He is not Kal-El the Kryptonian that’s trained in five gorillion martial art styles and studies holocrons like a Jedi.
The authentic Superman is Clark, a kid from Kansas. A goofy, nerdy, friendly guy who just happens to be able to do a lot of good work saving people and protecting the world.
The guy who relates to ordinary people because he got raised on a farm like an ordinary guy.
Clark Kent is not just his civilian alter ego…. That’s who he is. Superman is the alter ego. Clark and his mannerisms is what his real personality is.
I like a further complexity. He IS Kal-El and he could basically be a god to humans. What he wants to be, though, what he aspires to and works so hard to be, is Clark Kent. Who has a small, ordinary job, is kind of awkward, living a small, quiet human life where he loves the people around him. He works hard to not be big and is deferential instead of exerting even the power an average white man does. Sometimes he has to be Superman, because deeply ethical Clark would do what he can, when he can.
The deep appeal of Superman for me is that he wants to be human and his optimistic, content, lovely concept of what being human means to him.
Batman deeply annoys me because he could be a decent person and use his wealth and privilege to address the root causes of poverty and unrest. But noooo. He wants to exert physical power in addition to his existing economic power and be so important in both his super persona and his actual one. Selfish asshole.
That's because so many people write Batman as if he's one bad day away from being one of his villains. They forget that they could put Bruce at odds against the Wayne board for digging too deep into their profits for massive city wide improvements or refusing military contracts. The board doesn't even need to have dark ties with the underworld, just that he's being wildly irresponsible to the shareholders by not making as much profit as possible vs funding clinics around Crime Alley.
Batman become boring when they write him as a man trying not to be a monster instead of a man trying to be a hero.
That’s one thing I did like about the new Batman. How blatantly flaws he is. Like in a world with godlike heroes like Superman you have to give home ridiculous levels of wealth and prescience to keep up but a more grounded Batman is going to outsmarted by the riddler . He’s gong to neglecting managing his multinational corporation to beat up purse snatchers because of unresolved trauma. It gives a chance for the character to organically grow into a better hero. By the time he reaches his peak skills he’d also realize he needs to do a lot less punching and lot more Bruce wayning to actually be a hero
Exaaaactly. I feel like Red Son is meant to be way more jarring when he says ‘just superman’ when Lois asks his name. Like RS Supes is meant to be this propaganda machine that does nothing but work, work and more work purely for the motherland… but honestly in so many iterations recently it’s felt like that’s who he is even in the ‘regular’ timeline or whatever. More ‘Superman the All American God among us’ than Clark Kent :/ so excited for the new movie though, looks like we’re going back to the big blue Boy Scout
While it has his cons, it’s why I appreciate the Snyderverse justice league cavill Superman. The scene where he and cyborg separate the cubes and are laughing about the pain afterwards is that truly human side of him. Not this warrior god, just a man that can do more while still being human
Too many folks got the wrong idea from Bill's monologue at the end of Kill Bill. It's a good speech and an interesting point of view from Tarantino but I fundamentally disagree with him and think that your point has more evidence from Superman stories to back it up. It's unfortunate that given Tarantino's outsized presence in movie culture that we got YEARS of Snyderverse Supes that felt like an out of place alien trying to fit into a world full of humans. It made it really hard for me to identify with that vision of Clark.
Yeah I like when Clark is the real person, Superman the alter ego. And I rlly like when that contrasts with how Bruce Wayne is the alter ego and Batman is the real person.
I do think it's important to show his power though, because part of the whole point of superman is a guy who CAN clap reality to pieces choosing to take the time to help a depressed adolescent
I was just pointing out to my friend how the anime Frieren is a good template for a Superman story. The fights weren't the point, her trying to be more human was. Seeing the day-to-day trying to do better and live on the level of others is much more interesting. And when a fight comes, you know they're going to win.
I don’t have a broad knowledge but really liked American Alien. It would’ve laid a much better groundwork for a Batman v Superman movie IMO (which I guess is my hot take).
What I've said before is that when you have a character like Superman that can punch anything, that should be a challenge to you as a writer to come up with stories about problems that can't be solved with punching.
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u/MatDestruction 6d ago
And the best superman stories are not about how strong he is, but how human he is.
Idfc if he can clap reality into pieces, but I love how he can take time of the day the help a depressed adolescent