Man of Steel

My problem with Superman is that the entire character is fundamentally boring.

Who he is? There's nothing to explore there. Batman was old enough to remember his parents getting killed. That creates some character right away. Superman was an infant with no knowledge at all of his birthplace. You can't miss where you've never been.

While Superheroes win, with Superman there's simply no possibility that he could lose. In TDK, we got to see Bruce Wayne all bruised up and tired. In Spiderman 2, we see the personal, scholastic, and professional impact that being Spidey has on Peter.

With Superman you have the impossibly good looking, impossibly perfect height/weight, impossibly uber powerset, impossibly maintained secret identity, impossible everything else that just drains all interest from what is going on. There's just no downside to Superman. Batman can get an interesting story dealing with a grocery hold up or a mugging. Superman needs the world or the universe to be seriously threatened, or else it seems like there's no point for him to even get out of bed. Which also leaves me with no point in caring about anything he does.

The JLU Superman was a pretty good step. His power level was toned down to where it was conceivable for him to lose. Sure he would curbstomp anyone without powers, but that's hardly unusual in a superpower universe. But they didn't have to give everyone and their brother 20 lbs of kryptonite just to even the playing field.

Two thoughts I'd like to share here:

First, on the "realism" of comics (or any kind of fiction, really): I think some people here, on both sides of the fight over whether this is an issue for Superman, are confusing "realism" and "believability." Something "realistic" closely resembles, well, reality. A very, very realistic superhero story would probably not be very interesting, since it would mostly involve the characters getting slain by accident, sitting through the criminal procedure process, or both. A "believable" story feels coherent within the context of its own setting. I would argue, for instance, that while The Incredibles is not a very realistic superhero story, in terms of either the characters' abilities (a guy who can create ice? "zero-point energy" gauntlets? Come on.) or their psychology (a marriage where the spouses have strongly differing needs and beliefs about how the children should be raised that hasn't ended in divorce yet? Come on.), but the characters and their deeds certainly make sense and act consistently, or surprise in a convincing way, within the context of their world. To take an even better-known example of "realism," I don't find the characters of Watchmen that realistic (one's a caricature of Ayn Rand-ism, another a caricature of supervillains, for instance), but Rohrschach and Ozymandias are still "believable" characters within the scope of their melodramatic world.

With these ideas in mind, I believe Superman can be presented believably, even if he isn't necessarily realistic. Note, too, for those alluding to his portrayal in the animated Justice League in which he flings Darkseid through buildings and such, that believability can change based on the medium. What looks good in a cartoon, even a serious one, might look silly, and thus out of tone and not believable, in a live-action film. This may explain why we've seen a lot of Superman lifting things and not much fighting in his movies up to now.

Second, about the appeal or lack of appeal of Superman: It saddens me to say this, as someone who loathes Batman and likes Superman, but I think society has moved past, or forgotten, a large part of what makes Superman interesting. Yes, he is an icon of heroism, but historically speaking, that hasn't been the core of his appeal for most of the character's existence.

Rather, his appeal can be summed up in the tagline from the first Superman movie: "You will believe a man can fly." Superman's more-than-mortal powers are actually part of his draw. Think back to the days when Superman was first introduced, when there weren't many, if any, characters with superhuman powers out there. In the early days of Superman, part of the appeal is seeing his amazing powers in action, even if they make things "too easy" for him. To give another example, it's popular in geekdom these days to criticize '50's Superman stories for making him "too powerful" by having him tow planets on a giant chain, travel through time, or what have you. But for the readers of those stories, the very fact that the character had such powers was part of the interest. The way he used those powers to overcome obstacles was also important, but it was not the sole matter of importance, as it is in more modern superhero stories.

Superman became a victim of his own success. Now, audiences in any medium are inured to heroes who can fly or have superstrength or use any number of previously "amazing" powers. We're left with Superman's amazing-ness being reduced to his moral power. That has a lot of appeal, but not as much as it did in these days when melodrama is viewed as infantile even (especially?) in superhero stories.

That's all for now.

I think my biggest problem with Superman has always been that I just don't believe there really is a Clark Kent. The Kill Bill speech on Superman and Clark has always been the best description of Superman I can think of. I just always see aspects in the stories that I feel prove the validity of that description. I think that's the more personal block I have against Supes. Though I did love some of his scenes throughout the animated series. The episode in Justice League when they're were trapped in their nightmares, and he was worried that his powers would never stop growing, and he'd lose control. I would love some aspects of that to be used more, Clark being afraid of his strength, not so completely in control of his powers. The World of Cardboard speech was pretty cool too.

Is the Man of Steel another Superman remake or a continuation of some sort? Hope they get it right this time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mauk2 Evil_Legacy became one of my favorite posters with two words. "Kick Rocks." I laffed so hard. Never change, E_L!

Since it looks like they are including some origin story I'm guessing a reboot.

Ok. Hopefully it's good this time unlike the last most recent fiasco.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mauk2 Evil_Legacy became one of my favorite posters with two words. "Kick Rocks." I laffed so hard. Never change, E_L!

While I enjoy the deep analysis, I can sum it up concisely (at least my perspective). Make a good Superman movie and people will flock to it. Give us the same dated, corny, uninspired drivel and people will continue to love [insert other comic hero] instead because they've had better movies. He doesn't have to be the outsider and all emo. He can be all powerful, that's ok too. Just make it well.

BUT! Give him an actual threat that doesn't involve some scrawny billionaire with the deus ex machina of kryptonite. Make him get into a good fight with a superpowered enemy that will actually challenge him (they don't have to win). It really doesn't have to involve an invasion of (easily CGI'd) alien hoards like almost every action movie uses now days. One really powerful baddie will do. You can make a good superhero movie, that is compelling and smart that doesn't involve overanalyzing the hero's state of mental health and does involve good action as well.

The reason we haven't seen a good Superman movie, is because nobody has made one. (Nostagia of the Reeve's first two aside of course. I say they are dated, but I do realize some people still love them so I'll give you that)

From what I gleamed from the trailers, it appears the US if not the world is seriously concerned when Superman first shows up. Who wouldn't be, he's immune to every weapon used against him, he can rip through a building or bank vault, he can fly with no obvious means of propulsion at supersonic speeds, he doesn't need to breath. He represents the ultimate threat if he didn't have the best of intentions. Of course then Zod shows up who doesn't. So you have two "god" class entities fighting for the fate of Earth.

I don't think the world in general will get behind Superman until the end of the movie, after Zod is defeated. But I suspect the powers of the world will still suspect him. Only at that point do you introduce a powerful industrialist like Lex Luthor. Hint about him at the end the way Joker was at the end of Batman Begins.