Shouldn't superman have an edgy, cool and mysterious sidekick?

[manwhohaseverything]

I mean, batman has robin who is his opposite A fun, goofy, colourful , optimistic kid. So, shouldn't superman have a bit dark, cynical, edgy, cool.. Etc sidekick who is his opposite.

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

Maybe Supergirl back in her red lantern days?
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[babyblob]

I guess I would question what point Superman having a side kick would be. I mean the man can pretty much do anything he wants. If it is a non powered side kick how would he keep up with Superman or fight the bad guys he does? If he has like the saem powers what is the point of having him in the first place? I like the idea of a street level hero in Metropolis, handling things like bank robberies, muggings, etc... things that are just way below Superman's pay grade. Like the street level guy says yea I will handle the gas station hold up Supes you go beat the Hell out of Doomsday and we will meet up for drinks later.

[manwhohaseverything]

I guess I would question what point Superman having a side kick would be. I mean the man can pretty much do anything he wants. If it is a non powered side kick how would he keep up with Superman or fight the bad guys he does? If he has like the saem powers what is the point of having him in the first place? I like the idea of a street level hero in Metropolis, handling things like bank robberies, muggings, etc... things that are just way below Superman's pay grade. Like the street level guy says yea I will handle the gas station hold up Supes you go beat the Hell out of Doomsday and we will meet up for drinks later.

If a bad cop, needs a good cope. Wouldn't the reverse be also needed? It's for having a dynamic to broaden the reach of the stories and characters . iobo and clark are pretty fun when they team. No, superman can't do everything . He has powerful enough foes. It's not like robin and batman can get shot or something. They have armour "tech" and plot armour. Powerlevels are really only as big as the world he occupies. His powers are reality warping or something like that. It's basic strength, speed, agility, flight, intelligence, freeze and heat ability .. Etc.

[LifeIsILL]

He does have a sidekick, it's Batman.

[Ascended]

No, Clark's not the sidekick type. Even when he had legacies, he rarely kept them close. Kara has spent most of her history doing her own thing, as has Conner and Steel.

I honestly think Clark doesn't want a partner or sidekick. Being able to call someone in to help out when he needs an extra pair of hands? Sure, he's fine with that. But having a sidekick around all the time, with the kind of stuff Clark gets into on a regular basis? That's something he doesn't seem interested in; he'd worry too much about the kid keeping up or getting hurt instead of focusing on the mission at hand.

Really, it wasn't until Jon came along that the idea of Clark having a semi-regular sidekick became a thing in the main continuity and even that isn't exactly a sidekick situation. Clark took some time each week to help train Jon but still did most of his adventuring solo.

[daBronzeBomma]

"Edgy, Cool, and Mysterious ... SIDEKICK?"

Hell no.

I'm open to Kal having costumed sidekicks, as long as they make sense:

Kara Zor-El/Karen Starr*,
Lar Gand,
John Henry Irons,
Conner,
Keenan Kong,
Krypto.

Any one of those could easily become Clark's less experienced partner with the right set of writers.

But a new edgy mysterious cool sidekick?

Superman doesn't need a try-hard Poochie.

* - I'll still keep banging the drum for the implementation of a merged Kara Zor-El who goes by Karen Starr, starts out as Supergirl (same as Dick and Babs age) and becomes Power Gal upon adulthood.

[Jim Kelly]

I mean, batman has robin who is his opposite A fun, goofy, colourful , optimistic kid. So, shouldn't superman have a bit dark, cynical, edgy, cool.. Etc sidekick who is his opposite.

10 characters

[manwhohaseverything]

No, Clark's not the sidekick type. Even when he had legacies, he rarely kept them close. Kara has spent most of her history doing her own thing, as has Conner and Steel.

I honestly think Clark doesn't want a partner or sidekick. Being able to call someone in to help out when he needs an extra pair of hands? Sure, he's fine with that. But having a sidekick around all the time, with the kind of stuff Clark gets into on a regular basis? That's something he doesn't seem interested in; he'd worry too much about the kid keeping up or getting hurt instead of focusing on the mission at hand.

Really, it wasn't until Jon came along that the idea of Clark having a semi-regular sidekick became a thing in the main continuity and even that isn't exactly a sidekick situation. Clark took some time each week to help train Jon but still did most of his adventuring solo.

I am not talking from Character perspective. I am talking more from a story perspective. You need contrasting personalities to make up good stories and make good dynamics. You can't have two jon's to make up supersons. You need a jon and damian for all the bickering . I have noticed everyone of Clark's cast is more the same. Honestly, i have had more fun with clark being stuck with lobo or Constantine.

And from characters perspective , Clark may not want a sidekick. but doesn't necessarily dictate clark can't get stuck with one in story. You know like a reluctant parental figure.as for the necessity for the character from a readers perspective , increasing adversity and level of conflict for protagonist so that he needs a good partner in the eyes of a reader is dependent on the competence of the writer.Moreover, i do believe the things you mentioned does go through bruces or Barry's minds as well,from characters perspective .
This also was more of thought experiment. Why doesn't superman has a small version of batman as a sidekick? Especially, when batman has a small version of superman as his sidekick.

10 characters

I submit to you sir that jimmy is the most hardcore character in the world's.

Kara Zor-El/Karen Starr*,
Lar Gand,
John Henry Irons,
Conner,
Keenan Kong,
Krypto.

Honestly, other than krypto and powergirl every other character you mentioned doesn't have much of a fun contrasting dynamics with clark. Dude! I just named a bunch of character traits that's it. I just mean a reverse superman. That's it. That doesn't mean i was looking for a try hard poochie or whatever. I was just wondering why clark doesn't have his own bad cop. That's it. Since batman has a good cop.

[PCN24454]

I am not talking from Character perspective. I am talking more from a story perspective. You need contrasting personalities to make up good stories and make good dynamics. You can't have two jon's to make up supersons. You need a jon and damian for all the bickering . I have noticed everyone of Clark's cast is more the same. Honestly, i have had more fun with clark being stuck with lobo or Constantine.

And from characters perspective , Clark may not want a sidekick. but doesn't necessarily dictate clark can't get stuck with one in story. You know like a reluctant parental figure.as for the necessity for the character from a readers perspective , increasing adversity and level of conflict for protagonist so that he needs a good partner in the eyes of a reader is dependent on the competence of the writer.Moreover, i do believe the things you mentioned does go through bruces or Barry's minds as well,from characters perspective .

Yeah...no

There's "interesting character dynamics" and then there's "being contrarian". Having them constantly argue over every little thing is both annoying and contrived.

If two people argue that much, one of them is going to just leave like all the various Robins try to do, but writers never let them.

[manwhohaseverything]

Yeah...no

There's "interesting character dynamics" and then there's "being contrarian". Having them constantly argue over every little thing is both annoying and contrived.

If two people argue that much, one of them is going to just leave like all the various Robins try to do, but writers never let them.

Really, if jon and damian didn't have anything they agreed on they wouldn't be running around together. Point blank. They bicker because that's just what they do. Same with batman and robin. They might be dysfunctional. Family is very hard to shake off. They are pretty much stuck with each other. Especially, since they see both good and the bad in each other. Being stuck in frustrating place with opposite views is much better than being stuck in an echo chamber. That's just what i think.

[SiegePerilous02]

The closest thing he has to a Robin equivalent is and should be Jimmy, and I wouldn't call him a pure sidekick.. Supergirl is his distaff counterpart.

Leave it at those two.

[manwhohaseverything]

The closest thing he has to a Robin equivalent is and should be Jimmy, and I wouldn't call him a pure sidekick.. Supergirl is his distaff counterpart.

Leave it at those two.

The main man will be hurt by this sentiment.

[Restingvoice]

I mean, batman has robin who is his opposite A fun, goofy, colourful , optimistic kid. So, shouldn't superman have a bit dark, cynical, edgy, cool.. Etc sidekick who is his opposite.

He's gonna get hated

[babyblob]

I dont think ever good cop like Superman needs a bad cop to round them out. I dont think every bad cop like Batman needs a good cop. Most of the time when this happens the writers try to hard to show just how different the two are and it kind of drags the story down. We know that Dick has differant thoughts and ways of doing things then Batman I dont need it thrown in my face every time the two get together. Or I dont need the Nightwing inner monologue about stepping out of batman's shadow all the time. It is annoying in the Bat Books and it would be annoying in the Superman family.