How to make Superman relevant

[TomServofan]

Now for comics and movies, they need to make him relevant for this century. Hasn't been since the 80s. Closest thing that has made him relevant recently is the Animated Series (TAS) and Smallville.

Problem is to many people he is just too boring. Google "most boring superhero" and Superman DOMINATES the list.

Here is what they should have done:

- Nerf his powers. Have electricity hurt him, as well as bullets.

- Give him a good villain. Too much Lex and Zod. What about Metallo, Brainiac, or even Bizarro?

- Give him some moral complexity. Have him kill a little more - be less of a boyscout. Enough of this "new aged Jesus" crap.

- A better disguise. The "glasses" thing was even ridiculous in 1978.

These are steps needed to make Superman relevant again

[Dolores - The Worst Poster Ever]

...I'm just going to back away slowly and never enter this thread again.

[neonrideraryeh]

Superman is always relevant. Sure there are some angsty nolanbatfanboys who've never read a single superman comic who think Supes is boring. However, in reality Superman has persevered for over 75 years because he's incredibly interesting and has been the subject of hundreds of stories with no sign of stopping.

[Doctor Know]

Supes is relevant. Look at all the titles that have him in it or his name on the cover. Also the cinematic universe, his latest movie spawned.

[TomServofan]

Superman is always relevant. Sure there are some angsty nolanbatfanboys who've never read a single superman comic who think Supes is boring. However, in reality Superman has persevered for over 75 years because he's incredibly interesting and has been the subject of hundreds of stories with no sign of stopping.

Would you like to see him reimagined?

[bholderman]

Personally, I think the optimistic, midwestern boy scout is relevant needed more now than ever.

[Hilden B. Lade]

make him a luchador

[Totoro Man]

Superman is always relevant. Sure there are some angsty nolanbatfanboys who've never read a single superman comic who think Supes is boring. However, in reality Superman has persevered for over 75 years because he's incredibly interesting and has been the subject of hundreds of stories with no sign of stopping.

eh, this disdain pre-dated Nolan's films. I felt that way back in the early 1980s-- LONG before Frank Miller's tDKR (which is actually a bigger part of the problem than Nolan's Bat-films).

it wasn't until I actually read those original Superman stories (from the 40s) where I decided, "hey, Superman's actually pretty awesome". the pre-Spiderman double life made him fun and easy to relate to. and I appreciated how Jewish the character was in his conception. the more WASPy and integrated the character became later I felt like he lost something important. he was no longer the outsider in normal life and the god-like being in costume. he was just the god-like being.

I don't think having him get married was necessarily a terrible idea-- because even though Lois might accept him now, there were other ways to explore his status as being an "alien" or "other" that could still apply. but having them separate seemed like an even worse idea.

'Lois & Clark' was popular enough-- as was "Smallville". I didn't like L&C all that much... but it wasn't the concept-- it was the execution: goofy writing and TV special effects. what I did like was the idea of emphasizing Clark's role as a reporter. I wish they did more of that in the comics. his role as a journalist was much more prominent in the Golden Age stories because it was a fun way to have changing locations, it allowed for entertaining detective work (because Clark is a smart guy), and it allowed changing locales for fun action set-pieces.

I think Supes will always be relevant... providing the United States still exists. he's part of America's growing pop mythology now. and he's arguably one of the most important parts of the pop mythology landscape-- moreso than Star Wars or Star Trek in some ways. just because a lot of writers lack imagination and don't fully exploit the potential of his character and world doesn't mean that he's become irrelevant.

and to address the complaint about Luthor: part of the reason why Lex Luthor keeps showing up (over and over and over) is because of this:
Superman represents the sort of idealized America we wish we could be. and Lex Luthor represents the America we actually see in the real world. it's hard to get much more relevant than that. people don't always fully appreciate why Luthor keeps showing up-- but I think that's the reason why.

Bizarro was a fun character-- and I was hoping he would have shown up in the films by now. it adds some depth and complexity to Supes because everybody else sees Bizarro as a threat-- and Supes is aware of the fact that Bizarro is trying to help, and that in spite of his best intentions, he's doing more harm than good.

Supes was fun on JLU. but, yeah, they nerfed him. and I'm okay with that-- because they still showed a lot of respect for the character... even when they gave him some flaws.

[Savage Savant]

Stupid thread. Superman doesn't need to be changed at all to make him relevant, all that needs to be done is for the character to regain his Golden Age personality and ensure his power levels always remain at at least Bronze Age level. Have Superman have a combination of Dr. Who esque adventures where he travels the farthest reaches of time & space as well as stories about him ceasing the operations of corrupt politicians and businessmen and trying to help the lower-class of Metropolis.

I guaren-damn-tee you if Superman was portrayed in such a manner (Basically Mr. Impossible & The Champion of the Oppressed) then these bullshit claims about the character being boring, lame, etc. would disappear. I fully acknowledge that Dr. Who is a totally different character but no one ever complains about the Doctor having a genius level intellect and always finding a way to win (yes I know the Dr. doesn't get into fights (except for the Third Dr. occasionally), but the point still stands), yet this is always a bs claim Superman haters make. Just have Superman encounter villains more powerful than him so that he has to use his intellect & a clever combination of his powers to solve his problems. How f@cking hard is that?

[Tra-EL]

Superman is always relevant. Sure there are some angsty nolanbatfanboys who've never read a single superman comic who think Supes is boring. However, in reality Superman has persevered for over 75 years because he's incredibly interesting and has been the subject of hundreds of stories with no sign of stopping.

I've had this debate with countless number of people and I agree 1,010% /thread!

[Dr. Banner]

I don't see how such an enduring, iconic and popular character is not relevant. Maybe relevant has a different meaning here.

[JBatmanFan05]

...I'm just going to back away slowly and never enter this thread again.

Amen.

All the comics can do, at least, to help Superman regain some prior popularity is, IMHO, to really look at All-Star Superman and own up that that style and that tone and that lack of darker realism is way to go for Superman and his world. Then you get Morrison or other top talent to do that.

If DC continues to treat Superman comics like Batman comics, just with different colors, then the character will continue to flounder.

[jimishim12]

Just work on his world building(Metropolis is the worst offender), make the enviroment less realistic and more phenomenal like Superman so people won't see the obvious of a lion in a den of sheep. Superman is too powerful and perfect to live in a story where the aspect of fictional humans that he lives with are tied to real life and they are completely boring and lame compared to a living god like alien(peak level humans don't count).

Batman's world does this, every thing about human capabilities compared to the actual super humans are exaggerated because Batman symbolizes apex human potential, everyone in the story that is a major role in the story is a badass treated as a mythological character which ties to Bruce's ongoing fight against crime. It's the go to wish fulfillment of human street levelers being superheroes as themselves and not a make believe figure of otherworldly power.

[Flash Gordon]

Now for comics and movies, they need to make him relevant for this century. Hasn't been since the 80s. Closest thing that has made him relevant recently is the Animated Series (TAS) and Smallville.

Problem is to many people he is just too boring. Google "most boring superhero" and Superman DOMINATES the list.

Here is what they should have done:

- Nerf his powers. Have electricity hurt him, as well as bullets.

- Give him a good villain. Too much Lex and Zod. What about Metallo, Brainiac, or even Bizarro?

- Give him some moral complexity. Have him kill a little more - be less of a boyscout. Enough of this "new aged Jesus" crap.

- A better disguise. The "glasses" thing was even ridiculous in 1978.

These are steps needed to make Superman relevant again

How about we just do absolutely none of that?

[Ascended]

How about we just do absolutely none of that?

Well that just makes sense!

Not relevant? Really? He's the most recognized superhero on earth, the second most recognized fictional character on earth (after Mickey Mouse) and is the fourth highest merchandising hero on earth right now, with only Batman, Spider-Man, and the Avengers as a group out selling him. He's maintained all this despite only having one film in the last ten years, while everyone else mentioned has had at least two films, one cartoon series and a lot more effort put into their marketing.

I'd say Superman is pretty damned relevant, even if some people still dont get him. And those who dont get him, I feel sorry for.