer to ever make a go at making the Superfamily an actual thing is telling, Superman has all these interesting characters but they're rarely allowed to interact with each other and kept largely separate and apart from Clark himself vs Batman where everything much more integrated which allows his world to continue to grow and grow along with audiences investment in it.

[Jon Clark]

Strangely enough, although Batman is often thought of as more of a lone wolf, Superman is actually the guy who is more stand-alone. Batman spent most of the Golden and Silver Ages as half of "Batman and Robin". Batman's TV show had Batgirl as part of the cast for the third season.
Superman has been a solo hero for most of his existence. Jimmy and Lois might have been his supporting cast but there were more Superman stories without them than there were Batman sans Robin stories in their 1st 50 years. Supergirl was largely disassociated with Superman having her own adventures for most of her existence. TV shows never featured other powered heroes in the regular cast. Supergirl the Movie actually avoided having the cousins meet (even off screen).

Outside of the occassional team-up or a formal team (JLA, Legion) you just don't get Superman having partners.

[DochaDocha]

I tend to think that because Robin caught on with the general public early on, it greased the wheels for shuffling in more Bat characters, e.g. Batgirl for the Adam West show.

[The Overlord]

Too be fair, Supergirl had her own comic book series, movie and TV show. Lois Lane had her own comic book series, shared the Spotlight with Superman in the Lois and Clark show and even got her own series of YA novels:

https://www.thriftbooks.com/series/lois-lane/88979/

That's not bad overall.

[Will Evans]

From the Silver Age to the Bronze Age, Superman’s uplifting cast all had their own comics, Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane, Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, Supergirl, and also the Legion of Superheroes can be considered a spin-off of Superman.
None of Batman’s supporting cast had their own comics. Even Robin didn’t have one.

This all changed in the 1980s Batman became more popular than Superman. All Superman’s supporting cast’s comics were canceled. And Superman got streamlined after Crisis on Infinite Earths. Batman was t streamlined though.

And the. In the early 1990s, Batman’s spin-offs were popular enough to get their own comics: Robin, Azrael, Catwoman and eventually Nightwing and Batgirl.
After Superman’s death and return, Steel, Superboy and Supergirl got comics. But all eventually canceled. A new Supergirl comic came out but it was the new take on the silver age Supergirl and was a spin-off of Superman/Batman comic.

Superman comic franchise tries to expand but every time they do, Superman’s Origin and history keeps getting rebooted and changed again so that it doesn’t matter.
Batman, on the other hand, gets getting history added to him, not changed. Cashing his supporting cast to grow and develop and be more popular.

[Vordan]

You get Superboy, some Superman alts like Kenan and Superman Jon, supergirl and sometimes lois alonside Lex, Brainac, sometime Bizarro for the villains. But compare them to the Robin legacy, Nightwing, Jason, Batgirl(Babs, Cass, Steph, etc) and the Birds of Prey, Batman alts, Joker, Catwoman, Harley, Ivy and even the Gotham Police. Its odd that the former gets all these equal side stories and they arent as popular or recognized as the latter. Why is this?

Uh the answer is obvious: because Batman has had more content showing off his world. Superman’s last solo cartoon was in the 90s, before S&L his last TV show where he was actually Superman in Metropolis was also in the 90s (and S&L still primarily takes place in Smallville away from the Daily Planet cast). Before Benoist the last Supergirl was from the awful 1980s Supergirl movie.

He’s never gotten a popular video game to spend 20 hours showcasing his lore and background characters like Batman has, his movies have been flops or contentious, he simply hasn’t had the big successes that Batman has had. At least now we’ve gotten solid takes on Supergirl, Superboy (Conner), Steel, and some of his villains in recent years, even with the huge flops like DCEU Lex. It’s a slow process but with MAWS on the way and presumably MoS2 bringing in Brainiac or Manchester Black most likely there’s a good chance public awareness and appreciation for his wider Mythos may grow. Depends on if that actually succeeds or not however.

[Hoodj]

Too be fair, Supergirl had her own comic book series, movie and TV show. Lois Lane had her own comic book series, shared the Spotlight with Superman in the Lois and Clark show and even got her own series of YA novels:

https://www.thriftbooks.com/series/lois-lane/88979/

That's not bad overall.

How many of em won an emmy or oscar.

[DABellWrites]

It shows the state of Superman where DC Comics thinks a Superman spin-off title won't sell. The Man of Steel has been in a slump for a while now, which the company hasn't figured out how to pull him out from. Rebirth was the last hurrah of Superman carrying multiple titles. By 2018, everything not Superman and Action Comics was canceled except for Supergirl; who got canceled in 2020 (or was it 2019?) and hasn't had a book since. I think DC Comics has lost a lot of goodwill from a lot of readers who has gone else to find their kick (indie, Image, Kickstart, Webtoon, all these places), and people who have turned to back issues and trades. Brian Michael Bendis was the wrong choice, regardless if you liked his run. There's no doubt his ideas didn't gel over with Superman readers.

[DABellWrites]

I think the fact PKJ is the first writer to ever make a go at making the Superfamily an actual thing is telling, Superman has all these interesting characters but they're rarely allowed to interact with each other and kept largely separate and apart from Clark himself vs Batman where everything much more integrated which allows his world to continue to grow and grow along with audiences investment in it.

Uh, no. Superman Family was a thing for decades already. It even had a title during the 1970s and 1980s.

[manwhohaseverything]

Because they are too similar to clark(powers, ideologies, designs, personality,tones of stories..etc)and provides no contrast what-so-ever.Their lore isn't that impressive compared to the likes of damian,dick,barbera and jason.Point blank.Superman itself doesn't have stable direction.

Superman character itself hasn't successfully pulled off the "sherlock holmes and watson,Don Quixote and sancho panza" troupe that is different and great from the superhero version of it in batman and robin/alfred.I am not even gonna bother with superboys cause most of em aren't great addition and done the job... prime, conner and jon included.Maybe the character can't or shouldn't?

i am not on that boat.why? Clark's dumb savior complex needs a sassy sarcastic cynical sidekick.Jesus shtick clark does and paternalism goes unchallenged.Good ol nice farmboy thing as well doesn't have any alternative.They tried with conner but that wasn't very great and they rolled it back.Conner became more clark-esque ...(I am talking about classic "pop" culture superman popularised by donner and byrne)

There are exceptions like bizarro.But,Bizarro is an after thought and isn't exactly treated like family.Steel needs to break away from the ironman mold to have any hopes of hitting big,on top of that he has adopted Clark's shtick and motive.These things need to be addressed.


Lois,jimmy,bibbo, sawyer and turpin are great.but,they aren't given good material...They aren't superfamily.

[Will Evans]

Because they are too similar to clark(powers, ideologies, designs, personality,tones of stories..etc)and provides no contrast what-so-ever.Their lore isn't that impressive compared to the likes of damian,dick,barbera and jason.Point blank.Superman itself doesn't have stable direction.

Superman character itself hasn't successfully pulled off the "sherlock holmes and watson,Don Quixote and sancho panza" troupe that is different and great from the superhero version of it in batman and robin/alfred.I am not even gonna bother with superboys cause most of em aren't great addition and done the job... prime, conner and jon included.Maybe the character can't or shouldn't?

i am not on that boat.why? Clark's dumb savior complex needs a sassy sarcastic cynical sidekick.Jesus shtick clark does and paternalism goes unchallenged.Good ol nice farmboy thing as well doesn't have any alternative.They tried with conner but that wasn't very great and they rolled it back.Conner became more clark-esque ...(I am talking about classic "pop" culture superman popularised by donner and byrne)

There are exceptions like bizarro.But,Bizarro is an after thought and isn't exactly treated like family.Steel needs to break away from the ironman mold to have any hopes of hitting big,on top of that he has adopted Clark's shtick and motive.These things need to be addressed.


Lois,jimmy,bibbo, sawyer and turpin are great.but,they aren't given good material...They aren't superfamily.

Lois has been the sassy sarcastic cynical sidekick ever since they got married.

[manwhohaseverything]

Lois has been the sassy sarcastic cynical sidekick ever since they got married.

Yeah!i don't really feel it..She is no where near an alfred(maybe never was).personalitywise she isn't the bluntly honest,no nonesense and reckless type no more which was classic clark kent's opposite(atleast from the outside and some part of him..glasses guy and superman duality comes into play).Not gonna lie when lois is written well is damn great.Jimmy as well who provided children's outlook and later on basically parodied superheroes troupes(even if that wasn't the intention)..Bibbo needs to break the blue collar stereotype.

What i am trying to get at is..you put your main character at the center.Then you branch off by comparing and contrasting as required by the story and it's themes(accidentally jason's death and birth of redhood becoming a defining part of batman lore.. because redhood filled a void of a batman with guns). Otherwise the cast will feel unnecessary.Most of batman's cast fill a neccassity that batman character itself can't.Casts feel lively when there is a give and takes..

[walk]

Uh, no. Superman Family was a thing for decades already. It even had a title during the 1970s and 1980s.

If it was 40/50 years ago and we still lived in world where Lois and Jimmy could sustain a 100+ run OP wouldn't of made the topic in question but we're not and clearly talking in reference to modern day so I don't why you're being deliberately obtuse and my point still stands most of the Superfamily have almost no established relationship or history with each other compared to the Batfamily, PKJ upcoming run will be first time a lot these characters will working and interacting together in a significant capacity.