Controversial Superman Opinions

[Gaius]

I think it's less that he was the first and more than he gained the reputation very quickly in and out of universe. I think people view him that way because for 50 or so years of publication it was legitimately true, and the reputation has been questioned because of the various reboots and retcons that have worn away at it.

Also doesn't help that a lot of the heroes on par with him or stronger (Captain Marvel, Captain Atom, the Spectre) were originally not created to be part of the same universe as Superman (at least not the main one), so either he gets nerfed, has to share the glory (which IMO he should only have to do with Wonder Woman and Supergirl) or they are the ones who get nerfed.

Fair enough; I guess as you say it’s more of a result of DC trying to have all their characters in just one shared universe.

[Jon Clark]

"Share the glory" is fine imo. I don't really like the sort of fiat of "X is THE best at Y". with no contest or exceptions.

I think with certain characters the whole concept is that they are pretty much "the best at Y". Wildcat is a former boxing champ- not some guy who had a s few boxing matches. Aquaman (and his counterpart Namor) is King of Atlantis rather than just a random Atlantean citizen. Even the Legion of Superheroes whose schtick was that many members came from races that just had natural abilities that seemed like powers compared to ordinary Earthfolk, eventually got around to showing that the Legion was getting the planetary champions rather than "the average joe from the Planet of the Hats". Few people are interested in reading about the 3rd fastest man alive- which is why Barry outclasses Wally when DC has Barry headlining the namesake comic and with the spot on the JL roster, but pushed that Wally had surpassed Barry's feats back when Wally was the sole active Flash.

[marhawkman]

I think with certain characters the whole concept is that they are pretty much "the best at Y". Wildcat is a former boxing champ- not some guy who had a s few boxing matches. Aquaman (and his counterpart Namor) is King of Atlantis rather than just a random Atlantean citizen. Even the Legion of Superheroes whose schtick was that many members came from races that just had natural abilities that seemed like powers compared to ordinary Earthfolk, eventually got around to showing that the Legion was getting the planetary champions rather than "the average joe from the Planet of the Hats". Few people are interested in reading about the 3rd fastest man alive- which is why Barry outclasses Wally when DC has Barry headlining the namesake comic and with the spot on the JL roster, but pushed that Wally had surpassed Barry's feats back when Wally was the sole active Flash.

Heh, but that's the thing. That sort of gimmick is very limiting. You can't define every character in a fictional universe by the one thing they're the best at. The Justice League is the world's greatest heroes... but there are a LOt of JL members.

[Jon Clark]

Heh, but that's the thing. That sort of gimmick is very limiting. You can't define every character in a fictional universe by the one thing they're the best at. The Justice League is the world's greatest heroes... but there are a LOt of JL members.

But largely that is what is done. Everyone is either omni-talented to the point of interchangability (see almost any science based character) or they are the team (fill in defined role- muscle, strategist, hot-head, ...). You are either a normal guy or a specialist and the specialist is by definition on a par with the best in the world..

Is there really some version of the League where you could actually rank the combat skills of Batman. Black Canary, Wonder Woman and Aquaman that has more than two levels? Either you are a street level guys like batman and thus world class at hand to hand or you have no talent at all but have a power that is your sole contribution to a fight. If Green Arrow has his bow then he wins the fight entirely based on his archery, if he for some reason the bow isn't at hand then he handles everything as if he was Dinah or Bruce. And if the guy coldcocks Superman with one punch then you don't see Flash suddenly take the guy down by hitting him millions of times- either you have Wonder Woman combine skill and near equal strength or else another "human tank" (Billy, Orion, Captain Atom ....) steps in to face the guy.

[Ascended]

I think you can narrow down the "expert" stuff a lot, as you drop through the B-, C-, and D-list characters, so the majority of heroes remain the best (or among the best) at what they do....but what they do becomes more limited.

In my head I think of it like a pantheon of greater and lesser gods (thanks, Morrison, for introducing me to that parallel). The big name A-list heroes are the major gods, with big domains where they reign supreme; Superman's the "cosmic, science fiction" guy, Bruce is the "pulp, street level" guy, Diana's the "fantasy, mythological" girl, and so on. Those are big, very broad areas of expertise and those big name greater gods get to rule everything within.

Then the heroes in the B-list, they get a little more limited; sort of like they're carving out little niches from inside the A-lister's domains. Flash might be the "exotic location/super science" greater god, and his domain includes time travel and alternate dimensions, but lesser god Booster Gold gets to be the top time cop. He doesn't get to be the top multiverse guy, he doesn't get to tackle the "super science" side of Flash's domain, but Booster gets to be the main guy when it comes to time travel, even though he's operating within Flash's purview.

And some of the "lesser gods" get to mix domains from the big names; Hawkman takes a little slice of Diana's "mythology" domain and combines it with a little bit of Clark's "space alien" stuff.

[Johnny Thunders!]

Okay, so I am high on the fact there is a 4 hour justice league movie out in the ether.
My controversial opinion, Zack Snyder's Superman gets maligned as part of the grim dark 80's movement. There is a lot to support that idea, he directed 300 and Watchmen. He takes whole cloth ideas from Dark Knight. I think Zack Snyder's superman is actually more like the Silver Age Superman.
One, he is ridiculously powerful and matches everyone in the league.
Two, he is invulnerable, nothing but kryptonite slows him down.
Three, he has big Weisinger era types of angsty moments.
Just like that version of the character wrestled with bizarre, very personal struggles, Snyder's Superman does the same.
I even think the current TV show owes something to the idea with the big angsty teen drama and the idea that a superson could not possible live up to the fathers reputation.

So if you are a fan of Superman and wondering if you would like the movie. My answer is no, but then again, I wasn't always a fan of every comic either!

[NaVi]

Superman has to be the strongest by several reasons.
1: was created with the idea of ​​being the strongest.
2: it has a thousand weaknesses while the rest of the heroes have none (nothing comparable to kryptonite)
3: his combat skills are nil and his intelligence is not much greater than that of a stone, he only has his strength.
4: has no accessories, fight hand-to-hand.
5: he is not the best at anything, he is not the most intelligent, he is not the fastest, he is not the most skillful, if you take away his strength it is nothing.
It's fun to see how you always try to weaken superman, but never with other characters, because the flash speed is not reduced to that of aquaman, because the will of green lanter is not the norm among heroes, because the ability batman is not equal to superman, because ww is not reduced to the level of deathstroke.

[Stanlos]

Superman has to be the strongest by several reasons.
1: was created with the idea of ​​being the strongest.
2: it has a thousand weaknesses while the rest of the heroes have none (nothing comparable to kryptonite)
3: his combat skills are nil and his intelligence is not much greater than that of a stone, he only has his strength.
4: has no accessories, fight hand-to-hand.
5: he is not the best at anything, he is not the most intelligent, he is not the fastest, he is not the most skillful, if you take away his strength it is nothing.
It's fun to see how you always try to weaken superman, but never with other characters, because the flash speed is not reduced to that of aquaman, because the will of green lanter is not the norm among heroes, because the ability batman is not equal to superman, because ww is not reduced to the level of deathstroke.

Number 1 isn't actually true. He was created as a modern day Samson or Hercules. He launched the superhero genre of books but he was not made in comparison to other superheroes. He was made with mortal men in mind.

[Tzigone]

Number 1 isn't actually true. He was created as a modern day Samson or Hercules. He launched the superhero genre of books but he was not made in comparison to other superheroes. He was made with mortal men in mind.

Absolutely true. The old heroes were generally each created to reside in their own worlds, though they later crossed or merged with JSA/JLA. Also, Clark was very bright in the start, and super-intelligent in the silver age - sometimes, anyway.

[NaVi]

Number 1 isn't actually true. He was created as a modern day Samson or Hercules. He launched the superhero genre of books but he was not made in comparison to other superheroes. He was made with mortal men in mind.

I suppose that I expressed myself wrong, when superman was created he was the strongest within the superhero genre (an advantage of being the first) so that superman is stronger than the others, it is not an insult to those characters, it is to respect superman Actually, when superman was created he was the fastest man in the world, but flash came and stayed with that position, but I don't see anyone saying that DC humiliates superman by making flash faster. For years among fans of comics and what it is, but within fans of Superman, it is accepted that a character is stronger or faster than Superman, but as soon as Superman shows that he is stronger, everyone begins to cry.

[SuperX]

Controversial opinion = superman is actually far more powerful, smart, and able than any other hero on earth, he just holds himself back to not make the others feel bad.

[mathew101281]

Controversial opinion = superman is actually far more powerful, smart, and able than any other hero on earth, he just holds himself back to not make the others feel bad.

Or, characters are written a lot weaker then they were meant to be in order not to encroach on Superman’s top dog role.

Shazam, and other magic users are prime example of this.

[SiegePerilous02]

Or, characters are written a lot weaker then they were meant to be in order not to encroach on Superman’s top dog role.

Shazam, and other magic users are prime example of this.

Magic users aside from Captain Marvel tend not to be, because it's not like their strengths are the same strengths Superman has in the first place.

[Kuwagaton]

Superman has so much experience and so many skills. I don't think it should be controversial to say that even if he's beaten in any given category, he's more than the sum of his parts and ends up being the best. I mean you really have to low-ball him in writing if he can't get past someone else eventually, applying a strength they don't have.

[I'm a Fish]

Superman has to be the strongest by several reasons.
1: was created with the idea of ​​being the strongest.
2: it has a thousand weaknesses while the rest of the heroes have none (nothing comparable to kryptonite)
3: his combat skills are nil and his intelligence is not much greater than that of a stone, he only has his strength.
4: has no accessories, fight hand-to-hand.
5: he is not the best at anything, he is not the most intelligent, he is not the fastest, he is not the most skillful, if you take away his strength it is nothing.
It's fun to see how you always try to weaken superman, but never with other characters, because the flash speed is not reduced to that of aquaman, because the will of green lanter is not the norm among heroes, because the ability batman is not equal to superman, because ww is not reduced to the level of deathstroke.

Until a writer decides Superman doesn't have any weaknesses, including kryptonite. It's happened often enough in stories, granted, not so much in the main continuity I suppose, but how much it hurts him has fluctuated.

Other characters have been weakened plenty of times. And the example you chose is a little funny because Wonder Woman was reduced to fighting Desthstroke in one of her issues last year.

She didn't loose or even look like she was struggle too much I guess, but they defiantly had to weaken her or make desthstroke a lot stronger so they could even have a sword fight to begin with.