I didn’t really get it until I heard superman described as “not a power fantasy, but a justice fantasy”. It’s a story about what you’d make right, if nothing could stop you. And the limits of what mere force can accomplish.
I’ve never heard it described as a ‘justice fantasy’ but it really is apt.
Superman was created by two Jews during the rise of Nazism in the 1930s. He’s a retelling of Moses, but the modern day Pharos are Nazis and the 1%, and Superman is the dream that someone powerful might choose kindness and finally stand up for the powerless. All of the powerless, equally. Superman is absolutely a justice fantasy. This is why in prosperous times Superman is boring, but he has a resurgence of popularity during hard times, the people crave justice. Unfortunately too many of his writers have not understood that and subsequently have not known how to write for him.deleted by creator
Let’s not forget too that this just isn’t background and author intent. Superman as a fighter of injustice is directly on the page of his early work. He stops capital punishment, fights greedy bosses, and beats up Nazis. Post WW2, they could have used Superman as an anticommunist propaganda piece. Instead, creators at the Superman radio show had him battle the KKK and this actually added to snowballing downfall of the organization. Superman is a symbol for a reason.
A lot of the movies fail to get this, but the best Superman stories are the one’s about morals and the right choice. Superman has the power to make any choice, so he can choose to make the right choice regardless of cost. It’s also why he works well with Batman, it’s a contrast of what actually is right.
The older I get, the more I admire superman and the less I admire batman
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superman popularity goes up whenever times are rough, dc year by year kinda goes over it, good book
The corollary to the goth index as a recession indicator perhaps
Honest question, how many comic arcs actually treat Clark/Supes as a “kid from bumfuck nowhere who happens to have a strong sense of justice but is afraid of overdoing it and unwittingly fucking shit up because of how powerful he is?”
unironically, all of the good ones. Unfortunately, you are correct that it is rare, but it seems to be the direction they’re going for the new new DCU.
Was just wondering if they ever gave the man of steel the King Midas treatment
There is a pretty famous animated clip where he explains to Darkseid that he’s used to holding back because he lives in a world made of tissue paper.
It’s a fantastic character moment… And the full scene that happens afterwards that clip usually cuts off is better.
Sauce? I wanna watch that
He’s come to terms with it over the years, or at least figured out how to get by.
Not a comic, but the best recent depiction of this imo is “My Adventures with Superman” and anime inspired show which follows a young Clark becoming Superman
According to supes fans its the difference between the good and bad ones
Very true, also DC has a tendency to make amazing graphic novels and lukewarm ongoing arcs. Stories like this shine in All Star Superman, Kingdom Come, and especially Superman for All Seasons.
not many compared to the others where hes just well adjusted and knows he wont overdo it lol
Superman can occasionally be well-written, he is far more commonly poorly written. But a well-written Superman is just as good as any other character.
Sometimes they show Superman as being all powerful from the time he was a baby. Sometimes they show him gaining his powers gradually as he ages.
I want a version where he’s Clark Kent until he’s around 30, and then gets powerful overnight.
Isn’t that the plot of Unbreakable? I guess he’s a bit older than 30, and he always was powerful but just didn’t know it, but that’s basically what’s going on.
For nostalgia, look up “The Greatest American Hero.”
School teacher/single dad gets lost on a field trip to the desert and meets aliens. They gift him a supersuit that gives him immense powers. Fun show from the team that gave us “The A-Team.”
https://youtu.be/72MxOo5koto?list=RD72MxOo5koto
And yes, George Costanza used that song on his phone machine
You’re around 30, aren’t you?
Think about it.
Someone who is 30 is still young enough to think that putting on a costume and fighting crime would be cool.
Imagine if the powers didn’t kick in until he was 75.
He’d get the occasional cat out of a tree, but otherwise he’d leave the world alone.
I’m 40 and still fantasize about it. I imagine a 75 year old would kill to get superpowers and feel young again. The ONE fun part about the movie battleship was all the old veterans coming on to the USS Missouri to use it against advanced alien tech.
Have I got a book for you!
https://bookshop.org/p/books/old-man-s-war-john-scalzi/8c6a917012185622?ean=9781250359735&next=t
“Old Man’s War.” Earth has been co-opted by an interstellar confederation. The deal they offer is that they’ll take old volunteers and give them strong, young bodies in exchange for military service throughout the Galaxy. First book in a fun series.
Enjoy
I love that you’re in the comments throwing books around. Legend!
It’s available in e-book format if you think you’re not getting enough screen time.
Imagine if the powers didn’t kick in until he was 75. He’d get the occasional cat out of a tree, but otherwise he’d leave the world alone.
That’s the vibe of some of “The Sandman” stories.
If you like Neil Gaiman, look up Tanith Lee. Gaiman stole most of his schtick from her.
I will check out her work. Thank you.
I want a version where he’s Clark Kent until he’s around 30, and then gets powerful overnight.
You might enjoy the 1990s version of Superboy. He’s more like 19, but it deals with suddenly having power before knowing who he is or what he believes in.
I really enjoyed the way they had Lois Lane call him “Smallville.” That way, even after he moved to Metropolis, the show’s name was relevant.
Wait a second, puts on costume, gets beat up or close to death enough to activate powers? Maybe he stays out of the sun most of his life because it makes him feel funny and doctors think its bad for him
I think it’s from One Piece.
The man jumps in front of his SO when the pirates start shooting. He’s unharmed.
“How did you know you were bulletproof?”
“I didn’t know I was bulletproof. I knew you weren’t.”
Or maybe he does a Wiley Coyote move and runs out into open air, then realizes he’s flying and falls.
Superhero franchises. Right.
How very interesting.
Superman is incredibly boring. Hence why one punch man is so popular in comparison. Also Superman went from being a “normal superhero” to someone that doesn’t actually have to work his way through problems, but they still make it seem like he has to work his way through problems, which is ridiculous. Hence the parody OPM.
If you think Superman doesn’t really need to worry about problems because he can punch real hard, you completely miss the point of Superman. The entire point is there are problems that can’t, or shouldn’t, be solved just by hitting things at Mach 2.
Superman can also rewind time, hypnotize people, telepathically control them, etc etc etc. This has nothing to do with him being able to punch real hard. It has to do with the fact that the comic character situationally has powers that make the comics make sense, else it doesn’t make sense at all. He could solve any problem with the powers that appear throughout his 90 year history. So from one comic to another he suddenly has fewer powers, then the next he has tons more powers, else they literally wouldn’t have a story.
wow, it’s almost like his powers aren’t the important part of the story!
What do you mean by so popular in comparison? Maybe it’s a local cultural thing or an age thing, but I would hazard a guess that the vast majority of people in the U.S. could tell you who Superman is vs. who One Punch Man is. It could also be an age thing I guess: Superman has been around in the cultural consciousness in the U.S. since the 1940s, where One Punch Man looks like it came out in 2009.
Superman’s symbol is one of the most recognized symbols in the entire world. He was created before the vast majority of the living population was born and is still relevant enough to head up franchises and make successful movies. It’s not uncommon to see his logo on cars, hats, and t shirts 20 times a day. The majority of people can tell you something about Superman, like some of his powers, his weakness too kryptonite, his secret identity, the daily planet, Lois lane… something. I like OPM. He’s a fun satirical twist on the trope. But my god is there not even close to a comparison in notoriety and fandom. None of those things is true of OPM.
It’s not uncommon to see his logo on cars, hats, and t shirts 20 times a day.
where the hell do you live that you see superman’s logo even once a day. I haven’t seen superman’s logo in months up until this point, when I explicitly went out of my way to go search superman on imdb. That is such a load of fucking bullshit I don’t even know how you could come up with that.
still relevant enough to head up franchises and make successful movies.
this is even more laughable. It’s a joke in the movie industry how bad superman movies are. There’s literally a pinned comment about it on the TMDB.
If you don’t believe that, https://www.boxofficemojo.com/franchise/fr2756153093/ shows that the top Superman movie isn’t even a Superman movie! It’s a Batman and Superman movie! like holy cow, even the best Superman movie doesn’t solely star him.
Superman is a tired trope. The newest movie got views despite Superman, because it’s a fucking James Gunn film. People expected him to actually make a proper Superman rather than the lameness he has been for the past 50 years.
Wow your takes are bullshit. Thanks for sharing.
I’m not the one saying they see 20 superman logos a day. Such a blatant outright bullshit lie it’s not even an exaggeration, it’s just made up.
Superman # $134,218,018 in 1978 is worth $666,923,567.48 today
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I mean exactly what I said. In comparison, OPM is incredibly popular. It’s not more popular, but you wouldn’t expect a manga released in a single country to be nearly as popular as an entire comic franchise for the most famous superhero on the planet (movies, tv shows, comics, merchandise) that has existed for almost 90 years. And yet it is. Look at the Google Trends, Superman really only has outsized bumps when a new movie comes out. Other than that it’s literally competing with a manga on how popular it is.
When you say nearly as popular, you are losing me. Again, in my experience, I could talk to a random person on the street and they could probably tell me Superman’s real name is Clark Kent, or draw the symbol, or tell me he lived in Smallville, or any one of a number of random trivia. Even if they aren’t comic readers (myself included) Superman has firmly secured itself in the cultural zeitgeist. Meanwhile, I’ve never watched One Punch Man, couldn’t tell you what the main characters name is or what they look like, or tell you what city they lived in, etc. I think you may be hyper inflating the popularity amongst your own circle and projecting that into the world at large.
I never said “nearly as popular” once again, my words are being misread. popularity has nothing to do with “can a random person on the street name this thing”. I don’t think hitler is very popular, but I bet every person on the planet that has been to school would recognize his name. My google trends link succinctly covers this.
You should go reread your previous comment. You did say those exact words, which is why I repeated them. And to be fair to me previously, in my highest level comment I did ask you to clarify your words and you refused to explain so you are leaving everyone else to interpret.
In my interpretation, that’s what popular means: prevalent amongst the general public, in which case yes Hitler counts. You may be trying a different usage of the word, but you weren’t clarifying that. I would also like to let you know you are also coming off generally as a prick while being so antagonistic, hence why many people are responding the way they are in this thread.
Come back when OPM is still relevant after a century.
It will die in obscurity just like the majority of other shows.
OPM will be seen then like Tekusuke Monogatari is now.
newish manga/anime thats losing popularity every season and will fade away for the most part when it ends, ppl move on, they dont move on for comic heres man has been popular since 1940 and will be til 2040 and beyond same cant be said for saitama, we’ll see
knowing someone’s name has nothing to do with popularity. Case in point: Hitler.
This is the problem with the internet.
You have a completely skewed vision of the world.
Go on Youtube and see how many times people have watched the Superman trailer vs. One Punch Man.
I don’t know who you’re talking to, but Superman is more popular by any measurement.
you can’t read. I said “so popular in comparison”, e.g. something that has existed for 1/10th the time, and pretty much only exists in extremely niche groups, is as well known as it is. That word comparison means you need to compare the two. Here’s a comparison: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=superman%2C%2Fm%2F0ndskrg&hl=en
and here’s a fun comment from a Superman fan! Pinned comment on TMDB
(ignore the fact that every superman movie has a lower rating than OPM)One Punch Man first came out in 2015. It took over a decade to get enough interest for a third season.
Superman comics were first published in 1938.
By 1948 there had been a dozen Superman animated cartoons, a radio show, a live movie, and it had spawned dozens of imitations.
You’re right. There is no comparison
Lol you’re comparing an era where there was little to no media at all to an era where 20 new franchises come out every second. You’re right, there is no comparison. Superman still exists solely because of nostalgia, thanks for proving that for me. One Punch Man’s rating is 85%, not a single Superman movie in the past 90 years has ever gotten over 75%. The majority of Superman movies have a rating below 50%!
An era where media was rare is a lot more difficult to break through than an era where everybody and their mum are making media.
I think you really misunderstood what Superman is about. It’s not about the power or the fight. That’s just visual candy. He’s a character about making the right choice because he has the power to do so.
It’s a lot like Star Trek episodes where they rock up on a planet that’s less technologically advanced than them. They’re more powerful and they want to do the right thing, but sometimes figuring out what the right thing is can be complicated and it makes for an interesting story.
And yet those choices make no sense. An all-powerful being doesn’t have to make decisions. He literally has the power to rewind time in some comics, he can fly so fast as to make every decision completely meaningless.
This is like saying you’re going to make a comic about God and then say it’s about the choices God has to make. No it’s not, God doesn’t have to make choices, God does what God wants. Saying Superman comics are about making the right choice is a cop out for a terrible superhero.
If Superman was actually boring like you said, it wouldn’t have existed for so many decades. It would have died a long time ago. Yet new movies still come out.
OPM is only popular in anime groups, outside it isn’t known at all. So maybe get out of your bubble sometime?
That’s shitty logic, right outta the gate.
Not as shitty as OP’s logic.
Plenty of other superheroes existed back in the day. None of them are still relevant, yet Superman is.
That is incredibly bad logic. New movies come out for the same reason new Spiderman movies came out. New directors always thought they could “fix” the problems of the previous movies. Superman movies have been utter failures for decades, this is incredibly apparent just by looking at the highest grossing Superman movie being Batman v Superman, a fucking Batman movie. This is why the James Gunn movie has done so well financially, it was directed by someone that knew how to make a superhero movie and it STILL didn’t get good ratings! Yet look over at Spiderman, which had numerous terrible versions until decent directors got a hold of it. Why hasn’t that happened for Superman? (hint: it’s not because the directors are bad)
And I gotta say, something existing for decades while still being bad has nothing to do with the level of boring. People hold onto nostalgia, they also will keep consuming stuff even when it’s terrible. McDonald’s for example.
Who is holding nostalgia for something that came out in 1930? WW2 veterans who are all dead?
Using your logic, that is like claiming the OPM anime tried to fix the problems of the manga. It is dumb, just like the rest of your take.
what superman comics do you find boring
