What should DC have kept from the pre-Flashpoint universe?

[superduperman]

If you had a chance to keep something from Superman's pre-Flashpoint history in the New52 reboot, what would it be? The marriage? The costume? His parents still alive? Keep in mind, the universe will still be rebooted, but if you could have a say in what aspects of Superman's history to keep, what would you keep?

[Sacred Knight]

Well, I would say some of he supporting characters of Metropolis but to split hairs that went away more around IC, so was already gone prior to the reboot. And by that I mean guys like Bibbo, the Cadmus installation housing the Jim Harper Guardian, Dubbilex and other DNAliens, that kind of stuff. These are all things that can and hopefully will be reintroduced with time, but I'd have brought them in immediately.

[Slaughter]

Well, I would say some of he supporting characters of Metropolis but to split hairs that went away more around IC, so was already gone prior to the reboot. And by that I mean guys like Bibbo, the Cadmus installation housing the Jim Harper Guardian, Dubbilex and other DNAliens, that kind of stuff. These are all things that can and hopefully will be reintroduced with time, but I'd have brought them in immediately.

That, and the Kents
Really, it feels lonely without the Kents.
Leave the orphan thing to Batman, I say.
Not to mention Truth would have bigger stakes if the Kents were alive.

[Jon Clark]

I'm torn between everything or nothing.

So much of what I miss from Pre-Flashpoint is tied to large chunks of continuity. For example, how do you preserve Superman's relationship with Superboy or Supergirl while removing the Kents and reworking Lana? Do we introduce Kara with a backstory where Kal already has his role set? Tie the hands of her creative team by requiring them to hit certain storybeats to establish that Kal/Kara relationship? Can you get closeness between Superman and Kon if you want to keep a mystery about how Kon was created and have removed the possibility of the Kents being there to take him in?

Same with the marriage- how do you get a rookie Superman feel if you have to give Lois and Clark enough history to have reached the marriage stage? At that point it feels like you either need to keep much of Superman's history with Lois that it isn't a reboot as much as a string of retcons on how the same history played out.

[manofsteel1979]

Don't have a lot of time to elaborate but I would say the classic suit, A lois and Clark who are in a relationship(dating or engagement) and she knows the secret and perhaps some of the 90s supporting cast.

[stephens2177]

The kents alive,I like that they humanize him,give him a place to bounce moral dilemmas he is going through off them.kon and Kara would be allowed around his parents after he totally trusted them and spent way more time with them than he does now.

Lois would not be his wife,but his hot as hell,smart as hell best girlfriend ever lol.oh and she would figure his secret out in the very first issue of action comics

[steeplejack2112]

Everything.

[The World]

Cyborg Superman, he was one of Superman's better antagonist who got hijacked and then thrown away in the reboot.

[Sacred Knight]

Yeah, they need to get Hank Henshaw into that body stat.

So really just that and what I posted above. Pre-Flashpoint Superman was pretty terrible so there's not much there worth saving. Despite a couple minor qualms DC was right to throw out the baby with the bathwater.

[Frontier]

Don't have a lot of time to elaborate but I would say the classic suit, A lois and Clark who are in a relationship(dating or engagement) and she knows the secret and perhaps some of the 90s supporting cast.

I think this is pretty much the same for me as well, even if I can live with the New 52 redesign, in that the Lois and Clark relationship is carried over somehow and more of the Post-Crisis Supporting Cast back in a meaningful way.

And it'd be nice to have at least one of the Kents still alive .

[Prime]

Not much really. Like that other poster said, Cyborg Superman.

[superduperman]

Yeah, they need to get Hank Henshaw into that body stat.

So really just that and what I posted above. Pre-Flashpoint Superman was pretty terrible so there's not much there worth saving. Despite a couple minor qualms DC was right to throw out the baby with the bathwater.

My feeling about the pre-Flashpoint Superman is that his history was too convoluted and tried too hard to be all things to all people. Something that is impossible. But I have to admit that there are a few things that I miss like the Kents being alive. It would have been nice to keep the Super-marriage but it's not a deal breaker for me or anything. My defense of the New52 is that Superman was one of the characters who truly did need a reboot. Granted, a lot of characters probably didn't. But Superman did. I posted this thread because not long ago I picked up a cheap copy of The Lightning Saga and seeing how much I missed some of the old continuity. But all of the Legion stuff just reminded me of how unnecessarily complicated Superman's history was back then. Trying to force feed both pre-and post-Crisis continuity together didn't work. Sorry to all pre-Flashpoint Superman fans but that's how I feel.

[James Hunter]

Personally, I'd actually quite like his relationship with Superboy renewed (at the end pre-FLASHPOINT there they had a good relationship which I felt had potential).

I'd also like (but I know this one is a larger stretch given the unfortunate apparent dislike for the golden age characters) tosee the likes of Iron Munro and the Guardian to reappear.

Cheers.

James.

[DrNewGod]

I suppose ditching the Kents and Superman's relationship with Lois (who knew his secret, whether they were married or not) are the things I'm sorry to see go the most.

The deep and rich cast is also something I miss, but figure that's the sort of thing that needs to be rebuilt over time following a relaunch.

I do wish they hadn't rushed into Metallo they way they did. He and Parasite probably vie for my affections as Favorite Superman Foe. I'm not a fan of this interpretation as a whole, but I would have liked a slow, steady build from adversary, to cyborg to kryptonite fueled menace.

[exile001]

Pretty much everything, but mostly THE KENTS!!! It adds nothing to have them dead.

While we are still in New-52's infancy, I feel we got the worst of all worlds. Not SA enough for some fans, not post-Crisis enough for others and taking the things each section of fan likes least from each (e.g. de-powered Superman vs most of Krypton surviving.)

While now a pariah in comic circles, I felt the Loeb era got the balance perfectly right.