Superman's Ethnicity

[Wolf.B]

I've wanted to have this conversation for a few weeks since I joined the forum but honestly I've been a little afraid to do so, given the heated responses it might provoke. So I'd really appreciate it if we all keep cool heads on the topic. Hopefully, my fears are unfounded because you do all seem like a pretty cool crowd.

I'm a storyteller and when I look at Superman I question what his ethnicity would work best as from a narrative perspective, because lets not kid ourselves ethnicity plays a part in how people live their lives. A really great example of this was shown by Milestone Comics in the 90's with heroes like Icon.

Now I get the whole traditional angle of maintaining Superman's 'Caucasian' ethnicity, it's a character steeped in cultural mythology and relevance after all. And I also appreciate that established character's don't need to be redefined to appeal to a more diverse audience, there are already a growing number of wonderful fresh heroes ready to fill said void with I've no doubt more to come.

This discussion, for myself is about the character narrative only. Is Kal-El served better by being of another ethnicity? And specifically I'm talking about an African-American ethnicity.

Before I explain why I lean in favour of the idea, I think the relevance of the answer depends on when you set Clark's arrival as. This obviously moves to a later era with each audience to maintain relevancy with each new generation of comic-book readers, movie-goers and tv enthusiasts. But let's not forget Kal doesn't really age from our perspective so whether he was born in 1910 or 1980 doesn't make much difference outside of his backstory, personal experiences and supporting cast. Correlating to that statement I think it also holds true as to why we are eligible to discuss his ethnicity, Superman will be around long after we're all gone I imagine and will surely be reinvented countless times as a result. Is it so outlandish to suspect a similar such a reinvention might occur in the future? (And I'm not refering to sideshows like Earth 23's Superman Kalel).

For me, I think showing Kal growing up in rural poverty adds to his sense of morality. It's all about nurture over nature, Kal doesn't kick off his career with an innate moral compass born of his Kryptonian heritage, that comes from the loss he's endured and I think there needs to be more there to define this core character trait and psychological need to right wrongs. Growing up in poverty of any kind will cast a shroud on you, and for some that shroud is the need to see that it doesn't happen to others, with an ideology that sometimes extends beyond such a cause.

Now it can be argued that a white Clark Kent can experience the same kind of poverty, if we look at the historics of the USA's agricultural economy over the past century, there have been some very good decades and some very bad ones. If you cast Supes as an orphan in a period like the Great Depression then whether he was white or black, he was going to grow up with little to eat. But if you put him as the adopted child of a black family in a time when white farmers were doing well, that becomes a whole other story, one that I would argue enriches Superman's personal ideology and backstory.

Add to that the hot-button of racism, growing up in rural america in a time it was prevalent and I think you have a Superman that truly represents the American Dream, someone who can fight for liberty and justice for all and overcome the many social obstacles he'd have in his way both as Clark Kent and the alter-ego to represent something greater than has been, the idealism of human nature.

Anyway I hope you guys find the conversation interesting and hopefully I haven't pissed anyone off. Cheers.

[Lightning Rider]

Superman as a man and idea is malleable enough that depicting him in another era as another race doesn't insult the mythology at all. Plus don't forget about:



I'll add some more thoughts later.

[FishyZombie]

If you had to change Superman's race, I'd rather it be Asian or hispanic. Seems more relevant to the immigrant angle.

[Wolf.B]

If you had to change Superman's race, I'd rather it be Asian or hispanic. Seems more relevant to the immigrant angle.

That's a legitimate response FishyZombie. I primarily focused on African-American because of the history associated with the ethnicity and that this ethnicity has been part of Kansas agricultural economy since the Emancipation Proclamation. I'd love to read your exploration of why you feel that way though, if you feel up to it.

[FishyZombie]

That's a legitimate response FishyZombie. I primarily focused on African-American because of the history associated with the ethnicity and that this ethnicity has been part of Kansas agricultural economy since the Emancipation Proclamation. I'd love to read your exploration of why you feel that way though, if you feel up to it.

thank you. All I can really add is that different minority groups have different experiences, challenges etc. The ones from the asian and hispanic communities seem to have more parallels and as a result more compatible to Superman's character and the themes surrounding his character, than african american. You know, speaking very broadly, not trying to make false equivalencies. People see a black guy walking down the street, people will at least assume he's american, can't necessarily say that for other minorities. And the thing about Superman is that he is american, he was raised there, his adoptive parents were american, but people look at him and they see an alien.

[Jokerz79]

Not going to lie main continuity it has to be classic Superman I don't even like the trunks being gone. But elseworlds/The Multiverse different versions of Superman with different looking ethnicities outside of the traditional Caucasian is interesting and welcoming to me and I would mind them being explored. Superman had the most idyllic upbringing possible he was found by wonderful people, raised in a safe middle class environment, and never faced any prejudice. He grew up seeing the best of America and that informed his opinion and him believing in it's best. But other versions who didn't have that upbringing and seeing how that inform their outlook would be interesting. Like Hernan Guerra/Lor-Zod in Gods and Monster who was raised by migrant workers and grew up poor and faced prejudice and seeing how that changed his opinion of the status quo in America compared to Clark.

[Robotman]

Superman as a man and idea is malleable enough that depicting him in another era as another race doesn't insult the mythology at all. Plus don't forget about:



I'll add some more thoughts later.

That's an excellent point. The idea of Superman as a being who represents the best aspects of humanity and is the ultimate selfless hero does transcend time or race.
I think Grant Morrison has displayed this well with President Superman. Even though he's from another earth he can still play the same role as classic Kal El because he shares the same values. He seemlessly folds into the story in the Superman role.

[Flash Gordon]

The multiverse is really important, for this reason. I love Calvin Ellis.

I think Superman is very clearly Jewish, and that it is important to the character to remain such. In universe he's just an alien, but the subtext is there.

[NeathBlue]

Superman - Kal El - Clark Kent, is white, why can't it be left at that...
There's no reason why another Kryptonian can't be introduced as whatever ethnic background you want, but there's no reason to alter Superman's background.

And speaking of ethnic backgrounds for Kryptonian's, has the history of Krypton ever been explored that way?
There's been things that have shown parts of the history of Krypton before, but as far as I know there hasn't been a comprehensive one covering everything.

[MadFacedKid]

Hernan was probably one of my favorite interpretations of Superman.

I'd probably say Hispanic due to the already mentioned fact of the immigrant comparison.

Love Val and Kal though as well

[DochaDocha]

For what it's worth...

I'm Asian. My dad's Korean, my mom's Filipino. I grow so tired of white-washed stories, like the movies 21 and The Last Airbender. Hollywood, if the original story calls for an Asian dude to be the main character, then effin' cast the main dude with an Asian guy. It's not that hard, and the world isn't so backwards that people will freak out if some guy named Jinho Kim played the main role instead of some guy named John Smith.

On the flip side, I am not in favor of purposefully changing white-looking characters to non-white looking characters. I've followed race politics and race-themed blogs for the better part of 15 years, and I while it's stupid and awful that people on one end of the spectrum act as though race doesn't matter, I find the opposite end tends to take the mentality that you can pick and choose when race matters. Like, "Oh, this guy might've been born with some awful disease and will die at the age of nine, but he will have gotten to experience white privilege for nine years so..." Okay, nobody says that literally, but they practically imply it. I find that attitude repulsive. So, no, I don't see the point in purposefully making Superman look other than white just to make some statement about race. Rather, I do see the point in doing so, but I highly disagree with it. Whatever benefits you get out of race swapping are going to be met with hard feelings on the other end. And like I said, it's basically saying your hard feelings aren't as important. You could apply game theory principles here of Pareto efficiency and identify ways you can get other people engaged in the story without annoying large chunks of readers.

Of course, none of this applies to Elseworlds stories. I would also say the same of less iconic characters such as Jor-El and Lara.

EDIT: I saw mention of Gods and Monsters Superman, and I would reiterate that was my favorite version of Superman that Bruce Timm ever gave us. By all means, when you don't have to go by the script or template, feel free to do whatever crazy reimaginings you'd like. In fact, I'd say it would've been too bad if they just gave us another white bread Superman.

[seismic-2]

Funny, he doesn't look Rao-ish.

[Prime]

No, not the main Superman, sorry. But if I had to change Kal-El I rather he be Hispanic, Asian or middleastern. Indian, Arabic, ect.

[Kyer]

Response to opening post:

Absolutely loathe it when a character's foundation (race or sex) is twisted about. Really not all that happy with most Elseworlds but that's more because didn't care for the plots. Am fine with new characters being every color or of the rainbow though.

You want an example of poor, rural whites? I can tell you the story of my grandmother who grew up a labor and sex slave in her own town/county/country because of a quirk of birth that she had no control over. Though she turned out a good and loving grandmother, her early experiences messed up her whole adult life. Bigotry is color blind. It's an equal opportunity mindless hatred/power trip.

That said I would like to see an multi-universe story where Kryptonians didn't look a thing like humans of any color. How would that change how an ophaned Kal-El would be treated on Earth?

[Chris24601]

Atlantis is in the Atlantic ocean. Not Polynesian. Arthur is the son of a white man, a blond with bright eyes, just the same as Johnny Storm but a few decades older. Aquaman played by Momoa is a stretch but it gets a pass.

I think the pass is pure Game of Thrones cred. Momoa played badass Khal Drogo and thus all of the residual badassery is passed to Aquaman.

Unlike Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman where the character has greater stature in public consciousness than the actor who plays them Momoa is actually a bigger name in pop culture than Aquaman and so Aquaman is elevated by association. He gets a pass on race/appearance because no one is joking about how he's the guy who "talks to fish" precisely because of the actor playing him.