The Problem with Superman ("Americans don't want to be told what to aspire to anymore")

Time Magazine ^ | May. 17, 2004 | LEV GROSSMAN

[Hawkeye's Girl]

For America's multimillion-dollar Superman industry, it's a serious problem. This is a guy who's from outer space — he was born on the planet Krypton, let's not forget — but he's also from another time. He debuted in the 1930s, when Americans liked their heroes like they liked their steaks: tough, thick and all-American. Nowadays we prefer our heroes dark and flawed and tragic. Look at the Punisher (wife and kids dead), or Hellboy (born a demon), or Spider-Man (secretly a nerd). Look at Batman: his parents were killed in front of him, and he dresses like a Cure fan. Now look at the big blue Boy Scout, with his cleft chin and his spit curl. He's just not cool.

[Grig]

Gag.

Every 10 years somebody thinks they have to re-invent Superman. We've had long-hair superman, electro-superman and so on and it always falls flat. This sounds worse than most, and what WB is planning for thier next Superman movie will make you want to hurl if you are a fan.

What DC doesn't get is that Superman's real strength is his morals, not his powers. If they understood that they would have no problems creating interesting stories without having to tamper with the character and complain about him being 'too good' and 'too powerful'.

[Salgak]

Actually, I've heard Jet Li has been cast as Kato.

Your position is like saying it isn't Superman without George Reeves. . .

[keysguy]

Superman rocks that's all there is to it.

[Salgak]

Of course, that assumes that The Batman, who is driven by a thirst for revenge, tempered by justice, is "dark".

God forbid, personal discipline towards reaching a goal is now "dark" ???

The Batman prefers to work at night, maximizing his skills, stealth, and the terror he inflicts upon criminals.

That doesn't make him dark, that makes hin smart. . .

[weegee]

Sounds like Bizarros is Liberals.

[weegee]

Seeing doofus actors like Brandon Fraiser and the Dude Where's My 70s Show guy being considered for the role of Superman shows just how awful this film is destined to be.

Clooney Batman anyone?

[dfwgator]

There was a classic skit on the old SNL which speculated what if Superman worked for the Nazis. He used his x-ray vision to alert that "Jimmy Olstein" was a Jew, and he single-handedly destroyed Stalingrad in five minutes. And his father Jor-El was dead but would return as Charlie Rich. Hillarious stuff.

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

Yep, Bizarros am Dems!

[Hodar]

Might I humbly suggest this site.

Pixar is coming out with a new movie..... And it looks Very good.

Link

[SoCal Pubbie]

The article seems to say that a popular comic superhero today requires some sort of weakness, a bit of self doubt, and a psychotic edge. To me, making Superman relevant is easy.

As we all know, Superman DOES have a weakness- Kryptonite. I would expand this by having an evil cabal who hires surplus scientific talent to create variations of "artificial Kryptonite". Additionally, DNA samples allow the bad guys to discover additional genetic weaknesses that could be used against him.

I would have Superman begin to question his allegiance to "the the American Way" What if he looks at problems in the country, and a physiologically clever villain starts to get him to doubt his mission on Earth?

Finally, I would have him feeling the pressure of always having to do the right thing instead of just enjoying his life. Perhaps he has discovered that some sort of celestial event involving the Earth led to his home Planet's destruction, so that the very place he protects was the ruin of the world he came from?

So, now we have a giant, all powerful force for good, formerly invincible who discovers that a small group has developed the means of his destruction where once his survival was never in question. He must now constantly scan the globe for clandestine activities in remote locations he is helpless to stop due to its strength sapping properties, so he must seek cooperation from other governments and groups, some who may actually wish for his demise. At the same time, he begins to doubt the rightness of his fight, so he considers giving it up. Worse, he become bitter toward the principles he protects, and questions his very existence.

I would bring in storylines from the world today, but mask them a bit to make them not so obvious. In short, I would make Superman a metaphor for our nation and the fight it is in today, both internally and externally.

[discostu]

Superman has a weakness: he's dumb as a box of rocks. My favorite stuff with Superman was always World's Finest, where he teamed up with Batman, Bats was the brains of the outfit and Supes was primarily there to punch the right thing at the right time.

[You Dirty Rats]

My position is like saying it isn't James Bond if it isn't Sean Connery.

And, frankly, you can't replace Sean Connery or Bruce Le.

George Reeves could be replaced by Jim Belushi. There's no comparison.

Some actors or actresses do such a good job of character portrayal that it's tough to replace them. Frank Gorshin absolutely ruled as the Riddler, for example. Who could ever play Antony and Cleopatra better than Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor? And if Henry Kissinger ever played Ernst Stavro Blofeld, who could be more convincing?

[fr_freak]

So aside from the lack of super powers, myoptic eyesight, poor hearing, looks, physique and an allergy to cat dander ..... you and Superman are alot alike.

Gosh, I wanna be you.

AND I'm faster than a speeding bullet, just like him. Well, faster than a speeding bowling ball, anyway. Usually when I'm riding my bicycle, that is. Downhill. Fear me.

[Blue Scourge]

Superman will always be the man.....period.

[lilylangtree]

". . . we prefer our heroes dark and flawed and tragic."

Uh, pardon me! I like tough, thick and all-American. I sure don't like a dark, effeminate swamp wimp.

[NewRomeTacitus]

I would have Superman begin to question his allegiance to "the the American Way"

This is what the press has been trying to have us do for the last few decades, so it's no surprise that this fictional symbol of America has been demeaned in the publics collective imagination.

A few years ago a short run called "Red Son" had Kal-El land not in the U.S. but in Soviet-dominated Russia. That the buying public considered the idea a little too weird proves that, on the deepest level, most people still cherish the principles that they deride as "corny" to their friends.

[weegee]

The buying public may have considered it "too weird" but DC/Time/Life/Warner still has repackaged it and put it on shelves in a collected form. The Time article even mentions this alternate reality story.

[Mr. Thorne]

Oddly enough, the 'Ultimates' repackaging of the Avengers has a Cap I prefer to the 'classic' (read: leftist wuss) Cap.

The 'Ultimate' Cap is a tactically brilliant soldier (they borrow a bit, I think, from DC's depiction of Batman), with backup plans for every contingency.

He's a bit tougher than 'classic' CA. He takes down the Hulk (admittedly somewhat weaker, again, than 'classic' hulk) with a kick in the ol' nether regions. Hulk gets back up, but still...

Best caption from the Ultimates run: Cap in fight to death with shape shifting alien, who's pounding him quite nicely, till alien tells him all he wants is to hear him say 'I surrender.' Nice flurry of hand to hand, followed by slamming shield THROUGH aliens gut (slicing him rather messily in half), while yelling "You think this letter on my head stands for FRANCE?!"

Hey. I thought it was funny...

= )

[Mr. Thorne]

Oh, dear.

I liked Coke, The Addams Family, Mary Anne, and... The Hollies.

I feel like breaking into the 'misfit' song from Rudolph...

= )

[Qwinn]

Ping. Very curious to see your opinion on this one ;)

Qwinn