Why do they call Superman the Man of Tomorrow?

[InsanityIsTrueSanity]

Hi all! Just curious about this nickname. Why is he known as the Man of Tomorrow?

[misslane]

I don't know if there's an explicit canon reason for the name, but I always thought it was because Superman represents the best of what all peoples can achieve. It's a title given to him because he represents hope for the future.

[kidstandout]

because he's guaranteed to still be there *comedy drum fill*

[Dispenser Of Truth]

G.Mo summed it up as well as anyone:

[Pinsir]

We don't we call him that though...

[Dispenser Of Truth]

We don't, we call him that though...

Gee, I wonder where you might be going with this...

[Bat007007]

Because he was able to travel forward in time all by himself without tech.

[ActualNoobler]

Metropolis is called the City of Tomorrow.

[Jim Kelly]

Because it was much more common in classic comics to use descriptive captions and those captions used colourful epithets for the hero in place of or in addition to his name. Probably influenced by the pulps which also used epithets rather than always repeating the name of the hero, which is boring to the English speaking ear. In English we like to have several different words or expressions to represent the exact same thing. Or we used to--a variety of diction is hardly evident in most modern writing I'm afraid.

Superman was called the Metropolis Marvel, the Caped Kryptonian, the Action Ace, the Man of Steel, the Man of Tomorrow--among other sobriquets (the possible number of these only limited by the writer's imagination). Jerry Siegel probably intended that Superman was an advanced human being and in theory all human beings would evolve to be as powerful and intelligent as the Caped Kryptonian. The epithet might have been influenced by the 1939 New York World's Fair, which had a "Futurama" exhibit that depicted "the World of Tomorrow."

World of Tomorrow, Man of Tomorrow . . . given Superman himself appeared at the New York World's Fair, in the person of Ray Middleton, the association would have made good sense.

Before there was a Superman in the comics, there was Clark Savage in the pulps--and this guy was also called the Man of Bronze. So there's also that.

[dupersuper]

Well, he's a super intelligent, super strong, super fast invulnerable flying man who can travel in space or to the oceans depths, shoot fire from his eyes, hear your heartbeat before you're on his street, count the grains of sand on Mars with a glance...

Why wouldn't they?

[Great O.G.U.F.O.O.L.]

Jerry Siegel probably intended that Superman was an advanced human being and in theory all human beings would evolve to be as powerful and intelligent as the Caped Kryptonian.

That was my guess as well, especially since Superman wasn't insanely powerfull originally and it could be theorized we could evolve to be like him in the future. Does anyone know when it was first used?

[Alan2099]

He's called the Man of Tomorrow because if they called him the Man of Next Thursday it would sound really stupid... and they didn't want to plan that far ahead anyway.

[kidstandout]

He's called the Man of Tomorrow because if they called him the Man of Next Thursday it would sound really stupid... and they didn't want to plan that far ahead anyway.

lmao 10 chars

[Auguste Dupin]

Because it was much more common in classic comics to use descriptive captions and those captions used colourful epithets for the hero in place of or in addition to his name. Probably influenced by the pulps which also used epithets rather than always repeating the name of the hero, which is boring to the English speaking ear. In English we like to have several different words or expressions to represent the exact same thing. Or we used to--a variety of diction is hardly evident in most modern writing I'm afraid.

Superman was called the Metropolis Marvel, the Caped Kryptonian, the Action Ace, the Man of Steel, the Man of Tomorrow--among other sobriquets (the possible number of these only limited by the writer's imagination). Jerry Siegel probably intended that Superman was an advanced human being and in theory all human beings would evolve to be as powerful and intelligent as the Caped Kryptonian. The epithet might have been influenced by the 1939 New York World's Fair, which had a "Futurama" exhibit that depicted "the World of Tomorrow."

World of Tomorrow, Man of Tomorrow . . . given Superman himself appeared at the New York World's Fair, in the person of Ray Middleton, the association would have made good sense.

Before there was a Superman in the comics, there was Clark Savage in the pulps--and this guy was also called the Man of Bronze. So there's also that.

Well, in a early draft, Superman litterally came from the future. And as far as Siegel and Shuster were concerned, subtextually he still came from there.

[Kurosawa]

Because it was much more common in classic comics to use descriptive captions and those captions used colourful epithets for the hero in place of or in addition to his name. Probably influenced by the pulps which also used epithets rather than always repeating the name of the hero, which is boring to the English speaking ear. In English we like to have several different words or expressions to represent the exact same thing. Or we used to--a variety of diction is hardly evident in most modern writing I'm afraid.

Superman was called the Metropolis Marvel, the Caped Kryptonian, the Action Ace, the Man of Steel, the Man of Tomorrow--among other sobriquets (the possible number of these only limited by the writer's imagination). Jerry Siegel probably intended that Superman was an advanced human being and in theory all human beings would evolve to be as powerful and intelligent as the Caped Kryptonian. The epithet might have been influenced by the 1939 New York World's Fair, which had a "Futurama" exhibit that depicted "the World of Tomorrow."

World of Tomorrow, Man of Tomorrow . . . given Superman himself appeared at the New York World's Fair, in the person of Ray Middleton, the association would have made good sense.

Before there was a Superman in the comics, there was Clark Savage in the pulps--and this guy was also called the Man of Bronze. So there's also that.

You are correct. First use of the Man of Tomorrow name was in New York World's Fair #1, 1939.

The "Man of Steel" name first appeared in Action Comics #7, December, 1938, and Superman's original nickname was of course, "Champion of the Oppressed", from Action Comics #1, June 1938.