DCU Movies

[Agent Z]

I don't know, man. I am in my 20s and I have grown up hearing how Superman is lame and he is only interesting when he is either evil or being used as a means to prop up Batman.

You see people of all ages and nationalities saying they love Batman and Spider-Man, meanwhile Superman fans are like a super specific section of people: Americans in the 40-60 age range who grew up reading Silver/Bronze Age Superman.

I see more fans of Henry Cavill than I see of Superman, and even Cavill's take only became popular in the aftermath of the Snydercut hysteria and Cavill's fame after the MI movie. It wasn't popular when he was playing the character.

Even DCAU, which people claim to be the definitive Superman from their childhood, did 3 separate evil versions of him and left no opportunity to show him as inferior to Batman in every way.

Superman is recognizable but he doesn't have a real fandom to speak of. Superman content might do decently on the basis of word of mouth if it is exceptionally good but the Superman brand alone does not get people interested.

I'm in my 20s too and I largely agree with you but I don't think that all of that means there isn't an audience for Superman. No matter what the audience is they are generally intelligent sensitive people who respond well to well-made content. All the movie needs to be is good and propped up enough to stand out from the zeitgeist of superhero fare.

Not everyone who went and saw Barbie played with barbie dolls as a kid. Not everyone who saw Mario played the games. Sometimes recognizability is enough, and for Superman, I trust that it's more than enough.

I'm in my 30s and I see more instances of Superman fans complaining about how modern audiences hate him as a character and concept than I see actual evidence of such. I feel the hatred Superman gets is wildly exaggerated and comes from some Superman fans being very insecure about the character's role in pop culture.

[Robotman]

I'm in my 30s and I see more instances of Superman fans complaining about how modern audiences hate him as a character and concept than I see actual evidence of such. I feel the hatred Superman gets is wildly exaggerated and comes from some Superman fans being very insecure about the character's role in pop culture.

Superman hasn’t been seen as “cool” in over 40 years. There was renewed interest when he died and returned but that quickly faded.

But even not being considered as cool or popular as Spider-Man, Batman, or The Avengers doesn’t mean he still doesn’t have a huge fanbase.

Personally I think things are looking brighter for the character than they have in a long time. I’m actually feeling optimistic about Superman’s direction, which even I’m shocked by.

He has always been considered OP which apparently made him boring but there are many characters now with a similar powerset (Invincible, Captain Marvel, Homelander, Goku, etc.) that I think it’s become a lot more accepted by fans because it’s been normalized in pop culture. That’s just the “superhero powerset” now.

We’re seemingly coming out of the dark age of evil Superman depictions, which is freaking great. Evil Superman is not edgy anymore, it’s a very tired concept (look how the evil Justice League was received in Suicide Squad: KTJL). I think My Adventures with Superman and Superman and Lois have done a great job of creating new fans of the more classic genuinely nice guy who is just trying to help. Could be a generational thing too. Gen Zers may be more accepting of this version of the character than angsty Gen Xers and some Millennials.

There has also been a renewed interest from comic book creators to write Superman and I personally haven’t loved Superman books this much is ages. We just need a great Superman movie to put him over the edge.

[Leancarp900]

I think what really screwed Superman was the lack of a major movie franchise in the 2000s. Batman had Nolan. Spider-Man had Raimi. Superman had...uh Returns.

Also STAS was decently popular, but overall it seems to get overshadowed a bit by the other popular DC shows from its era (BTAS, JL/JLU, Teen Titans, Batman Beyond).

[Holt]

The lack of decent video games also didn’t help.

[Frontier]

I'm still remaining hopeful .

[Customizer]

Well, you can't force people to like certain characters. Black fanbases have turned their attention to Starfire because Cyborg is not appealing enough and even DC let Christopher Priest print the following story in an official book

The fact that they let the Black Panther analogue do this LOL.

*sigh* as a Cyborg supporter i recall this being a clear sign that DC , IMO, was not to be taken seriously. Lip service supreme.

[Laser_Man]

I think what really screwed Superman was the lack of a major movie franchise in the 2000s. Batman had Nolan. Spider-Man had Raimi. Superman had...uh Returns.

Also STAS was decently popular, but overall it seems to get overshadowed a bit by the other popular DC shows from its era (BTAS, JL/JLU, Teen Titans, Batman Beyond).

From what I know, STAS was not popular when it was airing. Even the team of writers on it were dissatisfied with it and quickly jumped to make Batman Beyond after STAS was cancelled.

The main reason people have nostalgia glasses for STAS is because they lump it with BTAS and assume both shows were of comparable quality (they were not). Most people have only watched the crossover episodes with Batman or the Late Mr. Kent episode, and they forget how the rest of the show was just generic filler with no real character development or exploration of Superman and his mythos.

[G. Boney]

The main reason people have nostalgia glasses for STAS is because they lump it with BTAS and assume both shows were of comparable quality (they were not).

Hard disagree about the quality.

[Android 17]

Hard disagree about the quality.

Exactly. Supes TAS had some gems and was very well written.

Dana Delany is still undefeated as Lois to me, although Bitsie Tulloch is a close second.

[Johnny]

Erica Durance's Lois is in a league of her own. Those two are up there though.

[Laser_Man]

Hard disagree about the quality.

Having recently watched the series, I don't get the hype over it.

Superman himself was handled very poorly. He is just so snarky and stoic all the time. He doesn't seem like a friend to all people, he is more like a well meaning police officer. They never included any moments of him interacting with common people, his entire role was just come in, fight villains and then go back.

He also really had only a surface level relationship with Lois and Jimmy. I never got a sense of who Superman is and why he does what he does while watching the show like I did with watching BTAS which explored Batman in a more meaningful way.

Another problem was the number of team up episodes which often reduced Superman to second fiddle in his own show. I always got the sense that it was a Superman show made by people who were never really interested in Superman. Considering the comments made by Timm and Dini before the series, and the observations of Mark Waid about STAS' writer's room, I think it fits.

[Laser_Man]

Exactly. Supes TAS had some gems and was very well written.

Dana Delany is still undefeated as Lois to me, although Bitsie Tulloch is a close second.

Dana Delany's voicework was superb but the writing was really sub par. She was constantly shown as "Not Like Other Girls" the way she always made mean remarks about every other woman in a very shallow way. They also made her a lot less interested in finding the truth and more about making big name for herself. This also shows in her dating Bruce and Lex, plus being obsessed with Superman while treating people like Clark and Jimmy poorly.


I think most of the love for that version of Lois comes from people finding the design attractive.

[Frontier]

Dana Delany's voicework was superb but the writing was really sub par. She was constantly shown as "Not Like Other Girls" the way she always made mean remarks about every other woman in a very shallow way. They also made her a lot less interested in finding the truth and more about making big name for herself. This also shows in her dating Bruce and Lex, plus being obsessed with Superman while treating people like Clark and Jimmy poorly.

I think most of the love for that version of Lois comes from people finding the design attractive.

I think it's a mix of the design, Dana Delany, and that whatever writing issues there were she still came across as a memorable and on-point depiction of Lois.

[Refrax5]

Having recently watched the series, I don't get the hype over it.

Superman himself was handled very poorly. He is just so snarky and stoic all the time. He doesn't seem like a friend to all people, he is more like a well meaning police officer. They never included any moments of him interacting with common people, his entire role was just come in, fight villains and then go back.

He also really had only a surface level relationship with Lois and Jimmy. I never got a sense of who Superman is and why he does what he does while watching the show like I did with watching BTAS which explored Batman in a more meaningful way.

Another problem was the number of team up episodes which often reduced Superman to second fiddle in his own show. I always got the sense that it was a Superman show made by people who were never really interested in Superman. Considering the comments made by Timm and Dini before the series, and the observations of Mark Waid about STAS' writer's room, I think it fits.

I like TAS for what it is, but I agree with your characterization of Superman. He was pretty uptight and stodgy. He seemed a little more sanctimonious and disapproving than warm and compassionate. I think the show had a lot of good qualities, but I never loved the Timmverse depiction of Superman.

[Thirteen]

I like TAS for what it is, but I agree with your characterization of Superman. He was pretty uptight and stodgy. He seemed a little more sanctimonious and disapproving than warm and compassionate. I think the show had a lot of good qualities, but I never loved the Timmverse depiction of Superman.

The opening of THE NEW BATMAN/SUPERMAN ADVENTURES captures (and contrasts) the essence of both characters but especially Superman (and Lois in a flash) better than any live action adaptations have in decades, if ever.