Originally Posted by
Ascended
Well, it'd be hard to judge exactly how Superman's influence would impact society. Its true that lots of positive philosophies and religions have failed to make sweeping changes over the course of centuries.
But with Superman, its not a vague concept of behavior set down by a mysterious third party; the guy is right there, in your face, saving your city and your life and still taking the time to comfort a scared child or help a guy change his tire on the side of the highway. I think his impact on the world, especially if hes the first of his kind, would have a bigger impact because he's not a fairy tale or an idea put into dogma, he's right there. Its easy to ignore the teachings of a religion or philosophy when the source of that belief system is invisible and has no direct influence on things, but you can shake Superman's hand and look in his eyes, and that carries more weight.
But even then, he wouldnt change things immediately. Even if he had been around for those 80 years of real-life publication I think we'd only be seeing the first signs of any meaningful change now, and those so small you could miss them if you weren't looking.
The way I see it, and this is just a vague concept of an outline, nothing actually changes until nearly a century of Superman has gone by, and that's just small stuff, like volunteer work is on the rise, minor crime is down slightly across the globe, technology is advancing a little faster and is, maybe, more socially conscious. Stuff you might not even notice, but it's starting to add up a little bit. After nearly two hundred years you'd start to see some major shifts, like dedicated space exploration and the beginnings of a unified world government (basically the UN actually doing something worthwhile, not an actual single world government). By three hundred years you're starting to see a world leaning towards a working, single government (but likely still a long way off from achieving it), fewer wars being fought, and so on. I figure by four hundred years we're approaching the point we see the world at in the 31st century (though the details, like membership in the United Planets, is likely still centuries away).