Controversial Superman Opinions

[phantom1592]

Here is my controversial opinion


If Superman was 8 years old when krypton was destroyed and suffered from survivors guilt due to being the only survivor of his race...Superman would be a more popular character

I think if that was true... Supergirl and Martian Manhunter would be more popular. I do like that big difference between Superman and Supergirl is that she remembers Krypton and it's culture while Superman... really doesn't. J'onn also has the whole 'survivor guilt' concept of being the 'last' of his kind.... but it really hasn't elevated either of them.

[NaVi]

I think the problem with the origin of superman is that the destruction of krypton, the being adopted, the powers are explored in a very superficial way. I'm not saying it has to be a drama, but the origin of Superman is the most tragic in the comics, but over the years it has become the farmer with powers, and obviously Superman is much more.

[Jim Kelly]

In the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, there were lots of other people that came from Krypton that survived. So add that to Superman's fantastic memory, it doesn't make Supergirl all that important as a reliable source on Krypton.

However, I think there's a more interesting story, if Superman is the only survivor and he doesn't know for sure what it was like on Krypton and there is no one he can rely on to give him the truth. Of course, he has the memory tapes of Krypton--and I think he should have those right from the beginning and not later when he's grown up. In the Donner movie, baby Kal-El is being fed information from Jor-El on his starship.

But something that SMALLVILLE teased is that Clark can't really trust any of that information. So I think a writer could play around with that idea. For the readers, too, we wouldn't know for sure what's what. All we would know about the planet is what Clark learns from the memory tapes. So a lot of the information could be simply myths or lies. I think that seeing Clark always wondering what was true or not about his birth planet would create that tension in the stories, where Superman never feels totally comfortable with himself, because he can never know his origin for certain.

[Vordan]

Here is my controversial opinion


If Superman was 8 years old when krypton was destroyed and suffered from survivors guilt due to being the only survivor of his race...Superman would be a more popular character

As others have said that’s more or less Pre-Crisis Superman. He remembered Krypton, had massive survivor’s guilt, and considered himself Kryptonian not human. I do wonder what an Alan Moore Post-Crisis Superman reboot would’ve looked like, because I do think if they had lowered his power levels but still kept the angst and alienness, that might’ve made Superman more popular down the road. If Moore had rebooted Kal rather than Byrne I expect that’s the take he would’ve gone with based on his work around that time. Or it might’ve hurt his popularity and made people think he was unrelatable.

I don't know if it's controversial, but I feel like if things had gone differently and Superman was now the most popular character rather than Batman, all the quibbles would disappear.

There would still be people complaining he's too over-powered or he's too godlike--just as people complain about the Bat-God and his morose nature. But none of those complaints would mean anything, because the publisher would put out tons of Super books. Writers wouldn't say it's too hard to write him--they'd find a way to write him, because they need the money.

I mean this was the case in the past, when Superman was the big gun and writers were straining their brains what to do with Batman. If they think they can make money from the character, they will put all their resources toward getting everything they can out of him.

It certainly bothers me a lot less to hear people dump on Superman when I have a TV show, a bunch of good Superman comics out now or coming, and an animated series on the way. And also when you have content that people enjoy featuring Superman, it’s kind of hard to take arguments that he’s “unrelatable” or OP or whatever too seriously. Clearly people still enjoy him beyond just hardcore Superman fans.

[Johnny Thunders!]

Super Strength is a double edged sword for Superman. It reduces him to the Cosmos’s greatest weight lifter. It has boxed him in so that it feels “unfair” if he is too fast, too smart, or too skilled.

[Jabare]

Super Strength is a double edged sword for Superman. It reduces him to the Cosmos’s greatest weight lifter. It has boxed him in so that it feels “unfair” if he is too fast, too smart, or too skilled.

please explain

[Johnny Thunders!]

Sure! I was thinking how Superman sometimes is thought of as being the strongest, but that means he shouldn’t also be able to outsmart Batman or out swim Aquaman, which I suggest he could. It’s like it gets relegated to not his thing, but to my mind, he would be able to swim through titanium so water would be irrelevant. I understand the need for every character to have their lane but, Superman is carrying a super computer in his skull, surely he could beat Detective Chimp in a sleuthing contest? I think there is something tactile about Superman that makes strength his specialty but I see Superman as more of, all about the 5 senses. Anything we do with our five senses he does to a Super level.

No offense to weight lifters! I would be a Cosmic Weightlifter if I could.

[marhawkman]

I think if that was true... Supergirl and Martian Manhunter would be more popular. I do like that big difference between Superman and Supergirl is that she remembers Krypton and it's culture while Superman... really doesn't. J'onn also has the whole 'survivor guilt' concept of being the 'last' of his kind.... but it really hasn't elevated either of them.

The number of Martian Manhunter stories that revolve around it is pretty important. Sure, most people know he has a friendly relationship with M'Gann M'Orzz. Even though she's not actually related to him and is not even a Green Martian. But, J'Onn has had similar attachments to almost every other Martian character in DC comics. Till'all, Cay'An.... among others. He HATES the idea of being the last Martian (green or otherwise) and that changes the way he acts in many ways.

Does that make the character more popular? enh... hard to say, but it defines him.

Sure! I was thinking how Superman sometimes is thought of as being the strongest, but that means he shouldn’t also be able to outsmart Batman or out swim Aquaman, which I suggest he could. It’s like it gets relegated to not his thing, but to my mind, he would be able to swim through titanium so water would be irrelevant. I understand the need for every character to have their lane but, Superman is carrying a super computer in his skull, surely he could beat Detective Chimp in a sleuthing contest? I think there is something tactile about Superman that makes strength his specialty but I see Superman as more of, all about the 5 senses. Anything we do with our five senses he does to a Super level.

One thing we've never seen, despite it making sense in real-world terms, is a Kryptonian who's a proper martial artist. I mean... out of the ENTIRE Kryptonian military there's not one? really? It's a skill you must practice, sure, but it makes sense for people in the Kryptonian military to be good at it.

[Jim Kelly]

One thing we've never seen, despite it making sense in real-world terms, is a Kryptonian who's a proper martial artist. I mean... out of the ENTIRE Kryptonian military there's not one? really? It's a skill you must practice, sure, but it makes sense for people in the Kryptonian military to be good at it.

Of course, the classic comics covered this.



The Superman family knew Kryptonian martial arts. And I would guess, given he was a crime-fighter in Kandor as the original Nightwing, Kal-El had mastered Klurkor.

As far as the military goes, while I served in the military and like a good military story, I wish they would keep those tales in the war comics--which the distinguished comics publisher used to have a lot of--and keep them out of the super-hero comics. The writers seemed to be obsessed with militarizing every nation on Earth and in the universe. I don't want that.

The way they write Krypton these days, in the comics and on the screen, it seems like a backwater planet that's living in the middle ages or the dark ages. This is supposed to be a world far advanced of ours, where they're beyond petty squabbles and military coups.

[Jim Kelly]

I should have also mentioned pre-Crisis Faora Hu-Ul, who had mastered the martial art of Horo-Kanu on Krypton. I don't know if the same applies for post-Crisis Faora, who doesn't seem as vicious or as skilled from what little I've seen.

[NaVi]

One thing we've never seen, despite it making sense in real-world terms, is a Kryptonian who's a proper martial artist. I mean... out of the ENTIRE Kryptonian military there's not one? really? It's a skill you must practice, sure, but it makes sense for people in the Kryptonian military to be good at it.

Kryptonians have the role of being mediocre who only depend on their powers. zod should be a fighting machine, but 99% of the time he's useless who doesn't even know how to throw a punch. Kryptonians are possibly the most useless species in the universe when it comes to combat.

[marhawkman]

I should have also mentioned pre-Crisis Faora Hu-Ul, who had mastered the martial art of Horo-Kanu on Krypton. I don't know if the same applies for post-Crisis Faora, who doesn't seem as vicious or as skilled from what little I've seen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4phfu8_CNg

Well, not sure if that's Horo-Kanu, or just smacking people around really fast. But MoS doesn't really talk about how she curb stomps the Humans.

[Jim Kelly]

Pre-Crisis, Faora hated all men and was absolutely merciless toward them. Post-Crisis, it seems like she's been mixed up with Ursa who was Zod's second in command in SUPERMAN II. In SMALLVILLE, season 9, Faora is not so hateful and she's Zod's lover. Doesn't seem at all like the Faora Hu-Ul from the pre-Crisis comics.

[Stanlos]

Super Strength is a double edged sword for Superman. It reduces him to the Cosmos’s greatest weight lifter. It has boxed him in so that it feels “unfair” if he is too fast, too smart, or too skilled.

I hate this thinking. I hate it.

But I have ZERO writing credits in comics. And writers who ARE established have constantly lamented "power levels" as being a concrete block around my three favorite characters'necks.

But I just don't see it that way. The Superman character should be what he was created to be. He has a ton of powers, sure, and they ARE at alpha tier levels. He shouldn't be eclipsed by ANYONE --specialist or no-- in superstrength, superspeed, and invulnerability. Why? Because while his creators were easily the least complex/educated their stated objective for what the character was to encompassed those areas and they identified the character of which Superman was to be a modern interpretation. So yes all the Flashes have their speedforce mechanics but they aren't pooping on Supes in speed. Their advantage rests only in their specialty usage and speedforce mechanics depending on how much realism the writer wants to bring.

He isn't dumber than Luthor or the vaunted Batman.

I will never tow that line.

[superduperman]

Here is my controversial opinion


If Superman was 8 years old when krypton was destroyed and suffered from survivors guilt due to being the only survivor of his race...Superman would be a more popular character

Pre-Crisis Superman had super-memory where he actually DID have some survivors guilt and it just made him obsessed with Krypton and made him less relatable to humans.