So, what is *your* take on Superman?

[DieHard200904]

So about my Elseworlds ideas, I was thinking to try as an ending pushing Superman as a stepfather or an adoptive father at the end instead of the common biological father in many Elseworlds, I was also thinking of having him have one Elseworlds story where he ends up falling for and getting with Lyla as someone who takes his side against General Zod in a JLA vs. Phantom Zone Kryptonian War. Just some crazy ideas out there.

Another idea is that he and Lois keep Chris Kent (Lor-Zod) instead of that short canon stint.

[Johnny Thunders!]

I think of Superman has conquering things gods struggle with, but still have a hard time with Terra Man. Plus where's Beppo?

[Jadeb]

I like more "man" in Superman. As a kid I'd read old Bronze Age back issues and think it odd that he worked at WGBS rather than the Planet. But now that setup really appeals to me, partly because there was such a well-developed supporting cast. I really miss that focus on Clark's everyday life. And I loved that Clark so loved being a hero; he was a guy from an ordinary background who got to do good and have the most crazy adventures. An evil space cowboy riding a flying horse might show up. While I don't think modern comics need to be quite that silly (at least on the regular), I wish there was still that sense that anything could happen.

[Jim Kelly]

I don't want Superman's philosophy to be completely worked out. His experiences and his powers give him a unique insight on life, so he probably has some very profound ideas, but I think he's still trying to figure it out for himself and decide what is the good life (in Plato's terms).

Yes Superman has a code--founded on principles he learned both from the Kents and from his biological parents--but that can only serve him so far and his mission will take him to places no Superman has gone before. So Superman can learn and grow and change. And he's not the type to preach to others and tell them how they should live their lives. He's knows enough to know he doesn't have all the answers.

[Vinsanity]

By Rao. I can get behind this!!

Thanks, man.

I feel like you have this flexibility, so you don't have a strict version. Also allows Lois to do more and Clark to interact with more of the DCverse.

[Jon Clark]

Respectfully, I have to disagree on the alien god angle.

For sure, the alien bit is how they explain him having those super-powers--but I see that as being a lot like Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's creations for Marvel. I never take their characters as serious examples of science fiction (contrasted with some of what Gardner Fox and John Broome created). Lee and Kirby just took any old science fiction trope to explain how a hero could have such powers--whether it was radioactive arachnids or gamma rays.

Neither did Siegel and Shuster waste too much time on explaining how Superman could have his fantastic powers (and the explanation changed a couple of times)--they used Krypton as the all-purpose excuse for those powers. They were creating a Man not an alien. He's supposed to be the Man of Tomorrow--essentially what we could all be in the future.

Now it happens that Krypton is a fabulous bit of fantasy and it allows for some wonderful little Tales about its past. That's all great. But again, Krypton works best as a metaphor. It's not supposed to be so alien that we can't relate to it. It has to be enough like our own planet and Kryptonians have to be enough like Earth humans that we get something from the analogy. There needs to be meaning in Krypton's history and its fate that relates to our experience here on this planet.

As far as being a god goes, while I like Superman to have some really impressive powers, as a character I see him akin to the tragic heroes I learned about in high school and in university. In the Greek and Shakespearean tragedies, the heroes are trapped between the world of men and the world of gods. That's their tragic condition. They can't be at home in either world and all their struggles come from that.

Not that Superman should be so tragic. But to the degree that he needs some dramatic tension in his life, then I think this is what his situation boils down to.

He can never settle down and be happy like regular human beings (so marriage is out for him), but neither can he abandon the Earth and live a life somewhere else where everyone is the same as him (such as on New Genesis). The human nurtured by his adoptive parents Clark Kent is attached to this world; yet, he never feels fully accepted into our society. Which is why he has to dress up as Clark to get comfortable with regular folks. And when his alien nature needs some alone time, Kal-El goes off to his Fortress of Solitude to indulge that aspect of his character.

I can see your point, but I think the alien god concept is being taken a bit too literally by you.

To me Superman is "the one eyed-man in the land of the blind". For much of his life Clark is experiencing things no one else can and things for which no human language has ever had to invent words to describe. He's the three-dimensional being trying to explain up-and-down to the two-dimensional inhabitants of Flatland. By the nature of his powers and his experiences he can never be ordinary Clark Kent. He can hang out at the water cooler with his fellow Planet staffers trading small talk, but with whom does he discuss what Jupiter smells like or the color of melting snow. Even at his journalistic best, it is probably beyond Clark's ability to describe his worldview in any way we could relate to it.

It's not about Krypton vs Earth or Superman needing alone time. It's about Superman as someone who shares our values and emotions but not our limits and thus is always waiting for us to catch up to him.

[Jon Clark]

My Superman is someone who has a strong personal moral code matched with an equally strong belief in self-determination. He knows for himself that using his powers to help others is the only path. He doesn't have a choice about being Superman because he simply lacks the ability to stand by when he can help someone else out. It's not something he thinks about, it's something he finds himself doing before he has time to think. It actually takes an effort for Clark not to step in and help.

The one thing that at points will motivate Superman not to step in and help is that he understands there is a line between helping those who need it and helping those who want it. As much as it hurts him to see it happen, Clark will not force someone to accept his help if that person is determined to harm themself. He will try to talk the jumper down from the edge of the building. He will offer to help them in whatever way he can. He may even intervene to keep them from hitting the ground while he is present. But at the end of the day he will accept that he can't watch over that single person 24/7 or force them to get medical help.

And thus same philosophy applies to groups of people. Clark Kent can write a dozen stories arguing that Candidate X is not someone anyone should support. But Superman can't intervene to remove Candidate X from power if he fairly wins the vote. And as much as Superman might want to topple dictators across the globe, he recognizes that unless the people of a region are ready to support a decent government, every time Superman takes out one bad leader he only creates an opening for another bad leader to step in.

Plus while Superman is sure of his own values- he won't impse them on others. You need to share his beliefs in order to apply them. It isn't a case where he wants you to do what is right out of fear or blindly following him.

[666MasterOfPuppets]

Whoa. This is moving fast, eh? Some pretty solid ideas here. I'll try and comment on most of them. Thanks for looking, and keep the ideas coming.

Up, up, and away!

[DieHard200904]

A brash hero that tries to do the right thing but it is more optimistic in realism. Social crusader and fighter for freedom for all around the world. He is like a god. I dig the Lee's remake of the costume (first new 52 one). No mullet.

Keep his homely beginnings, Pete, Lara (his first girlfriend) then goes to college in Kansas, works his way up into the Daily Planet where he meets Jimmy, Lois, Perry, Cat and so on. He grows disillusioned on how news is reported like tabloid stuff, clickbait and all that jazz, so he quits and with Cat Grant and Jimmy they create a blog that tries to compete against the power of the DP. Him and Lois used to date but they both felt it wasn't working out since they both didn't have time. Lois got promoted to one of the top news companies (think CNN or BBC) and goes around the world like bigger DC or you can make DP one of the biggest in the world and widen their reporting.

He's one of the founding members with the JL, he trusts everyone in the league, ever hero. His best friend isn't Bruce or Diana but John Stewart, I think they would have a lot in common and also add Guy Gardner and Vixen. Kara goes to college in LA and she checks in time to time and vice versa. Superboy lives in the midwest where he's raised by Lana and he's still a clone. Superboy is in the TT on and off and isn't linked romantically to anyone. Lana and Jimmy are the only one who knows that Clark is Superman. Steel and Lana dating, so we can have adventures with Supes, Lana and Steel.

Romantically he had previous relationships with Lana, Lori (college), Lois, Diana (until that didn't work), a fling with Maxima, he dates Zatanna or Cat Grant (a little newsroom necking). He is a mentor to Shazam, The Super characters, Stargirl, Blue Beetle and so on. I felt he would be a better mentor than Bruce, Hal and Diana.

Have zany cosmic adventures as well. I love those because it's different.

Villains are pretty consistent, I'm going leave those as they are.

Superman teaming up with Green Lantern, sounds cool!

[Jim Kelly]

Prior to Crisis--as a kid, teen and young adult--I was always looking for ways that Superman could be more cosmic. The fact he was limted to yellow sun systems--and maybe a few other solar systems, but I think under green and blue suns his powers were diminished--that was something that bothered me. I wanted him to find ways to up his power levels so he could go all over the universe. Maybe he could have a yellow sun ring like the one Nor-Kan had in Kandor or he could get a GL ring from the Guardians or he could use his old Legion flight ring.

These were the sort of problems that consumed my imagination back then.

So it seems weird to me that some readers are so focused on Superman the Earthbound social worker. While that's a plank in his platform and has inspired some good stories, it's never the thing that I worried over. I always wanted more astounding science adventures beyond the unknown into forbidden worlds of time and relative dimension in space.

[adrikito]

Researching about kryptonite, I have seen that there are many types of it.. Yes, I know, some types of kryptonite only exist in other worlds.

But I hope we never get to that point of having 10 types of kryptonite(for example) in the world to stop superman... It is a term that I hope DC COMICS never abused too.

With the rest I am fine.. Except with Lois..

A lot of fans are not able to see any of them with another couple... I don´t hate Lois. but I think people should be more open to seeing them with other couples.. For that reason Superman/Wonder Woman had no better success..

[DieHard200904]

Prior to Crisis--as a kid, teen and young adult--I was always looking for ways that Superman could be more cosmic. The fact he was limted to yellow sun systems--and maybe a few other solar systems, but I think under green and blue suns his powers were diminished--that was something that bothered me. I wanted him to find ways to up his power levels so he could go all over the universe. Maybe he could have a yellow sun ring like the one Nor-Kan had in Kandor or he could get a GL ring from the Guardians or he could use his old Legion flight ring.

These were the sort of problems that consumed my imagination back then.

So it seems weird to me that some readers are so focused on Superman the Earthbound social worker. While that's a plank in his platform and has inspired some good stories, it's never the thing that I worried over. I always wanted more astounding science adventures beyond the unknown into forbidden worlds of time and relative dimension in space.

Indeed, that has been my curiousity a bit too, which is how Vinsanity's idea of him and GL John Stewart being best friends intrigues me a great deal. Him teaming up with Green Lantern, like he does with a best friend, opens some interesting space adventure ideas. His animated space adventures in JL and the Bruce Timm solo animated series were kind of cool too.

[Johnny Thunders!]

I really like Kryptonite and the red sun radiation weakness. Especially kryptonite, what's poisonous to the Man of Tomorrow? Fragments of his past. That's why I also agree that his parents, birth and adoptive should be gone. He's on his own.

[Jim Kelly]

I think some super-fans were proud that they could rattle off all the colours of Kryptonite and what each type could do. I'm sure they impressed their friends at comic conventions with this knowledge. It would be a shame to take that away from them.

Also the more colours that there are, the more merchandise DC can sell.

Some Batman readers were ashamed that Batman had such bizarre adventures in the '50s and the '60s--but it came in handy when DC wanted to sell a Rainbow Batman action figure.

[Francisco]

Thanks, man.

I feel like you have this flexibility, so you don't have a strict version. Also allows Lois to do more and Clark to interact with more of the DCverse.

I've always liked Superman no matter the incarnation. ONE versions more than others but to me Superman is Superman. If you give me the guy who stands up for the little one against the bully. The guy who goes out of his way to help people just because he can. Who cares if he wears red trunks, jeans are working boots, a cape or a t-shirt? Herculean or godlike is all the same to me as long as the stories are good. I could get behind Superdad if they weren't killing New 52 Supes just to make way for him.