Controversial Superman Opinions

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Jon was fun side character as a kid. The timeskip could've helped but they botched it completely. Now he's another Iron Fist, a likable but bland protagonist.

[Jon Clark]

Move on? He already left Smallville and has a life as a reporter in Metropolis. What "moving on" is there to do?

Not going back to Smallville for Sunday dinners or to help Pa fix the fencing on the back forty. Having to grow up and solve his own problems instead of moping back to the farm for a slice of pie and folksy wisdom.

I mean we don't see Wally West hanging out in Blue Valley. Dick Grayson moved on from Hudson University. If sidekicks can get adult lives that don't revolve around places they outgrew, why not Superman?

[TaliaJoy]

Not going back to Smallville for Sunday dinners or to help Pa fix the fencing on the back forty. Having to grow up and solve his own problems instead of moping back to the farm for a slice of pie and folksy wisdom.

I admit this can be a problem if it's leaned on too heavily and Superman seems to need his parents' help excessively, but in general, there's nothing wrong with an adult having a really good relationship with his parents, visiting them if they're nearby (and for Superman, they are nearby), and looking to them for advice.

I get the impression that part of the problem may be the Kents being overly stereotypical "wholesome midwestern parents", which is fair enough. I feel like Lois & Clark did a good job making them seem more like real people, but in general, their depictions certainly trend this way, which isn't ideal. I still like 'em though (but I'm fine with them being dead too).

[Zero Hunter]

Not going back to Smallville for Sunday dinners or to help Pa fix the fencing on the back forty. Having to grow up and solve his own problems instead of moping back to the farm for a slice of pie and folksy wisdom.

I mean we don't see Wally West hanging out in Blue Valley. Dick Grayson moved on from Hudson University. If sidekicks can get adult lives that don't revolve around places they outgrew, why not Superman?

So you never talked to your parents anymore once you became an adult? There are people who do talk to their parents quite a bit probably the vast majority really. I know many especially women that talk to their moms almost daily.

[superduperman]

The Smallivlle comic and Earth 167 can't be the same universe unless there's more than one version of the Monitors since the whole plot of the comic was basically COIE.

[Yoda]

So you never talked to your parents anymore once you became an adult? There are people who do talk to their parents quite a bit probably the vast majority really. I know many especially women that talk to their moms almost daily.

I've always found the whole thing with the Kents to be so weird for this reason. I live several thousand miles from my parents and my father and I are both in the same profession, but very different specialties. It's not frequent, but I will ask him advice on certain topics or get his input on some things still. I will even ask my father-in-law for advice on certain things too. Doesn't mean I'm going to take it or that it's good. But it is not this anomaly that people on the internet make it out to be. I don't know if it's a Gen Z thing or what.

Plus, people live longer. It is not anywhere near as common for people in their 20's or 30's to have lost both their parents at that point.

I completely agree that the Kent's have been misused in the past, but just because something has been written badly doesn't mean it needs to be destoroyed. They should not be the "go to" for lazy writing and moral opining, but you don't need to kill them.

[Jon Clark]

I've always found the whole thing with the Kents to be so weird for this reason. I live several thousand miles from my parents and my father and I are both in the same profession, but very different specialties. It's not frequent, but I will ask him advice on certain topics or get his input on some things still. I will even ask my father-in-law for advice on certain things too. Doesn't mean I'm going to take it or that it's good. But it is not this anomaly that people on the internet make it out to be. I don't know if it's a Gen Z thing or what.

Plus, people live longer. It is not anywhere near as common for people in their 20's or 30's to have lost both their parents at that point.

I completely agree that the Kent's have been misused in the past, but just because something has been written badly doesn't mean it needs to be destoroyed. They should not be the "go to" for lazy writing and moral opining, but you don't need to kill them.

And if there was a use for them that wasn't "lazy writing and moral opining" I'd agree. But there isn't. The Kents never give bad advice, There is never a scene where Clark hears them ut and then goes "Nope, that isn't what i need to do",

I don't believe in just letting things lay around just in the hopes some future writer can get a single decent use out of them. Better to take the things that most writer misuse off the table where possible.

[Yoda]

And if there was a use for them that wasn't "lazy writing and moral opining" I'd agree. But there isn't. The Kents never give bad advice, There is never a scene where Clark hears them ut and then goes "Nope, that isn't what i need to do",

I don't believe in just letting things lay around just in the hopes some future writer can get a single decent use out of them. Better to take the things that most writer misuse off the table where possible.

That's more or less how I feel about Lana Lang. There is no purpose to her post-Smallville and writers have tied themselves into knots to make her matter beyond her limited purpose. But I'm not advocating she be killed off so the next Chuck Austen can't come up with some nonsense. Particularly given the Kent's at the moment have not fallen back into that pattern again. I think their appearances are more or less harmless in the last 3 or so years since Doomsday Clock, which makes the vitriol directed at them all the weirder.

[SiegePerilous02]

The Kents being dead when Clark is just becoming an adult provides the much needed adversity that the Worlds Most Powerful Man needs to come out the other side of so he doesn't come across as a patronizing jerk when he lectures us about "hope". The trade off of him going home for some blandly wholesome basic advice that he should be able to figure out himself isn't really worth it.

[Yoda]

The Kents being dead when Clark is just becoming an adult provides the much needed adversity that the Worlds Most Powerful Man needs to come out the other side of so he doesn't come across as a patronizing jerk when he lectures us about "hope". The trade off of him going home for some blandly wholesome basic advice that he should be able to figure out himself isn't really worth it.

Everyone's parents die. How is that "much needed adversity"? The Kent's dying is generally best used for the lesson he can't save everyone. The Kent's typically die of a heart attack/stroke (which for Pa, I'm ok with that generally) or of old age. That's not adversity, that's life. I guess what you seem to be arguing for is of the Batman/Flash/Spider-Man variety of "adversity" not what has historically been applicable to the Kent's.

I'd much rather get rid of lectures about hope if that is the issue. Those are rarely written well and are almost always cheesy.

[Kuwagaton]

I get confused about the idea of killing the Kents to "teach him a lesson." That really sounds necessary? I mean especially after his whole planet exploded.

[Yoda]

I get confused about the idea of killing the Kents to "teach him a lesson." That really sounds necessary? I mean especially after his whole planet exploded.

Generally I agree. But I think having Pa die of something he can't prevent (as opposed to a tornado) can serve a narrative purpose. The idea being it would sort of show him that he can't save everyone and going forward he's got that attitude that "yes I can" like you see with Morrison's run.

I think that if you want a justification for his overwhelming belief in the power of hope, the destruction of Krypton and his landing on Earth is a good basis in the versions where his parent's don't know where or if he's going to make it in the rocket. Ties much more closely with "hope" than general adversity of the parents dying variety.

[marhawkman]

Everyone's parents die. How is that "much needed adversity"? The Kent's dying is generally best used for the lesson he can't save everyone. The Kent's typically die of a heart attack/stroke (which for Pa, I'm ok with that generally) or of old age. That's not adversity, that's life. I guess what you seem to be arguing for is of the Batman/Flash/Spider-Man variety of "adversity" not what has historically been applicable to the Kent's.

I'd much rather get rid of lectures about hope if that is the issue. Those are rarely written well and are almost always cheesy.

Yeah, but... why does every hero have to have ALL of their family get killed off?

[Jon Clark]

I get confused about the idea of killing the Kents to "teach him a lesson." That really sounds necessary? I mean especially after his whole planet exploded.

Krypton was never his planet as he never lived there and has no memories of the place. He isn't Kara where he has any living memory of the place or anyone who died.

[Kuwagaton]

Generally I agree. But I think having Pa die of something he can't prevent (as opposed to a tornado) can serve a narrative purpose. The idea being it would sort of show him that he can't save everyone and going forward he's got that attitude that "yes I can" like you see with Morrison's run.

I think that if you want a justification for his overwhelming belief in the power of hope, the destruction of Krypton and his landing on Earth is a good basis in the versions where his parent's don't know where or if he's going to make it in the rocket. Ties much more closely with "hope" than general adversity of the parents dying variety.

Why would he ever believe that he can save everyone? Which other character in his weight class has ever been that naive? Have Billy Batson look at the reader and go, "grrr I can save everyone!" and fall short because y'know, he's a kid

Krypton was never his planet as he never lived there and has no memories of the place. He isn't Kara where he has any living memory of the place or anyone who died.

But it was. In like 95% of every telling, he at least learns of Krypton early into his career. For a really long time in the main line, he straight up had adventures as a Kryptonian toddler. I don't see how learning that your whole homeland has been erased aside from its poisonous byproduct isn't tragic. Not many other subjects have ever made Superman cry, especially with the sadistic plans of a Mongul or Brainiac to twist the knife.