Superman never got an Optimus Prime moment.

[Kuwagaton]

The problem would have to be that it's made by Lex. This branches off into two points:
1) he murders and lies without a second thought. His point about being able to do better without Superman is pure delusion.
2) his character revolves around not understanding Superman. He completely refuses to believe that Superman acts from pure heart, so he would never admit to the simple idea of Superman's actions not being about his powers but about what he does with them. This point is made without subtlety in Earth One, where Clark starts out by completely succeeding at every job he attempts. Superman isn't supposed to inspire people to leap tall buildings literally but figuratively. This guy has given his life on several occasions to fight a battle that literally has no end, for no profit. Luthor is built around not understanding that.

Add to the fact that the Zoner case stating that "they're all criminals" is pretty silly in the context of it being a jail breakout.

[DochaDocha]

The problem would have to be that it's made by Lex. This branches off into two points:
1) he murders and lies without a second thought. His point about being able to do better without Superman is pure delusion.
2) his character revolves around not understanding Superman. He completely refuses to believe that Superman acts from pure heart, so he would never admit to the simple idea of Superman's actions not being about his powers but about what he does with them. This point is made without subtlety in Earth One, where Clark starts out by completely succeeding at every job he attempts. Superman isn't supposed to inspire people to leap tall buildings literally but figuratively. This guy has given his life on several occasions to fight a battle that literally has no end, for no profit. Luthor is built around not understanding that.

Add to the fact that the Zoner case stating that "they're all criminals" is pretty silly in the context of it being a jail breakout.

Regarding the bold, Luthor's claims are good for pointing out Luthor's weaknesses, not the problem Superman presents to humanity. Assuming Luthor could accomplish all of that, it's his pettiness and self-centeredness that stops him from doing these things for humanity, not Superman.

[Agent Z]

The problem would have to be that it's made by Lex. This branches off into two points:
1) he murders and lies without a second thought. His point about being able to do better without Superman is pure delusion.

He may not be able to do better but others can.Hell, Lex is ultimately the one who defeats the Kryptonians not Clark.

2) his character revolves around not understanding Superman. He completely refuses to believe that Superman acts from pure heart, so he would never admit to the simple idea of Superman's actions not being about his powers but about what he does with them. This point is made without subtlety in Earth One, where Clark starts out by completely succeeding at every job he attempts. Superman isn't supposed to inspire people to leap tall buildings literally but figuratively. This guy has given his life on several occasions to fight a battle that literally has no end, for no profit. Luthor is built around not understanding that.

And yet the writers never actually allow humanity to do that even figuratively. These days the moment someone arrives that can challenge Superman, they'll either be a villain or misguided extremist.

[Kuwagaton]

He may not be able to do better but others can.Hell, Lex is ultimately the one who defeats the Kryptonians not Clark.

"Others can" being something that Superman inhibits is an argument that's defeated by Lex being the one to argue it. Yes, he contributes very much to the final victory (which does involve murder and destruction) but it's not at this point that anything turns around. He goes right back to being a villain, not curing cancer or whatever.

And yet the writers never actually allow humanity to do that even figuratively. These days the moment someone arrives that can challenge Superman, they'll either be a villain or misguided extremist.

"Saving the day" is, again, not the point. They'll never be able to do what Superman does, but they can do their best for the same purpose. The quickest illustration that comes to mind is in Morrison's Action, where the guy complains about not being able to build a whole house as easily as Superman, and another guy reminds him that it's not a race. I do think Morrison gets a little pretentious sometimes but that was pretty graceful if not subtle.

[Frontier]

I don't care for the first image, but the second one is pretty spot on even if it's coming from Luthor.

Here's the thing; Superman might be more impressive than the helpless muggles of the DCU. But next to any other cape he really isn't all that special. When writers try to elevate him above all the others in universe it becomes the ultimate form of fanboyism. Morrison and Waid are particularly bad about this. Zack Snyder has many flaws, but even he didn't have Superman fight a guy named after a false god from the Bible. That level of pretentiousness cannot be matched.

In general, treating Superman or Batman or any kind of superhero like some kind of paragon is pretty much were we ended up now as sooner or later someone was going to see if they hold up without the usual cushions. Spoiler alert: they don't.

Really? How so?

[Agent Z]

Really? How so?

1) Well think of the things guys like Captain Atom, Shazam and the Green Lanterns have accomplished power wise. And that's just the top of my head. In terms of morality, yeah, Clark's a pretty nice person. So's Wonder Woman, Shazam, Captain Atom, Kyle Rayner, John Stewart and whole bunch of others. And really depending on which version and who you ask, Clark can be a jackass even if the narrative doesn't know it. See him mind wiping Lois in Superman 2 or his behaviour in the JLU episode Clash.

2) Connecting to 1 sort of, but the thing is that superheroes are only as "good" as the world allows them to be. Better to be a saint in paradise as they say.

[Frontier]

1) Well think of the things guys like Captain Atom, Shazam and the Green Lanterns have accomplished power wise. And that's just the top of my head. In terms of morality, yeah, Clark's a pretty nice person. So's Wonder Woman, Shazam, Captain Atom, Kyle Rayner, John Stewart and whole bunch of others. And really depending on which version and who you ask, Clark can be a jackass even if the narrative doesn't know it. See him mind wiping Lois in Superman 2 or his behaviour in the JLU episode Clash.

2) Connecting to 1 sort of, but the thing is that superheroes are only as "good" as the world allows them to be. Better to be a saint in paradise as they say.

Well, I think it's a combination of his god-like powers and his unshakeable morality and belief in humanity, on-top of some natural charisma, that's naturally gravitated him to the role of being the paragon of the DCU in a way other heroes couldn't ever fulfill completely.

Well, I think Superheroes are generally meant to be seen as unambiguously good even in the stories or worlds that make it more difficult for them to do so. Especially for Superman, unless a writer means for them to be the antagonist or "villain" of the piece. But that would always just be an Elseworlds because the "real" Superman wouldn't let that happen to them.

[Francisco]

Well, I think it is mainly because Superman can do almost anything with ease, really, which doesn't help to create an interesting and engaging story for the caual movie goer/reader/etc. . It's almost as if his creators had given him so much power that, well, he hadn't much left in term of foes or hardships able to actually affect him directly. For all his strength, Optimus is a leader among his species, he is greater than most of the Transformers, but still limited in the way they are. He is also clearly a leader. Superman can be an inspiration, but for me he is fundamentally lacking the ability to lead others because of how powerful he is. That's where Batman's relationship with Superman becomes important : the Bat "ground" Superman, he reminds him of what peoples can't do. Or at least, that's how I see this relation.

Superman's relationship with Batman is not important at all. He doesn't have anything to win from it quite the contrary he always gets the short end of the stick. Superman doesn't need Batman to remember him anything. He's got his own supportive cast for that. Superman is powerful enough to handle the threats writers created for him just like Batman is powerful enough to handle his threats. Superman is too powerful for Batman threats though... But who wants to see Superman handling Batman level threats?

[DochaDocha]

1) Well think of the things guys like Captain Atom, Shazam and the Green Lanterns have accomplished power wise. And that's just the top of my head. In terms of morality, yeah, Clark's a pretty nice person. So's Wonder Woman, Shazam, Captain Atom, Kyle Rayner, John Stewart and whole bunch of others. And really depending on which version and who you ask, Clark can be a jackass even if the narrative doesn't know it. See him mind wiping Lois in Superman 2 or his behaviour in the JLU episode Clash.

2) Connecting to 1 sort of, but the thing is that superheroes are only as "good" as the world allows them to be. Better to be a saint in paradise as they say.

JLU would have been one of the examples I was alluding to making it so that Superman doesn't look too good.

I feel as though there's almost a dichotomy going on here: if you follow the comics, you already know Superman has flaws like the rest of us, and can readily point out to comic examples or examples in other media. However, if you don't follow comics, then you are of the belief that Superman doesn't have enough flaws. Creators in other media are aware of this, and so they mold their stories specifically to say, "See, our Superman is 'different' and has flaws," when in reality, they're not doing anything new. So, I believe the conundrum, then, is that Superman doesn't really get to shine for those who want to see it, nor for people who don't really see what's neat about the character.