I'm posting this to start up some kind of discussion on an otherwise boring day. Keep in mind these posts are all dated before the announcement of the Superman relaunch. Hope this works...
By Chaomancer Omega originally posted on Jun 17 2003, 12:16 PM at CreationMatrix.comI think the statement that Superman needs spicing up pretty much sums up his entire existence in comics. I've expounded on the "Superman problem" to my friends before, but I don't think I have here. Simply put, he's too powerful. He flies. He's invulnerable. He's superfast, and superstrong. He has heat vision, and X-ray eyes. And he's fully capable of handling all these powers and functioning as a normal human being. He's just too good. Ordinary criminals can't cope with him. Most supervillains can't cope with him on their own.
And as Arthur C. Clarke noted, utopia is dull. It's hard to make him interesting when he can't be hurt, when you know there's no risk of defeat. So what do they do? They invent kryptonite. Superman becomes weaker when in the presence of a glowing piece of rock. Hoo-ray. This basically changed the formula from "Supes shows up and criminals wet themselves" to having a second option of "Supes shows up, criminals have kryptonite, Superman nearly dies but manages to get rid of kryptonite, criminals wet themselves." And, as might be expected, it didn't really work. A temporary, artificial weakness isn't the solution to the problem caused by his overload of powers.
So they create Doomsday. Let Superman have a foe who can really hurt him, heck, why not kill him temporarily? The basic idea here is good, although it's worth noting that the trick only works once; killing him a second time just won't have the same oomph. But they messed up with Doomsday in another respect; while Superman being at risk improves the interest level, Doomsday himself isn't very interesting. He's just a monster, a thing. As far as piquing the reader's interest he might as well be a Kryptonian shark. That's about as far as his character goes. And because Doomsday-as-character isn't very interesting, Doomsday-as-threat fails to be interesting.
Green Lantern gets away with the quasi-omnipotence factor because of two things. First, the Lantern has to come to grips with how to use the power of the ring. GLs aren't omnipotent, only potentially so; whether they achieve that omnipotence is up to their ingenuity. This provides a basic point to start with for creating a "risk" element; they might not figure out the puzzle. The other thing is that Green Lantern is often a conflicted character in one way or another. Kyle Rayner knows less about being a Green Lantern than any Lantern in history; he's unversed in the lore (initially). He's unsure of what he's doing, and that makes him interesting. Hal Jordan had to deal with a former mentor turned bad (former friends are usually interesting enemies), periodic disillusionment with the job, and eventually the desire to use his power for his own ends. But Superman is not a conflicted character. He's pretty stable, by and large. He knows what he's doing, he enjoys it, and he believes it's the right thing to do -- and other people agree as well. And it's probably impossible to change that in the main continuity without it seeming a major schism, so we're stuck with it. But it's probably the primary reason why the Elseworlds tales of Superman are so popular; we can get a conflicted Superman in Elseworlds.
Now, I'm probably coming across anti-Superman by now, and I don't mean to. I like Superman, I'd just like to see some more interesting things done with him. What do I think DC has done right in the past? Making him vulnerable to magic: magic is something widely available (relatively speaking), and isn't some deus-ex-machina device like kryptonite just to give the writers something to work with. It's even possible to think of logical reasons why magic can hurt him; it works outside of the physical laws which otherwise make him invulnerable. Darkseid: a physically powerful, but also highly intelligent villain. He can pose a threat to Superman, but is also an interesting character in his own right. Lex Luthor as President: Superman knows he's evil, knows he's up to something, and can't do a thing about it. This provides a mental conflict, and may be the smartest thing they've done yet with Superman.
The thing with Superman is, I really believe that in order for a superhero like him to be interesting, they need adversaries on their level. And Superman doesn't have them. Darkseid is close, but you can't have every issue be against Darkseid. Luthor is easily smarter than Superman, but can't do much against him directly. Doomsday is powerful, but dull. Bizarro's an even match physically, but not exactly the brightest bulb in the basket. And nobody else is even in contention. That's only four significant villains, and only Darkseid can be considered an equal.
Flash has a whole Rogue's Gallery of villains that are on a par with him; their physical and mental abilities, when combined, are roughly equal to his. Batman has an asylum full of adversaries that are, each and every one of them, a real problem for him to handle. Superman has Darkseid, Luthor, Doomsday and Bizarro. That's it.
Superman needs to be getting roughed up on a regular basis. Superman needs a Rogue's Gallery.
My Reply:I think they need to play up the iconic level that he has. Everyone on earth recognizes Superman. What would it be like if he existed in the real world? How does he deal with the press. Not just newspapers. How does he deal with politics. Wouldn't countries think he was playing favorites? Who is he to decide who is right and who is wrong? That kind of stuff. Make him bigger than life. Since he can't really be hurt...show that. Show how the world deals with a superpowered alien from another planet that might not have the same inrests that countries have. Show him affecting the world. Not simply being in it. I don't think it has to do with his powers though Smallville goes that route by having him learn his powers slowly. Human interaction is also another thing that is missing. The stories need to get back to normal humans and how living in a world with Superman affects them.
Update: Some of these issues are being used now in the upcoming relaunch of the character.
