Controversial Superman Opinions

[TheRay]

People like Captain Marvel and Captain Atom can, of course, give Superman some challenge, but I'd like to see the idea that Firestorm is a match for him as well toyed with a bit.

[Stanlos]

People like Captain Marvel and Captain Atom can, of course, give Superman some challenge, but I'd like to see the idea that Firestorm is a match for him as well toyed with a bit.

Nuclear powered blasts ? Not so much. Either of the Dr Lights would be more of a true challenge

[marhawkman]

Nuclear powered blasts ? Not so much. Either of the Dr Lights would be more of a true challenge

Hah, Firestorm in the old Superfriends was very much a character who was "in Superman's league" as the saying goes. In one episode he turned a small asteroid into a temporary yellow sun to give Superman a power boost. It's like the opposite that JLU episode where Superman fight Captain Atom and Adam shifts his energy blasts to imitate red sun energy wavelength.

But yeah, Firestorm could beat Superman.

[marhawkman]

At the very least Supergirl is so vital to the franchise that even after being written out of existence by a Crisis and an editorial mandate we kept getting new versions of her until we got Kara back, and since then her book keeps getting relaunched alongside Superman's (in the New 52, in Rebirth, with Bendis, in Infinite Frontier), even if her sales aren't that strong.

Yeah, the Bat-family gets bigger because it's kinda like if.... every version of Supergirl existed at the same time.... that's what the Bat-family is. Batman keeps getting NEW sidekicks and then they go play with the old sidekicks.

[SuperX]

I would like to have all the powered super fily characters existing and living in the same universe all at the same time.

Every Bat character gets a book (to grow and proper as a character) or show up in someone's book, the super characters get created "it seems" just for the short term, then swept away as fast,never to be spoken about again on the page. DC doesn't appreciate them or want them, which is why the superman line keeps going around in circles and superman just keeps getting restarted after every big story.

The super family could be huge, and more importantly strong by now if DC showed just an ounce of caring about this line, like they did the bat line.

I think the characters could thrive if they do 2 things
- don't retread on what has been done before
- don't take away from superman himself, create something new for the character instead

[TheKryptonMan]

I would like to have all the powered super fily characters existing and living in the same universe all at the same time.

Every Bat character gets a book (to grow and proper as a character) or show up in someone's book, the super characters get created "it seems" just for the short term, then swept away as fast,never to be spoken about again on the page. DC doesn't appreciate them or want them, which is why the superman line keeps going around in circles and superman just keeps getting restarted after every big story.

The super family could be huge, and more importantly strong by now if DC showed just an ounce of caring about this line, like they did the bat line.

I think the characters could thrive if they do 2 things
- don't retread on what has been done before
- don't take away from superman himself, create something new for the character instead

I think that you make a really good point about the Superman family. In my view DC is content in investing in the Batman line because it sells the most. So they just keep going back to that. They're not seeing the bigger picture that the Superman family of books could be just as successful, if they invested in it much more.

[TheRay]

Nuclear powered blasts ? Not so much. Either of the Dr Lights would be more of a true challenge

Dr. Light with or without kryptonite? Cause kryptonite makes anyone a match for Superman.

[marhawkman]

Dr. Light with or without kryptonite? Cause kryptonite makes anyone a match for Superman.

Yeah, Firestorm can MAKE Kryptonite, or Red Sun energy if he wants to. He doesn't need to bring Kryptonite.

[Stanlos]

Dr. Light with or without kryptonite? Cause kryptonite makes anyone a match for Superman.

I think that Kryptonite or magic improves his opponents odds but it doesn't guarantee victory.

[marhawkman]

I think that Kryptonite or magic improves his opponents odds but it doesn't guarantee victory.

Yeah that JLU fight vs Captain Atom, Atom was using Red Sun energy to weaken Superman, but Superman still won.

[Jim Kelly]

Reading the adventures of Superman as a boy, a.k.a. Superboy, I can see why it was problematic for the publisher. The stories had to be in the past, so it wasn't possible to have crossovers with other comics--without bending the rules of time travel--and team-ups of the entire Superman Family were rare. Much easier just to create a younger clone of Superman in the present day and call him Superboy--and thus assert their claim to the trademark (which they were always in danger of losing).

But this time complication also proves to be a benefit. We get to have Clark existing in a world where he's virtually the only active super-hero. It's like how it was back in 1938, when Superman was the only game in town. That gives the creators a lot more freedom to use Superboy without worrying about him tripping over all the established super-heroes and super-villains.

That freedom also allows them to introduce various new super-heroes and super-villains that aren't part of the later universe. So they end up creating characters like Mars Boy, for Superboy to meet other powered characters as either friends or foes. And ultimately that leads to the Legion of Super-Heroes--which wouldn't be necessary if Superboy existed in a time when the Justice League, Teen Titans and Outsiders were all active.

Nature abhors a vacuum--so the lack of established fantasy characters in the world of Superboy demanded new ones to fill the void. And that's a good reason why the Superboy comics were so prolific in creating new ideas.

[SuperX]

Reading the adventures of Superman as a boy, a.k.a. Superboy, I can see why it was problematic for the publisher. The stories had to be in the past, so it wasn't possible to have crossovers with other comics--without bending the rules of time travel--and team-ups of the entire Superman Family were rare. Much easier just to create a younger clone of Superman in the present day and call him Superboy--and thus assert their claim to the trademark (which they were always in danger of losing).

But this time complication also proves to be a benefit. We get to have Clark existing in a world where he's virtually the only active super-hero. It's like how it was back in 1938, when Superman was the only game in town. That gives the creators a lot more freedom to use Superboy without worrying about him tripping over all the established super-heroes and super-villains.

That freedom also allows them to introduce various new super-heroes and super-villains that aren't part of the later universe. So they end up creating characters like Mars Boy, for Superboy to meet other powered characters as either friends or foes. And ultimately that leads to the Legion of Super-Heroes--which wouldn't be necessary if Superboy existed in a time when the Justice League, Teen Titans and Outsiders were all active.

Nature abhors a vacuum--so the lack of established fantasy characters in the world of Superboy demanded new ones to fill the void. And that's a good reason why the Superboy comics were so prolific in creating new ideas.

So your saying there will be almost certainly a superboy at all times,no matter if kon or Jon age out of it?

[Jim Kelly]

So your saying there will be almost certainly a superboy at all times,no matter if kon or Jon age out of it?

Yes. I really don't know what the people were thinking in 1986 when they dumped Superboy, Supergirl and Krypto. They had to know that these characters needed to continue in publication (in some form) to keep up the trademark. If you don't use a trademark, you lose it.

Short of someone (a la Marvel Comics and Captain Marvel) stealing away the trademark--they will keep using "Superboy" enough to retain ownership of that trademark. That doesn't mean they have to have a Superboy in the mainstream continuity--but they need to keep using the name somewhere (on the various reprint books they put out, for merchandise, maybe if they ever release an official SUPERBOY T.V. series box set).

[Falcon16]

I prefer to think Corey was spared from appearing in Brainiac Attacks.

He would SAVE it. Yeah, Brainiac smiled too much. But that VOICE... SUPES ALMIGHTY, THAT VOICE!!

[Ra-El]

I think that Kryptonite or magic improves his opponents odds but it doesn't guarantee victory.

Kryptonite is only an automatic win in the hands of Batman.