Controversial Superman Opinions

[Stanlos]

Superman's creators portrayed him as faster than a locomotive with super strength and the ability to fly. Other DC characters shouldn't be limited by whether or not they make Superman look inferior.

But then again, maybe Superman should be in his own separate universe.

In all honesty I do sometimes think that Supes, Wondy, and Captain Marvel should be back in their own universes

[Stanlos]

always the same when it comes to superman and flash. Flash is not only fast, according to WW it hits harder than Superman, without forgetting that it has many other powers. so another character competes with flash in speed, it is the same as ww (and many others) competing in strength with superman. because superman may have rivals when it comes to strength, but not the flash when it comes to speed.

Hits harder than Superman up to that point. That was from the TRUTH OR DARE story where Zoom was hitting her around the world by hitting her at light speed

[Quinlan58]

Read something in the "My Adventures with Superman" thread and thought the response fitted better here:

Kara Zor-El's existence weakens Superman's deal as a character as the alienated "Last Son of Krypton". However, she also vastly enriches the wider franchise and allows for many stories that couldn't be told with just Superman alone.

[Jim Kelly]

Read something in the "My Adventures with Superman" thread and thought the response fitted better here:

Kara Zor-El's existence weakens Superman's deal as a character as the alienated "Last Son of Krypton". However, she also vastly enriches the wider franchise and allows for many stories that couldn't be told with just Superman alone.

My answer to that is she doesn't have to be from Krypton to be Supergirl. There are other ways to keep Superman's connection to Krypton present in the stories without establishing that other people than him also survived. I'd rather they kept Superman unique and just found other ways to do Supergirl and other characters.

If his rocketship didn't blow up (I think earlier origins showed it blowing up on impact) and the Kents kept it around--then there would be a computer system on board that would have in its memory banks a wealth of information about Krypton and its science. I would prefer that Clark knew about that all along--that the Kents didn't keep it a secret from their young son and they let him know exactly how they found him. The rocketship's computer could be his "Super-Teacher from Krypton." And that way you don't retcon any of him being the last survivor of a doomed planet.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Read something in the "My Adventures with Superman" thread and thought the response fitted better here:

Kara Zor-El's existence weakens Superman's deal as a character as the alienated "Last Son of Krypton". However, she also vastly enriches the wider franchise and allows for many stories that couldn't be told with just Superman alone.

I prefer Superman inspiring other characters to stand up and be heroes. They don't have to be other kryptonians.

[Superfan90]

Yeah, super strength is one thing but I feel the burden’s on Superman writers and fans to justify why Superman should be faster than the character whose entire gimmick is being “the fast one” and is the archetype for “the fast superhero”.

Its called Superspeed, not Flashspeed. Superman is the archetype for the fast superhero because well, he was the first speedster. Flash came later.

[Superfan90]

Superman's creators portrayed him as faster than a locomotive with super strength and the ability to fly. Other DC characters shouldn't be limited by whether or not they make Superman look inferior.

But then again, maybe Superman should be in his own separate universe.

Because at that time that level of power made him the most powerful being on Earth. You can't have Superman when he is eclipsed by other heroes, what's the point of Superman then?

[Alpha]

Of course you can have other heroes eclipse Superman in certain areas. Heck, he doesn't even have to be the absolute strongest being on earth, he just has to be at the top. Nothing about his stories requires him to outclass everyone in the world.

[Superfan90]

Of course you can have other heroes eclipse Superman in certain areas. Heck, he doesn't even have to be the absolute strongest being on earth, he just has to be at the top. Nothing about his stories requires him to outclass everyone in the world.

Not in strength, speed or invulnerability. Those three are the core powerset for Superman. Its funny how Flash has to be fastest but Superman can't be strongest because reasons?

Superman isn't supposed to be jack of all trades, master of none. He is the man of Tomorrow, the absolute proof of absolute power not corrupting the last son of a doomed planet because he is the best man possible. The best of humanity. Otherwise he is just preacherman aka post Crisis Superman, he talks big but is just another hero among dozens of heroes, he is neither the first hero, nor the most powerful but he is certainly the most preachy.

[Alpha]

I never said he "couldn't be the strongest". I said he doesn't have to. You can't just dictate a rule without justifying it.

Superman has to be one of the strongest because he is a company icon that symbolizes power. It's the same reason why Batman has to be one of the best fighters and one of the smartest and richest of the DC universe but doesn't actually have to be the best fighter, nor the smartest person, nor the richest.

And Superman's speed definitely isn't crucial to the character. He has to be fast, but all of his iconic images are about his strength and flight, not his speed.

[Superfan90]

I never said he "couldn't be the strongest". I said he doesn't have to. You can't just dictate a rule without justifying it.

I gave you the justification, Superman needs to be the strongest because its how he was envisioned with and is the core of the character that he is the ultimate human, the biggest character flaw of humans (Absolute power corrupts absolutely) does not apply to him. You can't have that unless you have a Superman who is the strongest, most powerful man on Earth.

Superman has to be one of the strongest because he is a company icon that symbolizes power. It's the same reason why Batman has to be one of the best fighters and one of the smartest and richest of the DC universe but doesn't actually have to be the best fighter, nor the smartest person, nor the richest.

Batman doesn't works on that concepts and he is the greatest detective on Earth, not greatest fighter or whatever. Its like calling Hulk the strongest one there is and then revealing that he isn't because its unfair to Hercules or Thor. Hulk is the strongest being on Earth because he is designed from the start to be so.

And Superman's speed definitely isn't crucial to the character. He has to be fast, but all of his iconic images are about his strength and flight, not his speed.

But you can't even find many sources calling Superman strongest because its unfair to Wonder Woman or whatever character.

It doesn't matter that its not as iconic as his strength, he is the archetype for speedsters, not Flash. Because he came first.

[Marik Swift]

If Superman's strength was dialed back to just being "lifting strength", it would fix a lot of the "too powerful" complaints.

I know that's not necessarily how strength works, but it's comics, so logic doesn't matter.

[Sacred Knight]

When Infinite Frontier fails for Superman, they'll once again turn to Geoff Johns to fix things.

Controversial because I know plenty, myself included, aren't crazy about Johns' Superman. And others, again myself included, would probably rather see another veteran like Waid tapped to fix the mess in such a situation. But either guy could at the very least right the ship in the most general of terms. But Johns is usually the guy they go to when they need to fix something they've otherwise irrevocably broken. See the upcoming JSA reboot. So I see Johns' Doomsday Clock ending to end up rather prophetic whether it intended to be or not. By 2023 at the latest, he'll be in charge of a major "Superman Returns" type event.

[superduperman]

Superman shouldn't be able to have children with Lois

This. They are two different species. There is no way they should be able to reproduce.

[Alpha]

I gave you the justification, Superman needs to be the strongest because its how he was envisioned with and is the core of the character that he is the ultimate human, the biggest character flaw of humans (Absolute power corrupts absolutely) does not apply to him. You can't have that unless you have a Superman who is the strongest, most powerful man on Earth.

That logic is totally wrong. Him being the perfect human doesn't mean he has to be better than all the superhumans. In fact, Steve Rogers represents the exact same thing about absolute power not corrupting and he is outclassed by many superheroes.

Hulk has been defeated by Thor many times in terms of raw strength. None of those moments made Hulk into a lesser threat.

And Superman isn't an archetype for strength. Again, you can't just say he is and make it so. Nobody thinks of speed when talking about Superman. He's fast, but he isn't who you think of when talking about speed. If he was an archetype for speed then people would call him a speedster, bit they don't.