What is your ideal Superman? (Take the Quiz!)

[manwhohaseverything]

What's the difference between Post-Crisis and Pre-Flashpoint? Aren't they the same era?

Post crisis is clearly centered around what byrne built.While pre-flashpoint started pulling stuff from pre-crisis era like the legion or krypto.Preflashpoint era comics generally have a "for tomorrow" esque feel which heavily influenced man of steel.

[Ascended]

Maybe you are right. We could keep it going forever if we got specific enough.

I did want to include that recommendation section, but I don't think I was able to fit them in given the character limits and formatting.

Really just depends on how deep you wanna push it, and where you draw the line between "differences within a particular archetype" and "completely different version." I don't think there's a wrong or right answer here, because you could cut it either way, but I do think keeping things broad is best for a poll like this.

Shame you couldn't include the reading list. Maybe you could link one somewhere? If this is something you wanna share with casuals and non-fans, a reading list would be super helpful to them yknow?

And pre-Flashpoint and post-Crisis are the "same" in that they're the same era and a continuation of the same version introduced in 86, but around the year 2000 a lot of pre-Crisis elements started working their way back in and the character ended up being fairly different from how he started. The DCEU does pull heavily from pre-Flashpoint in that you've got a very earth-centric Clark who identifies as "human" more than "Kryptonian" but has a childhood, heritage, and power level closer to the Silver Age.....but despite all the retcons and changes that's still the post-Crisis era.

This is what I mean by splitting hairs. If you cut post-Crisis in half; Bryne-triangle era on one side and 2000-2011 on the other, then you also need to start cutting apart other eras and versions and before you know it, we'll have burdened poor Lightning with too many different Supermen to easily and distinctly include in his poll.

[Soubhagya]

I got New 52.

Which is a bit surprising. Even if my profile image is from New 52, I don't consider myself to be a big fan of that version. I love that image for I like my Superman to be joyful. And with Krypto the image is quite adorable. As a kid, my Superman was from Superman The Animated Series.

That was the reason when I decided to try out Superman comics with New 52, I dropped them almost immediately. I returned after I found Rebirth to be intriguing.

Since, then I have admired specific things from almost all eras, but I thought I was more into Post Crisis. But looks like my love for Grant Morrison, especially their take of T-shirt and jeans Superman, has overpowered everything else.

[JAK]

And pre-Flashpoint and post-Crisis are the "same" in that they're the same era and a continuation of the same version introduced in 86, but around the year 2000 a lot of pre-Crisis elements started working their way back in and the character ended up being fairly different from how he started. The DCEU does pull heavily from pre-Flashpoint in that you've got a very earth-centric Clark who identifies as "human" more than "Kryptonian" but has a childhood, heritage, and power level closer to the Silver Age.....but despite all the retcons and changes that's still the post-Crisis era.

This is what I mean by splitting hairs. If you cut post-Crisis in half; Bryne-triangle era on one side and 2000-2011 on the other, then you also need to start cutting apart other eras and versions and before you know it, we'll have burdened poor Lightning with too many different Supermen to easily and distinctly include in his poll.

Oh, I don't think the poll needs to be changed - I'm just saying I don't want the DCEU associated with Post-Crisis/Triangle Era. Technically, the Bronze Age is the same continuity as the Silver Age, but it's distinct among fans. Post-Crisis and Pre-Flashpoint should be the same, imo. A very distinct shift in mentality.

Post crisis is clearly centered around what byrne built.While pre-flashpoint started pulling stuff from pre-crisis era like the legion or krypto. Preflashpoint era comics generally have a "for tomorrow" esque feel which heavily influenced man of steel.

That's fairly accurate.

What's the difference between Post-Crisis and Pre-Flashpoint? Aren't they the same era?

They're the same continuity, but not the same era. Post-Crisis/Triangle Era was 13-ish years of mostly serialized stories with a solid, set narrative. In 1999, most of the Triangle Era people who were still there left, and the books took a huge turn over the next years. Things changed quickly, but the first real "soft reboot" came in 2004's "Godfall" - they said the reality he came back to wasn't the one he'd left - and things changed further. But there was a definitive shift in tone, core, and approach, and Superman lost a LOT of confidence stats vs Post-Crisis. Then came Birthright/etc. You could almost call Pre-Flashpoint the "reboot era" because it seemed like they were making a point of changing it constantly, to the point that Infinite Crisis's plotline for Superman was specifically about the fact that he didn't fully know what his origin was. Even after the ship was "righted"... it wasn't. In that regard, Post-Crisis and Pre-Flashpoint are polar opposites.

Pre-Crisis elements were actually being woven back into Superman's lore back in the Triangle Era, but they were generally "updated" (YMMV) and modernized (for the time). Pre-Flashpoint, the Pre-Crisis pieces were being sown back in whole-cloth, which didn't fit as well with what had been established before - something else that certainly didn't help keep the era stable.

Imho, the Triangle Era continuing wouldn't have needed a reboot - but by 10-ish years of Pre-Flashpoint, it was definitely time (even if I didn't like where they went with it in 2011)

[Jim Kelly]

I think by now the Christopher Reeve movies have come to mean different things to different people. So it's hard to pin down which era that rightly belongs to. And every live action version has exploited an association with Reeve. Starting with THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY, which was produced by the same people, and then all the movies and T.V. shows to follow. Even the Zack Snyder MAN OF STEEL and JUSTICE LEAGUE tip their hat to Reeve.

[Hypestyle]

Silver Age Superman, apparently.
I'll take it. I'm familiar enough with it. I was fine with the John Byrne era tweaks, mostly. But I still wanted the Superboy teen era to exist.

[DragonPiece]

I got post crisis! Fun poll op!

[The World]

Silver Age Superman, apparently.
I'll take it. I'm familiar enough with it. I was fine with the John Byrne era tweaks, mostly. But I still wanted the Superboy teen era to exist.

Everyone knows Superboy was Superman's best childhood. That's why they keep trying to recreate Superboy first with Kon now with Jon. the Pre-Crisis one was an adventure in itself, the Post-Crisis childhood sucked, .

[RobinGA]

I'm neutral on Superboy. Golden Age Superman didn't have a Superboy equivalent.

There is something to be said for Clark having a normal childhood, learning about his powers,
then only starting to use them in Metropolis. It gets back to everyone's personal head
canon I suppose.

[Vordan]

I got New 52.

Which is a bit surprising. Even if my profile image is from New 52, I don't consider myself to be a big fan of that version. I love that image for I like my Superman to be joyful. And with Krypto the image is quite adorable. As a kid, my Superman was from Superman The Animated Series.

That was the reason when I decided to try out Superman comics with New 52, I dropped them almost immediately. I returned after I found Rebirth to be intriguing.

Since, then I have admired specific things from almost all eras, but I thought I was more into Post Crisis. But looks like my love for Grant Morrison, especially their take of T-shirt and jeans Superman, has overpowered everything else.

Hah yeah I think you and I perhaps love the potential of the era the most. Outside of Morrison and Pak though… we’ll it goes to show that you can have all the ideas in the world, but it’s the execution that matters. A bad execution can spoil a good idea.

[JBatmanFan05]

Decent quiz. I got: Bronze Age Superman

Which is, more or less, fair. I'm definitely in the Golden/Silver/Bronze camp as far as my idea of Superman, always have been, and always will be, even despite growing up mostly with Post-Crisis Superman. The Fleischer/Famous shorts and Donner films, which I experienced before reading Byrne's comics, molded a lot of my views about Superman.

[Venceremos]

Post-Crisis, which comes as no surprise to me

[Timothy Hunter]

What's the difference between the Silver Age Superman and All Star Superman in terms of personality or powerset. Considering that All Star Superman was essentially a modernization of the Mort Weisinger era of Superman.

The only major difference I can think of at the top of my head being the Kents being alive well into his adult career.