I think people think morality is boring. There is no edge to it. When really it's such an integral and interesting part of the character. Superman is by far my favourite comic book character. Thanks for commenting be sure to subscribe!
That's how I feel and it's why I don't get people who think that he's not relatable (although I would argue that, even if he isn't, it doesn't matter, not every character has to be). Like, to me, if you can't relate to him, that says a lot more about you than Superman, if you can't relate to someone just because he's genuinely nice and good. I find being genuinely nice and good to be VERY relatable, actually, so it sounds like a skill issue to me.
@@DavidRYates-tk2tq yeah that says that they’ve never thought of anyone but themselves or their mad enough to believe that helping people and being kind is a form of weakness
I think its due to the fact that many people view that the world is gray and can't be black or white. That no one can be all good or all bad. Thinking that character's being genuinely just good is boring because of how simplistic it is. Not considering the possibility of someone actually being genuinely good and the complexities behind why someone like superman can be genuinely good. I think it's also people who don't know how wholesome and heartwarming superman can be
Yes I fully agree. He is supposed to be the essence of good but apparently can't handle tragedy and becomes a complete fascist dictator. Thanks for commenting be sure to subscribe really helps the channel!
@@JasperReviewsDifferent worlds, different Supermen, different circumstances. Sometimes it can be hard to see a Superman going bad such as All-Star Superman or Christopher Reeves Superman. Others you can see going bad if given the right push such as Clark from Smallville, Snyder’s Superman, New 52 or the DC Animated Universe. The problem is people keep trying to keep Superman one way. Like they’re not happy unless he’s smiling all the time, giving some speech about good and justice or tearing up at the sight of the Earth. But when written as a super being raised by humans who have many flaws. You would actually get something closer to Henry Cavill’s Superman or Clark from Smallville. And a bit of that edge shows up from time to time with main comic Superman. Once in awhile you’ll see arrogance, anger, failures, etc. What often makes evil Superman interesting isn’t just him but the influence he has over all other heroes and villains. When you read the Injustice comics you see right away that Superman would have failed many times on his own. And it was interesting to see him tackle all these different challenges.
The ONLY one I like is Injustice Suoerman because it was a slow burn. As in, he could've been redeemed up until the point where he had Alfred un-alived.
@@ccelite3782 I don't really like injustice, and I do think he's out of character But you're kinda right No one was there for him when lois, their kid and his city died And in the movie,when dick dies,he goes too Selena because he knows that only she can help Bruce
Though I like injustice, I agree. It did make me scratch my head when superman goes full evil when Lois Lane dies and he kills the joker. Superman is a strong boy, tragedies like this will not make him go evil, and in actuality, it's supposed to encourage him even more to be an ideal hero
One of the biggest problems with the Snyder movie in regards to Jonathan Kent is that he dies saving a dog. In the comics he dies from a heart attack or some natural death. A natural death to Jonathan shows that Superman has limits. He can save people from disasters but not from disease. The human mortality happens no matter what. Time will eventually kill a person and all the powers Superman has can’t prevent that. This is something Snyder didn’t understand and something Donner did understand.
Clark Kent (Christopher Reeve) at Jonathan Kent's funeral: "With all my powers, I still couldn't save him." I agree with you and this scene was the perfect embodiment of that. Edit: As others have mentioned, Clark (Henry Cavill) could've easily used his superspeed and saved his dad. All anyone would've seen was a blur. Edit 2: That wasn't Christopher Reeve who played young Clark Kent in Superman '78 but, you get my point.
TH-camr Thoughtslime did a fantastic video essay about the Superman movie that made me change how I looked at the Chris Reeve movie. I recommend it but to sum it up, Superman's journey is kicked off when he's unable to save his father from a situation that's beyond anyone's control and he makes the choice that if he can't save his father, he'll save other people. He does exactly that by becoming Superman but the sad thing is that throughout the movie he grapples with how much he doesn't feel like a regular human no matter how much he masks his trues self. Near the end of the movie Lois is also killed in a situation beyond anyone's control and in his grief he thinks back to all he's learned and experienced and makes a choice to do the most human thing he's never experienced before in his life. He's discovered his limit and pushes himself further beyond it for the sake of someone he loves, and he does the impossible and succeeds in saving her. And if that isn't peak Superman, I don't know what is.
Yeah! A natural death is unavoidable. Saving a dog could be avoidable if someone else saved that dog. They are completely didn’t types of “Can’t do everything”!
It isn't even that Snyder's Pa Kent dies in a way that was completely avoidable had Supes thought to help. It's that Pa Kent explicitly FORBIDS Clark from helping avert his death. We all remember the scene - Pa Kent is standing in the middle of an unfolding natural disaster, MEETS CLARK'S GAZE, and then takes 6 or 7 seconds to smile and shake his head "no, don't save me." The entire scene is batty.
@@blackpajamas6600 A big part of the movie centers around the question of "Should Clark use his powers to save people?" Jonathan Kent would say No or at least Hold off on it so that he can put his own well being first. Putting aside that the answer to that question is obvious. I could forgive it if it was satisfyingly explored, but the movie is told out of order to it's own detriment. We get flashbacks throughout Clark's life setting up the question and they come after the scene where Clark rescues a bunch of people from a fire. The question is asked after we already got the answer. We've already seen that Clark wants to be Superman and that he'd be good at it, yet the film keeps insisting "Should he? Should he REALLY?" Yes, dammit! You are not convincing us that there's a legit good reason for him not to be!
"A farm boy's wholesome values vs big-city cynicism and corruption" is an integral theme of Superman, and here's the proof: Even if a writer is clever enough to tamper with this trope and write a great story, you're still left with the feeling that you haven't read an actual Superman story.
@@JasperReviews Ehh, he'd get used to it eventually. Most people do. It's still a missed opportunity. Man has phenomenal cosmic powers, but is still a bit embarrassed for being a country bumpkin in the big city.
A general problem with heroes becoming villains is that so often they develop a completely different personality to the point that they might as well be a different character. There's no emotional impact to these evil Supermen because there's nothing uncanny about them. They don't act like Superman or say things he would say. They're just generically evil. Interestingly, this never seems to be a problem when bad guys become good guys. They still get to be themselves. Vegeta is still proud and arrogant, Doom is still vain and condescending, etc.
When good people break evil, they stop caring, so much of who they were vanishes. When villains become heroes, they're adding in morality/caring to what they already are. It makes sense, but it makes Heel turns less interesting too.
Magneto is ironically the greatest example of a heel turning face done right. He still has that ruthless edge but has learned to overcome his hatred of humans and his desire to subject them to his cruelty because years and years of allying with Charles and the X-Men made him see the beauty and value of peaceful co-existence.
This is why I love Red Son, he’s not some generic “evil” Superman, he’s just the same Superman we all know and love, just raised in a different place and way of life.
Yep it's fantastic! Asking the question what is Superman without the Kents. How much of him is already built in. Thanks for commenting be sure to subscribe
_Exactly._ Even when he's doing terrible things like brainwashing people, he's still genuinely trying to help the world as best he sees fit. It isn't born from a place of anger or rage, it's still Superman's innate desire to help people, just how it goes ends up being warped the further he goes and the more influence his regime gains over time. And speaking of the brainwashing thing, Injustice!Superman will laser your face or punch your heart out and it's brutal and gory...but you're dead. It's over quick, and he can't hurt you anymore. Red Son Superman on the other hand will brainwash you and reprogram you into a happy, loyal servant of the state. You don't die. You're that way forever. And he doesn't even really seem to _realize_ he's hurting you, he thinks he's _helping._ For all of Red Son being one of the most Superman of the evil/fallen Supermen, he's also kinda the _scariest_ in what he does to dissenters.
Another example is him from gods and monsters he literally starts working for the government the moment he realizes people are afraid of him, but this is him who is okay with killing, is basically a playboy and has a very tense relationship with authority yet he never turns evil and it takes him being framed for a ton of murders for the government to view him as a threat and attack him and still he doesn't go evil.
I think James Gunn will do a really good job with superman! No more evil superman! Thanks for watching hope you enjoyed the video and be sure to subscribe!
@@JasperReviews You are about to belive that david cornsewet will be the best superman ever and even competing with the G.O.A.T christopher reeve th-cam.com/video/x154LyW52is/w-d-xo.html th-cam.com/video/mZLRhsiYiQ/w-d-xo.html
the idea behind about deconstructions is that is suppoust to give a diferent perspective from an already known idea, and thats it a "diferent perspective" not a NEW perspective. For example shrek is a deconstruction/parody on fairy tales from the perspective of the monster and asking the idea if they live happily ever after like the humans ... but i don't want every single fairy tale to be shrek does anyone want to be on ursulas side in the little mermaid? does anyone want to be on the witch side in hansel and gretel? You want friggin angelina jolie as maleficent? cause this is how you get angelina jolie as maleficent. The same way i don't want ever single mecha anime to be evangelion, the same way i don't want every single western to be unforgiven and the same way i don't want every single superman story to be injustice
I’m remembering this one Redditor ranting about how Superman should be unreliable and a walking nuke and how Lex should be proven right because of this comment… blech
My distaste for evil Superman (Superman is my favorite fictional character ever created) is why Superman vs The Elite is my favorite Superman movie (so far), because it's a pretty damn effective deconstruction of evil Superman/evil super"heroes" in general as well as a reconstruction of good Superman.
No joke. Despite the way The Elite presents themselves, the crisis Clark faces isn't, am I ineffective? Should I change my ways? It's simply, does the world not want me anymore? The story is compelling, but betraying his morals is never actually something he considers doing.
Superman vs The Elite and it’s source material Action Comics #775 have serious problems. The biggest one being the Elite are Straw-Men. Caricatures of every ‘extreme’, in-your-face, ultra-violent anti-hero character and team from the 90s. The Authority (who will be in James Gunn’s DCU), X-Force, WildC.A.T.S, Youngbloods, Deadpool, Cable, Venom (when he got his solo title), Bloodshot (Valiant), 90s Doctor Fate etc. For a time, these characters were outselling the old school Cape and Cowl heroes. Apart of that success came with the authors of these anti-hero books poking fun at the big name heroes like Superman, the JL, the Avengers etc. Joe Kelley (who redefined Deadpool after Liefeld and Nicieza’s original run on X-Force) wrote AC #775 and vs The Elite (he came back to write the movie and improve his original story) as a response to the anti-hero hype that swept the 90s. Outside of being straw-men caricatures who were never intended to be used after their debut story. Superman loses the argument. He doesn’t have a retort to the Elites presence and popularity in the world. Superman sinks to their level, gets into a super powered brawl with them, kicks 50 shades of shit out of them, conjures up a way to remove their powers (which is never seen or used again) and then proceeds to preach, lecture and wag his finger in their face about how they are wrong and how he is right. I will say the movie fairs a lot better than the comic. Kelley took the time to flesh out the Elite and explain their POV. But Kelley denouncing the Elite after flirting with evil Superman to do it. Doesn’t make it the story the slam dunk retort a lot of people think it is.
@@jetheotaku yes and no. By today's style of storytelling it's parody. By the comics written when produced, it's not. Stories published between 1954 and 1970 were very much written in the style of a Saturday morning cartoon as were live action superhero shows and family oriented sitcoms...and the writers of the day have very much confirmed this...because the main market was for kids, not teens or above (although they would have some programming)...because the expected kid idea at the time was five archetypes and sidekicks would be based around that idea. The main types? Ron Howard, Jerry Mathers, Keith "R.K." Thibodeaux, Butch Patrick and Patty Duke...and they became the models for the Fab 5. Supergirl on the other had an Erin Murphy thing going on.
I’ve seen more evil Superman nowadays than the super chill, wholesome, down to earth Superman I’ve always enjoyed just a guy with the power to do literally anything apologizing for being late for work or helping a kid find their cat.
It's interesting how evil Superman trope started as a subversion, but ended up becoming so mainstream that now making a genuinely in-character Superman adaptation is considered a subversion.
@@JasperReviews I blame Injustice for the whole mess. NRS had dogshit writers who probably never touched a DC comic in their life. The only thing they probably saw Superman as was a big scary villain for the underdog heroes to punch. It's no secret that the only reason Injustice became as popular as it is now was because of Tom Taylor who actually knew what he was doing and tried to salvage this shitshow as much as possible.
@@JasperReviews Oh the video was great. If you decide to give Injustice a read, you'll notice that Tom Taylor makes it abundantly clear that THIS is NOT the main universe Superman. Without spoiling anything, Injustice Superman has had differences in mentality from main universe Supes since his childhood. That's how far they had to go to justify Superman becoming a fascist dictator.
I always thought an evil Batman would be more compelling and believable than an evil Superman. Injustice would’ve been a much better story if Bruce became the dictator instead of Clark.
It would make even more sense if Superman decided to send the Joker into the Phantom Zone but Batman who upon witnessing Lois' death starts reliving the death of his parents, Barbara Gordon's helplessness, Azrael and Jason Todd's death flips out and kills the Joker before deciding to stop his no-kill rule and starts to excessively brutalize people he considers his opponents including surgically implanting explosives in inmates in ways that would horrify Amanda Waller.
It's funny, I actually consider Superman to be who he really is rather than Clark Kent, but in a different way from how most people would see it: to me, "Superman" is the embodiment of everything the Kents taught him about being a good person and how to use his gifts. So, Superman is his real self but not because his Kryptonian side is more important, Superman is still his "human" side, in that it's the embodiment of the values he was taught by his very human parents. His "Kryptonian side" is Kal-El, who is neither Clark nor Superman.
I have a Very different view on that with Superman I believe that Superman is Technically 3 Personalities in 1 The First is the Public Clark Kent, the Scrawny Nerd/Reporter man, Clark makes himself inconspicuous with his Body language, Vocal changes, and stance to differentiate himself with Superman The second is Private Clark Kent, This one is usually with the Kents and later with people he starts relationships with, His True self and a True human in a way And finally Superman, In a Kidlike way what a Kid would imagine if they had Super powers, and Opportunity to do Good with the Idea of being in a different light of sorts, this is just Clark Kent with Powers
Personally I have long since abandoned the whole “Clark is the real personality, Batman is Bruce real face” idea long ago. I feel both Clark and Superman are equal his real face while Batman/bruce Wayne are both equally fronts. Superman is Clark embracing his true power, history and the spirit of what he wants to do/show the people of earth what they can be while Clark is the personality at the end of the day/the life while unremarkable is all he could ever ask for. Bruce on the other hand has to wear two mask, one as an aloof billionaire playboy to the public and one as a dark terrifying force to the villains of Gotham, i do believe if Bruce did have the option of being a hero/help Gotham without having to be a terrifying figure he would but because Gotham is Gotham he has to. He puts on two fronts on both end which makes it more impactful when people like Alfred, catwoman and Superman can reach the real Bruce Wayne.
This is why I really like "Reign Of the Supermen", an arc that happened between Superman being killed by Doomsday and getting better. You get four would-be successors who each embody a different bit of Superman. The everyman hero who would do good even if he hadn't been born with super powers, the remote, aloof alien who struggles to relat to our world, the "this is so cool!" power fantasy, and the tireless public servant with no life beyond the job.
@@paulgibbon5991 and that's why Conner stopped being fun when he stepped out of his legion-esque costume from Young Justice in favor of that moody Titans look.
Great video! The way I imagine Superman is that he's smiling as he's saving people. He loves people, and he enjoys being able to save them and does so willingly and happily.
1:02,Just an idea,i think it'd be better in this scene if instead of clark saying ''if i wanted it,you'd be dead already.'' he said,''Batman,stop. I don't like hurting people''
That movie is full of scenes that had their meaning coming off wrong with how it's executed. The infamous Martha Scene can be shown: while it wanted to have a moment where Batman realises that he's become like his parents killer, the very type of people he fought all life to differentiate from, it felt to many like "Batman stops because his mom has the same name as Superman's mom".
This also explains their length. He had so much going on that he needed a 4 hour movie for the Justice League, which was the follow up to a 3 hour movie@@JasperReviews
What annoys me is that they keep ignoring the real evil Superman, Ultraman. They all these different ideas through him, but Earth 3 doesn’t get the same love and attention that used to.
@eldrideinherjar6711 The funny thing is that the Japanese Ultraman (a character I really like, mind you) is like the Superman of Asia. He’s an iconic hero who’s a symbol of hope across much of the Asian continent.
I wouldn't even hate it as much if it weren't so damned overplayed. It's like every six weeks, someone walks into the office at DC with the mind-eraser thing from Men in Black and goes "Hey guys, I've got an idea! What if Superman....was a BAD GUY?!"
@@JasperReviews spoken like a true superman fanboy. Shallow, surface-level thinking. What's even funnier is that what you say can be said about good superman, since it's been around for near 100 years.
@friedfrog5447 The issue isn't that evil Superman is constantly used, it's that it's basically the only alternate version of Superman we get nowadays. And it usually boils down to the same plot point of "Some tragedy happened and now superman is evil" No one would mind the idea of "evil superman" so much if they actually did something creative or unique ideas with it. It's the reason why so many people consider red sun to be one of superman's better alternate versions, since it isn't just evil superman
Evil Superman is such an oveused trope at this point, and I definitely hate the concept of evil Superman. Regular Superman has shown that powerful people can still be good people who can inspire others to be better. Evil Superman just takes away from what makes Superman such a special and great superhero and person. Not to mention that evil Superman doesn't improve on Superman's character at all. An evil version of Superman is just a terrible thought and even a scary thought when you think about it, since if Superman ever was evil, it would be a bad thing for all humanity. I do agree that turning Superman evil just shows how depressing humanity is as a whole because Superman's goodness comes from how he was raised on Earth. Take that away from Superman, and it just makes humanity look bad. There's a reason why the evil versions of Superman tend to be relegated to DC elseworld stories. Evil Superman just ISN'T Superman.
@@Xander315 There have been plenty of iterations of evil Superman over the years as far back as the superfriends era. At this point, evil Superman is an overused trope. You are the one who clearly doesn't know what you're talking about. If you look hard enough, you can find the evil Superman iterations and understand why people are tired of it.
1 thing I have in mind about whole Evil Superman concept is that, it really shows how much world has changed for last 90 years. Superman, in way we know him, was originally created as symbol of hope at time, when world was expecting for Big War to come. Back then, he was Hope. But after 9/11, Superheroes became just another source of fear, with Power they had. That's where The Boys and Invinsible got created, and that's when Evil Superman moved from being Mind-Controlled by others, to being evil by himself. Kind of scary to think about it
@@lightdarksoul2097 The difference between Cap and Sups, is that Steve is just human. Yes, modified. But he's still a normal man. While Klark is an Alien, probably most powerful entrance in the entire universe.
Clark has alien biology but is human in everyway cause he was raised by human parents and was given their values. That's why evil Superman going evil because he's an alien makes no sense. @@MrKiller392
@@anitabonghit7606 I'm not saying, that Clark becomes evil, BECAUSE he is Alien, I'm saying, that it is Scary for us to have Sups as Villain, because of that.
@@MrKiller392 and yet even though he's aware of his alien nature, he's still very much human...and turning him bad turns him into General Zod...and even Superman's six year old despises his biology and is insistent that his own girlfriend or biological family never calls him by his biological name if he is to be addressed in Kryptonian...he is simply K'riss-El if he has to use it, but this Nightwing...prefers to be called Christopher or Chris most of the time...even when he gets hyperaged to 16 every other week by Kryptonian shadow magic.
It just makes me sad when I hear people say, "I wasn't interested in Superman until MoS came out," "Snyder made me care about Superman," or "DCEU Superman is the best Superman because of how "realistic" it is." If that's the case, then you don't understand Superman fundamentally and what he's supposed to be and represent.
Those people never saw, ir worse, didn't appreciate the Superman Animated Series or 2000s Justice League and it painfully shows. Superman was never one of my favorites necessarily but, if it took the dreary Snyder version of Supes to get people interested well, I have nothing I can say to change their minds. Strikes me as odd, it does.
I think a big problem with Injustice’s potrayals of an evil Superman is that you don’t have a lot in game to sympathize with, at least in Clark’s actual actions and dialogue. This where the Injustice comics really shine, because they show that downfall, and how Superman slowly lost his morals more and more, and went from a hero to an antihero to a villain
To quote one of my favorite Superman TAS episodes of all times. Jonathan Kent: He just can't be Clark Kent anymore. Clark: But I am Clark Kent. I need to be Clark Kent. I'd go crazy if I'd have to be Superman all the time. This is understanding Clark's character.
@@JasperReviews I think I will. This is why My Adventures With Superman has become one of my favorite superhero shows of all times. It understands Clark Kent. He isn't some Messiah sent from the Heavens for humanity to worship. He's just a nice guy who wants to help.
@@JasperReviews I highly recommend it. It is up there with the DCAU in terms of quality story telling. I don't wanna spoil anything. Just know that it is a show that totally understands Superman, all the while taking some new creative steps.
Evil Superman looks interesting for a teen that thinks everyone is good by default and thinks of him as an samaritan alien. Superman is inspirational to an adult because we actually understand how hard it is to stay commited to his idealistic ideas power or not.
It is not just Evil Superman, but most media with a Superman standin makes him evil. I remember watching a review by Captain Midnight of My Hero Academia. Captain Midnight does not watch anime, but his watchers talked him into reviewing My Hero Academia, because of the superhero theme. He was expecting the Superman standin, All Might, to be revealed to be evil. He was waiting and waiting, and did not happen. Captain Midnight even namedropped Homelander and Omni Man for comparison. It was not some sort of meta commentary about the state of superhero stories, Captain Midnight was just reviewing media from outside his comfort zone and was confused by the lack of familiar tropes. Point is, Evil Superman has become the norm and Good Superman the subversion.
Kingdom Come is a great example of a Superman who lost Lois Lane and became a bit darker but still remained a hero and an example of hope for humanity and other heroes.
When you think about it, the Man of Steel's Superman was raised differently from the many other supermen. Clark in many stories is raised with the idea "If a good man sees injustice, and misfortune, a good man helps." Where Man of Steel, Jonathan constantly fed the message "You are meant from something great so you cannot help others and reveal your powers." So it makes sense that MoS Superman feels like an alien because he was raised with the idea that he is some Messiah figure who has to constantly hide himself and as such could not form connections with people.
Always found Jonathan and Martha Kent's upbringing of Clark in man on steel was completely bizarre. Telling him perhaps he should have let all those kids die on the bus. Complete madness! Thanks for commenting hope you enjoyed the video and be sure to subscribe!
That was only when Clark was an underaged minor. When Pa Kent told him to "Keep this side of yourself as a secret" he said it more as a parent trying to protect his child than as a comic book character building up another comic book character. Similar to how Smallville's Pa Kent did in wanting Clark to get to grow up with a normal childhood without getting exposed as an alien until he is legally an adult.
The thing is when there are evil versions of superheroes you often get warped corrupted heroes that could challenge the originals methods With evil superman he’s just, a superman that failed which is why the best evil supermen, are entirely different characters
I blame that 12-year-old in a man's body, Zach Snyder. The idea existed before him, but it was more sparingly used until he went and screwed it all up with his need to be "edgy" and also not get the character _nor_ what could be compelling about inverting a well-known character. And how to use that idea _competently._ Any use of an "Evil Superman" requires juxtaposition. It's not interesting in a vacuum. If everyone in the narrative world is just as dour and uncaring and selfish... then it's just a miserable world. People often critique The Boys here, because of Homelander, and fair enough it is a prime example of Evil Superman. But he actually is the _antagonist_ of the story and not the POV character. Additionally, you have the contrasting character of Starlight. So you can still honor the hopefulness of a Superman character, but you've just moved that trait to a less powerful character so now it's a different kind of story. When not oversaturated as a trope, the concept can be used to pretty good effect to have an exploration of what unchecked power looks like -- that while the fantasy of Superman is nice, in reality we have to be wary about assuming that someone with power will just be a good guy, and why it's important to check power. But also it can be a good vehicle for showing why we need to interrogate _ourselves_ if/when we wind up in a position of power. Normal Superman can teach this message, but for some it's important to show the counter as well and why we shouldn't be careful of who we turn into. So, again, Evil Superman is a perfectly fine kind of character when used with care. But we live under capitalism and so anything that is interesting and liable to sell tickets/subscriptions will get oversaturated and misused and run into the ground. A lot of instances of this trope can wind up not even having a message beyond "isn't it cool how powerful this evil dude is?! Did you see all the gore?!" And _that_ is a problem.
I always found making Superman a villain or a metaphor for Jesus just lazy writing I always liked when hes a friend as well as a good person I hope we get this in James Gunns Superman Legacy
I totally agree, why does he have to be Jesus makes no sense to me. I think James gunn will make his superman far more light hearted. Thanks for commenting be sure to subscribe!
@@JasperReviews superman wasn’t supposed to be this “Jesus figure”, it’s about how (in the dc world) people would perceive some random alien appearing on earth just to help others out of generosity and the will to do right thing. If you genuinely do not see on how that would correlate not only through religion (not only as a figure of good) but through the human condition, how most/some would want to help other and how one with a extreme traumatic event can change the character forever, then you really don’t live in the real world nor understand the character. Sorry but there’s a reason why Batman called Superman a Boy Scout and also a reason why Superman only threaten to kill the joker but didn’t…. in his own comic 🤷♂️
Yeah especially because there’s an even better story metaphor being wasted. Superman is literally based off/meant to symbolize the idea of human potential, what we can be, what we can do, what are future can hold if we strive to do good and be better than what was before, to be the super man. Also the Jesus metaphor is additional dumb because his story is based of Moses? That’s like having a character who’s a humble farmer who is forced to face of against a giant titanic hulk or “Goliath” and deciding let’s make him a Samson metaphor
@@christopherauzenne5023 there are various Old Testament allegories in the Superfam...specifically it starts on Krypton by making Jor-El a Noah...he placed his family on an ark (it wasn't called a rocket there)...which Krypton laughed at. The Moses allegory comes later, but generally the idea is that Superman is the Shem to Jor-El's Noah...and becomes the Adam of Superheroes (and yes that has actually been said about him and Lois being Eve in different comics...by their descendants having those names) and the hero boom is the nations of the world...also a Noah thing.
@@PhenomVRExcept Snyder on his own said he's supposed to be a Jesus figure and it's implied through the theming, and bruce is literally wrong about it, you missed the entire point of the comic besides it being a piss poor adaption of their friendship, Clark is literally Bruce's friend and his favorite superhero
Thank Rao for My Adventures with Superman. You have no idea how happy I was to see a new piece of Superman media where he actually acts like the classic Big Blue Boy Scout. Here's to hoping that James Gunn's Superman: Legacy is great so we can FINALLY have a good big screen Superman for the general audience.
I am really looking forward to Gunn's superman. I think he will definitely be the classic superman a true interpretation of the character. Thanks for commenting! Means a lot! Hope you enjoyed the video and be sure to subscribe!
My Adventures With Superman still made Superman look bad by making his enemies lesser downgrades of their previous incarnations. If we go by the saying "Your enemies define you" then we should start focusing more how we have Superman's enemies challenge him to be better in going forward and My Adventures With Superman did the exact opposite.
6:15 it’s stated by Superman in the DCAU Justice League Christmas episode and I believe one of the animated movies that neither Superman or Clark from the Daily Planet are his real identity, but rather the Clark Kent that exists when he’s with his parents, and when he’s with them he’s one of the most kindest people we see in the DC universe.
This is part of what makes Kingdom Come so interesting. We get Joker killing Lois but what makes Superman retire is the people cheering on another "hero" for killing the clown.
@@JasperReviews I would recommend it even if it started a lot of plot points that I don't like. Kingdom Come did them well but others don't seem to grasp why.
@@JasperReviews Absolutely recommended because it made the readers understand just how noble and selfless Heroes can be after Watchmen viciously destroyed it. A similar read is the Siege crossover event in Marvel which sounded like their take on Kingdom Come.
I feel we have an evil Superman already, and it’s General Zod, he’s the alien ability without the humanity while Superman is the human with the abilities of an alien. General Zod is the Superman without holding back, Superman is the Superman with him holding back.
@@worldweaver2691 it’s actually why I enjoy the lighter tone of My Adventures as Superman cause he’s still learning, but when shown what his people could do, it genuinely scares him.
Yes I agree it can work. Injustice I enjoyed initially but I feel wirters decided that was the only way to tell a Superman story. Thanks for commenting be sure to subscribe
I think one of my biggest problems is that all these evil Superman versions are all just the generic superpowered god complex villain in love with their own power and believe every other being is beneath them, it’s the same villain you have seen countless times just pretending to be unique because “ now it’s superman, dundundun”. My favorite version of the evil Superman is ultraman from crisis on two earths (I know owl man often gets the spotlight but he is just as interesting) and that’s because he ACTUALLY an evil mirrored version of Clark. Clark/supes whole thing is the despite his grand power he is just the average Good Samaritan jus ton a grand scale, ultraman by comparison is just the average thug/punk just put on a grand level. Like take the moment where he threatens the president to know his place, it’s treated less as a god threatening a lowly human but more as a mobster shaking some “protection money” from a business, even The crime syndicate acts more like a gang rather than superpowered overlords. (Additionally, as Clark was eased in Kansas/farm boy ultraman has a slight Brooklyn/New Yorker accent. Two major places representing American life but with two majorly different contexts and perceptions) this is why he is probably the only good version because he reflects aspects of Clark and uses the evil equivalents of that/elements of the character that make the most sense
It’s why I love Red Son, it could have gone the usual propagandistic route of “Communist Superman? He must be evil!” But instead they maintain his core morality while giving him some complexity.
That’s exactly why I love Superman vs the Elite, it shows the notion of an evil Superman but quickly pulls the rug and shows that it was all an act, as Superman would never just become evil
Liked MoS for the action and effects, but yeah, that portray of Clark is what bugged me. ANother thing Snyder got wrong, in my humble opinion, was having Jonathan Kent die in a way CLark could have save him..
Remember when Superman TAS showed an alternate universe where Lois died and Superman was manipulated by Lex to support a fascist regime but when Clark realized he was lied to about what was really going on he turned on Lex and tried to fix his mistakes?
While Omniman and Invincible draw inspiration from Superman, they are distinct characters in their own right. They serve as symbols of a national ideal, inspiring others to strive for greatness and embody the virtues they represent.
Shin Ultraman is what modern Superman supposed to be. No, not the evil Superman with a U on his chest. A silver giant hero from the land of light. I really want you to cover it, no pressure.
I'm going to read up on ultraman. I am getting a lot of comments on this video regarding him. If I have any passionate opinions on him I'll cover it. Need to see what subscribers would like to hear from me!
One of my favourite comments on Clark/Kal-El/Superman's personality comes from Batman: "In many ways, Clark is the most human of us all. Then he shoots fire from the skies, and it's difficult _not_ to think of him as a God. And how fortunate we all are that it never occurs to him." *That* is pretty central to who he is, and it sums him up very succinctly (as Batman is wont to do). He's not a 'God', he's just a man, doing his best for the good of all. It's just that his 'best' happens to be better than most others, simply due to the feats he can accomplish.
I think It stems from a trend of some disliking characters that are genuinely good ppl i.e. finding them 'unrealistic ' (whatever that means) and/or boring. I just wish they wouldn't change up superman to make him more 'interesting' or 'better'. I think it's slowly becoming better now tho since fans are starting to miss generic good guy heros. Videos like yours help too imo.
I love the fact superman makes me want to be a better person. Thank you for enjoying the video! I worked really hard on it and it means the world to see comments like this
Finally! someone who understands what Superman is about! Snyder should not EVER get near any Character! let him destroy his own characters! I'm so tired of all the modifications that's being done to the character that destroy what he is about...
Thank you for the lovely comment! I love superman. My favorite comic book character by far, superman doesn't need modifying he is perfect the way he is. There is a plethora of stories to be told about him. I think Gunn will tell a fantastic superman story
@@JasperReviews there's many incarnations of earth-3 so I can't narrow down which era or story features this arc so I can't help you in your search so good luck
@@warlord8106 the problem isn’t Batman, it’s the writers (By that I mean Zack Snyder) try to make them rivals, Batman is my second favorite hero, but it makes no sense the stupid rivalry that the writers make them have, they are friends, not enemies
That goes back to frank miller and dark Knight returns. That is where Batman became bat god and people began to assume super has no will to resist being made a toddy.
Smallville, i think, did a pretty good job of touching on the idea of evil Superman without it feeling forced or overstaying it's welcome. It was never made into a season long arc. Only shown when you take the influence of the Kents out of him or strip him of his inhibitions. Something we see in full effect in episodes dealing with Red K or the other world where he wasn't raised by Martha or John. Like Red Son, it challenges the nurture vs nature ideal by presenting a Kal El that was raised by Lionel. It's short & to the point, only running for a few episodes, & makes us wonder about our Clark if circumstances were different.
Most people think that Lois is what makes Superman human, but is the Kents. And is not that hard, every single good adaptation has excellent Johnathan and Martha Kent, like Lois and Clark, Superman the Movie, Smallville, and Superman and Lois.
There's a video discussing how DIsney's Hercules character is a much more compelling Superman adaptation than all modern Superman adaptations A god-like entity, born with immense power and with huge responsibilities, end up being taken, raised, and loved, by a small rural family that bestowed him the values of kindness, simplicity and solidarity, and it's these values that brings the good and the "human" in him, to the point that he'll end up fighting people with similar powers and natures in order to protect humanity and love.
I’m getting so tired of seeing Superman Evil, sure it was interesting at first in Injustice but Snyder’s Vision completely ruined the whole concept of the Character being the embodiment of a Human Man that that’s physically a Alien but has alot of Humanity that he only wants to do Good and stop the Evil and Corrupt in the Right Way, the reason why Homelander and Omni-Man works isn’t because they’re Supermen that Kills but because they’re raised by different Environments and are a Interesting as a Character Study as Nature and Notcher, hell if DC wants a Superman that Kills then Zod is the Perfect Evil Superman they could Adapt More.
The biggest issue for me when it comes to the laundry list of evil Superman stories and character-types is that it always comes from a place a cynicism from the writers and the people who love these stories. This isn't my quote but it sums up the issue pretty succinctly: "It's become easier to believe a man could fly over that a man could be this good".
I think there are ways to explore a 'Superman' without making him evil. I really liked Jupiter's legacy with "The Utopian" facing how to uphold his beliefs in right and wrong with a more modern society, and why his values were still important, even if people viewed them as 'ineffective'.
I absolutely DETEST both Evil Superman and this Idiotic desire to make him "Cool, Dark & Edgy." To me, he is a representation of every HACK "writer" who has zero business writing for a character that they don't know Jack Squat about, even more disturbing the idea that they want people to empathize and relate with THAT type of a monstrous misrepresentation; It kind of says a lot about the quality of character of those HACK "writers." You change ANY aspect of Superman's core; he ceases to be SUPERMAN. Every single time Dolts like Zack Snyder think they can make these changes based on their own infantile lack of sense; they FAIL every single time. I am not against the concept of the "evil superman" provided that they are essentially a pastiche, i.e. an ORIGINAL CHARACTER not in any way resembling Clark Kent. What makes me laugh at the sheer idiocy of these HACKS is that they are so desperate to have an Evil Superman, they ignore the fact they already have an Evil Superman; HIS NAME IS GENERAL ZOD!!! To a lesser degree: BIZZARO. Nope, they need to tarnish Clark Kent because they are 100% GARBAGE Talents.
Just IN GENERAL modern writers don't really understand superheroes... They make them edgier and morally grey, when in reality they're not. Batman and Superman actually aren't that different, they both have a strong moral code and do what they do because of justice and what they believe is right. They're two sides of the same coin, forces of GOOD, who fight villains to protect and defend, rather than revenge. You just never see heroes being morally good people anymore. Wearing the cape and kicking butt isn't what makes a hero a hero, its the strength of character and will.
There’s only one evil Superman I really like and that is the Justice Lord version from the Justice League show. I also really like implications of it that are explored in the Cadmus arc in JLU.
Thank you for your lovely comment! I agree superman is such a great character to inspire hope very much an captain america esque attitude to life. Thanks for commenting be sure to subscribe
I finally truly understand why people hate this Superman, because I had my own versions of this with drunk hobo Luke Skywalker and evil corrupt murderer Jedi in the Acolyte.
I am personally tired of evil Superman and frankly I have lost my patience a long time ago, and personally for me I am more of a fan Superman Clark Kent and Lois lane being married and they have there son Jonathan Samuel Kent superboy as his little 10 year old self being a great family in my opinion.
Yes I agree as well. All superman stories seem to be oh look here is am evil version! Oooooo! Very boring to me. Thanks for commenting hope you enjoyed the video be sure to subscribe!
@@JasperReviews your welcome and will do, and also I agree we have reached a breaking point with evil versions of superman in mainstream media that frankly I have my patience of it a long time ago, which is why i always maintain we should focus on Superman aka Clark Kent being the hero we all know and love and being a great husband to his wife Lois lane and being a great father to his son Jonathan Samuel Kent superboy as his little 10 year old self being a great family is a far better story and far more interesting then doing another evil superman story that have just been done to death that it ain't fun anymore but just sad and depressing in my opinion.
I want a Superman who is not overpowered, loss some fights, and doesn't gives up, but when he's not holding back he's powerful enough to destroy a planet and scale up to atleast Black Adam or Darkseid base form.
Superman and Lois is the closest thing to the True Superman we all know and love. And that’s a shame because there’s a perfect template for a great movie but Hollywood likes to trash anything that’s good.
I feel like with all the other Superman-inspired evil supers like Homelander and Omni-Man, people have kind of gotten tired of the dark, evil, “sigma male” icons. I saw people call “My Adventures With Superman” corny, but honestly it’s a breath of fresh air and a return to what the character was supposed to be.
Snyder-Verse trying to push “muh evil Superman” was trite the first second they showed it. It’s a tired, worn out trope at this point. Leave it at the Justice Lords from the Animated Series and only that, DC.
My thoughts on it boil down to this: If you're gonna do an evil version of what Superman is, then it has to be an original character and not Superman. It never works for the original, but it works far better when you get stuff like Homelander or Omniman as opposed to "what if we made the big blue boy scout punch a hole through The Joker?" This is why New Adventures of Superman and Jack Quaid's take on him works for me. They recognize that fact.
I very much agree. You have to like I say in the video change the very essence of superman. His upbringing is so key. That's why I like stories such as red son. You change his up bringing. Is it nature or nurture which makes superman. Thanks for commenting be sure to subscribe
If you read the earliest superman stories, you will see that the character wasn't always what you might call a purely good guy. He was originally the type of character who gave bad guys a taste of their own medicine. He would beat up wife beaters, scare the crap out mine owners by trapping them in mines for not inventing in safety equipment, force war mongers into the middle of a war zone, ect. It's true he never let these people really get too badly hurt, but in the origins of the character there was definitely a seed of a darker side. He only became a more virtuous character after the very first stories. Just the no guns and no killing wasnt always a batman thing, what we think of the definitive spirit of supes wasnt reflective of the original concept. The reality is superman was concieved to someone who could do the thing we could do when we see things that are wrong. A power fantasy, not so much an ideal like truth or justice, but the ideal of the power to act. At the end of the day, i think evil superman is fine because what we think superman is supposed to be isnt the original either.
If any director wants to make Superman not boring or evil then they should that inspiration from Batman and Superman Public Enemies. That movie has one of the best Superman adaptations in the 21st century
Why is it that a Superman thats angry is alot more interesting than a modern evil superman? Because evil superman is so easy and cheap to the point no one has naunce to it. An angry Superman, is our glorious boy scout being mentally tested, where he must truly rise tothe occassion and live up to his mantra and be a real symbol of hope. And above all......shows he is VERY MUCH SO......human. who makes mistakes, who is not all powerful as we think be is .....but will do what is right even when it doesnt feel good at the moment. Evil Superman just makes Superman a paradigm shift but with NO naunce at all. The worst part, VERY VERY much against any sight of coming back to the side of good. Not a single ember in sight of the main who spent most of his life protecting people.
Well I think you’re missing that being an alien is an important part of his character as well. It’s shouldn’t define him but it’s important. Other than that I agree with everything else you said
Yeah I don't think I explained that part particularly well. What I mean is clark Kent is first and foremost human. He isn't an alien searching for purpose man of Steel made it as if he can't adapt to human life when really he sees himself as human. Thanks for commenting I hope you enjoyed the video and be sure to subscribe! Really helps the channel
Christopher Reeves is, was, and always will be the ideal Superman on the big screen with The Animated Series Superman being the ideal Superman on the TV. I think something that Superman needs as a character is to always see, inspire, and try his best to bring out the best in people. His greatest strength isn't superhuman strength, the ability to fly, laser eyes, or any of that... it's his ability to inspire the good in people. Instead of turning a petty criminal in to the police, he does what a father would do to a child and brings the criminal back to the person they wronged and tells them to make what they did right and apologize. If somebody tries to shoot him, he doesn't immediately punch them, he smiles makes a quip about how they could hurt someone like that. Even when stopping a more serious crime, he should approach it like somebody who is trying to not only stop the crime from happening, but as somebody who cares about the person committing the crime. Even though they may have to go to jail for what they did, he still wants to understand them and help them not make the same mistake again. Superman isn't the one who needs to be morally complicated and gray... his villains need to be. His villains need to be the ones who do bad things for the right reasons so Superman can show/tell them that while their intentions may have been good, they went about trying to do good the wrong way. That's why Bizarro is such a great villain; he WANTS to do the right thing, but goes about doing it the wrong way. Instead of picking a cat out of a tree, he knocks down the tree. Instead of rescuing people in a burning building by going in and flying them to safety, he pours a rooftop water tower out onto the building resulting in people getting hurt by rushing water and steam. He gets frustrated when his efforts go wrong and he lashes out because he just doesn't get why his good intentions are met with anger and resentment. Lex Luthor is another great example of potential for moral complexity. Just look at Superman Red Son. That comic was so great because it inverted the dynamic between Lex and Superman perfectly. They both wanted to do right by humanity, they both wanted to end poverty, disease, war and famine. The twist was that it was Superman who was going about it the wrong way by trying to control everything people did so nothing bad would ever happen to them while Lex Luthor recognized that people need to be free.
People just refuse that someone with than much power can use said power for the benefit of their fellow neighbour, they took the saying "Absolute Power corrupts absolutely" as an absolute truth not taking into account that a lot of DC heroes,specially Superman are an idealistic point we should strive to be
Best way to describe superman is like the scooby doo show turning into velma. Apart from some of the looks you're basically just making a completely different character (not saying evil superman can never work but it requires time and dedication as well as making him maintain the same qualities which is kinda hard to do)
Superman was created by two children of immigrants. Both were part of a minority that was actively discriminated against in America and that was at the time being actively exterminated in Europe. Both grew up poor. The dream Clark came to represent in those early stories was that a refugee could be adopted, and loved. That this adopted child raised on a farm in small town America could come to the big city and do good. Both as a crusading reporter, which was a common style of pulp hero at the time, and as a two fisted costumed adventurer. That the immigrant could successfully assimilate. That he could fight the evils oppressing working people, and get away with it because he was bulletproof. Look at his earliest adventures. Stopping a wife beater. Fighting the gangs that made life miserable for ordinary people. Stopping crooked landlords and war profiteers. The adventures got wilder. More fantasy and Science Fiction elements kept being introduced as more writers got in on the character. World War II turned up the patriotism, the comics code authority limited depictions of violence and other more realistic elements, The Donner films added and turned up the Jesus allegory, etc. It has been a long road. But that dream of doing good, even though the powerful try to stop you; of being an outsider yet being embraced and loved for your differences; of having the power to help people. And, of course, of being the small town kid who comes to the big city and finds somebody who represents the very best of that city who loves you. That is a great dream. It’s a great story. Characters like Homelander and Omni man are not “evil Superman“. They are evil kryptonians. They are what you get when you have the power set but not the kindness.
I think the writers could've made a foil or counter point towards superman, maybe a character who has a really good reason to be evil like....facing horrible abuse, starvation and violence of an untold number, without anyone to save or council the poor fellow. His or her trauma grew into distain and resentment, being forced to steal, kill, and/or join gangs in order to survive, getting exploited by others in return. I'm not sure on any decent ideas or any ways to make it a good story but hey who knows, maybe it's already been made or I'm just tired asf XD
I definitely agree with you as far as the movie Man of Steel is concerned. I think that fish out of water element would be beneficial to the character growth of a young teenage Clark Kent, when his powers are getting stronger and he’s trying to find his place. But for him to still be that way as an adult is odd. I had a concept for a Superman what-if story where Clark grows up with a neurodivergent twin sister. While he adjusts well to life on earth, she doesn’t, and whenever she gets frustrated or overstimulated, she lashes out. They are very close but they grow apart as they get older, mainly due to the fact that Clark is accepted by those around him and trusted by his fellow superheroes, while his sister is not. I’m still working on the concept, but I thought it would be an interesting exploration of nurture versus nature and the choices siblings make based on how they believe they are perceived. It would also be more believable for people to be suspicious of a powerful alien (like in Man of Steel) if that alien did not behave “normally”.
People call Superman boring or boy scouty is because people don’t really value morality these days
I think people think morality is boring. There is no edge to it. When really it's such an integral and interesting part of the character. Superman is by far my favourite comic book character. Thanks for commenting be sure to subscribe!
That's how I feel and it's why I don't get people who think that he's not relatable (although I would argue that, even if he isn't, it doesn't matter, not every character has to be). Like, to me, if you can't relate to him, that says a lot more about you than Superman, if you can't relate to someone just because he's genuinely nice and good. I find being genuinely nice and good to be VERY relatable, actually, so it sounds like a skill issue to me.
@@DavidRYates-tk2tq yeah that says that they’ve never thought of anyone but themselves or their mad enough to believe that helping people and being kind is a form of weakness
I think its due to the fact that many people view that the world is gray and can't be black or white. That no one can be all good or all bad. Thinking that character's being genuinely just good is boring because of how simplistic it is. Not considering the possibility of someone actually being genuinely good and the complexities behind why someone like superman can be genuinely good. I think it's also people who don't know how wholesome and heartwarming superman can be
@@vincentluong7550 that’s probably what that idiot Zack Snyder was thinking that’s why he ruined the character
2013 me : oh cool a evil Superman game that’s interesting
2024 : I’m so tired of evil Superman
100% 🤣
It was a cool concept at first but it just got so fucking tiring!
Evil Superman works well as a one-shot what-if, in my opinion, but that definitely shouldn't be the mainstream characterization.
Honestly, why couldn't Superman from Injustice just be Ultraman?
Ye the trope is getting old now
I remember hearing somewhere that a subversion of Superman feels pointless since Superman already is a subversion of "power always corrupts"
Superman is the best of us. He shouldn't be corrupted
I see someone watches OSP.
@@Hawkatana You... might be right xd
Fr
@@Hawkatana osp?
My biggest problem with evil Superman is how out of character it feels for him to go evil when tragedy strucks like really?
Yes I fully agree. He is supposed to be the essence of good but apparently can't handle tragedy and becomes a complete fascist dictator. Thanks for commenting be sure to subscribe really helps the channel!
@@JasperReviewsDifferent worlds, different Supermen, different circumstances.
Sometimes it can be hard to see a Superman going bad such as All-Star Superman or Christopher Reeves Superman.
Others you can see going bad if given the right push such as Clark from Smallville, Snyder’s Superman, New 52 or the DC Animated Universe.
The problem is people keep trying to keep Superman one way. Like they’re not happy unless he’s smiling all the time, giving some speech about good and justice or tearing up at the sight of the Earth.
But when written as a super being raised by humans who have many flaws.
You would actually get something closer to Henry Cavill’s Superman or Clark from Smallville.
And a bit of that edge shows up from time to time with main comic Superman. Once in awhile you’ll see arrogance, anger, failures, etc.
What often makes evil Superman interesting isn’t just him but the influence he has over all other heroes and villains. When you read the Injustice comics you see right away that Superman would have failed many times on his own. And it was interesting to see him tackle all these different challenges.
The ONLY one I like is Injustice Suoerman because it was a slow burn.
As in, he could've been redeemed up until the point where he had Alfred un-alived.
@@ccelite3782 I don't really like injustice, and I do think he's out of character
But you're kinda right
No one was there for him when lois, their kid and his city died
And in the movie,when dick dies,he goes too Selena because he knows that only she can help Bruce
Though I like injustice, I agree. It did make me scratch my head when superman goes full evil when Lois Lane dies and he kills the joker. Superman is a strong boy, tragedies like this will not make him go evil, and in actuality, it's supposed to encourage him even more to be an ideal hero
One of the biggest problems with the Snyder movie in regards to Jonathan Kent is that he dies saving a dog. In the comics he dies from a heart attack or some natural death. A natural death to Jonathan shows that Superman has limits. He can save people from disasters but not from disease. The human mortality happens no matter what. Time will eventually kill a person and all the powers Superman has can’t prevent that. This is something Snyder didn’t understand and something Donner did understand.
Clark Kent (Christopher Reeve) at Jonathan Kent's funeral: "With all my powers, I still couldn't save him."
I agree with you and this scene was the perfect embodiment of that.
Edit:
As others have mentioned, Clark (Henry Cavill) could've easily used his superspeed and saved his dad. All anyone would've seen was a blur.
Edit 2:
That wasn't Christopher Reeve who played young Clark Kent in Superman '78 but, you get my point.
TH-camr Thoughtslime did a fantastic video essay about the Superman movie that made me change how I looked at the Chris Reeve movie. I recommend it but to sum it up,
Superman's journey is kicked off when he's unable to save his father from a situation that's beyond anyone's control and he makes the choice that if he can't save his father, he'll save other people. He does exactly that by becoming Superman but the sad thing is that throughout the movie he grapples with how much he doesn't feel like a regular human no matter how much he masks his trues self.
Near the end of the movie Lois is also killed in a situation beyond anyone's control and in his grief he thinks back to all he's learned and experienced and makes a choice to do the most human thing he's never experienced before in his life. He's discovered his limit and pushes himself further beyond it for the sake of someone he loves, and he does the impossible and succeeds in saving her.
And if that isn't peak Superman, I don't know what is.
Yeah! A natural death is unavoidable. Saving a dog could be avoidable if someone else saved that dog. They are completely didn’t types of “Can’t do everything”!
It isn't even that Snyder's Pa Kent dies in a way that was completely avoidable had Supes thought to help. It's that Pa Kent explicitly FORBIDS Clark from helping avert his death. We all remember the scene - Pa Kent is standing in the middle of an unfolding natural disaster, MEETS CLARK'S GAZE, and then takes 6 or 7 seconds to smile and shake his head "no, don't save me."
The entire scene is batty.
@@blackpajamas6600 A big part of the movie centers around the question of "Should Clark use his powers to save people?" Jonathan Kent would say No or at least Hold off on it so that he can put his own well being first.
Putting aside that the answer to that question is obvious. I could forgive it if it was satisfyingly explored, but the movie is told out of order to it's own detriment. We get flashbacks throughout Clark's life setting up the question and they come after the scene where Clark rescues a bunch of people from a fire. The question is asked after we already got the answer.
We've already seen that Clark wants to be Superman and that he'd be good at it, yet the film keeps insisting "Should he? Should he REALLY?"
Yes, dammit! You are not convincing us that there's a legit good reason for him not to be!
"A farm boy's wholesome values vs big-city cynicism and corruption" is an integral theme of Superman, and here's the proof: Even if a writer is clever enough to tamper with this trope and write a great story, you're still left with the feeling that you haven't read an actual Superman story.
I hate people saying clark Kent pretends to be a fish out of water in the big city when really he is
@@JasperReviews Ehh, he'd get used to it eventually. Most people do.
It's still a missed opportunity. Man has phenomenal cosmic powers, but is still a bit embarrassed for being a country bumpkin in the big city.
A general problem with heroes becoming villains is that so often they develop a completely different personality to the point that they might as well be a different character. There's no emotional impact to these evil Supermen because there's nothing uncanny about them. They don't act like Superman or say things he would say. They're just generically evil.
Interestingly, this never seems to be a problem when bad guys become good guys. They still get to be themselves. Vegeta is still proud and arrogant, Doom is still vain and condescending, etc.
When good people break evil, they stop caring, so much of who they were vanishes.
When villains become heroes, they're adding in morality/caring to what they already are.
It makes sense, but it makes Heel turns less interesting too.
You mean break bad?
Magneto is ironically the greatest example of a heel turning face done right. He still has that ruthless edge but has learned to overcome his hatred of humans and his desire to subject them to his cruelty because years and years of allying with Charles and the X-Men made him see the beauty and value of peaceful co-existence.
@@banan9432Waltuh
@@hariman7727 you mean break bad?
This is why I love Red Son, he’s not some generic “evil” Superman, he’s just the same Superman we all know and love, just raised in a different place and way of life.
Yep it's fantastic! Asking the question what is Superman without the Kents. How much of him is already built in. Thanks for commenting be sure to subscribe
Doesn't the Red Son end up becoming the somewhat benevolent Soviet Premier?
well red son was lex’s descendant after all.
_Exactly._ Even when he's doing terrible things like brainwashing people, he's still genuinely trying to help the world as best he sees fit. It isn't born from a place of anger or rage, it's still Superman's innate desire to help people, just how it goes ends up being warped the further he goes and the more influence his regime gains over time.
And speaking of the brainwashing thing, Injustice!Superman will laser your face or punch your heart out and it's brutal and gory...but you're dead. It's over quick, and he can't hurt you anymore. Red Son Superman on the other hand will brainwash you and reprogram you into a happy, loyal servant of the state. You don't die. You're that way forever. And he doesn't even really seem to _realize_ he's hurting you, he thinks he's _helping._ For all of Red Son being one of the most Superman of the evil/fallen Supermen, he's also kinda the _scariest_ in what he does to dissenters.
Another example is him from gods and monsters he literally starts working for the government the moment he realizes people are afraid of him, but this is him who is okay with killing, is basically a playboy and has a very tense relationship with authority yet he never turns evil and it takes him being framed for a ton of murders for the government to view him as a threat and attack him and still he doesn't go evil.
Enough of evil Superman. I hope James Gunn make things right with Superman.
I think James Gunn will do a really good job with superman! No more evil superman! Thanks for watching hope you enjoyed the video and be sure to subscribe!
@@JasperReviews 👍🏾
@DahGabriel-gk2cr my next video will be on zack snyder and his batman killing hopefully released next week
@@JasperReviews okay, I'll watch it
@@JasperReviews You are about to belive that david cornsewet will be the best superman ever
and even competing with the G.O.A.T christopher reeve
th-cam.com/video/x154LyW52is/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/mZLRhsiYiQ/w-d-xo.html
Fun fact: Thinking that Superman can and will always be evil is the mentality of Lex Luthor.
And no one wants to be Lex except Lex.
@@TheRedMan77 True
the idea behind about deconstructions is that is suppoust to give a diferent perspective from an already known idea, and thats it a "diferent perspective" not a NEW perspective. For example shrek is a deconstruction/parody on fairy tales from the perspective of the monster and asking the idea if they live happily ever after like the humans ... but i don't want every single fairy tale to be shrek does anyone want to be on ursulas side in the little mermaid? does anyone want to be on the witch side in hansel and gretel? You want friggin angelina jolie as maleficent? cause this is how you get angelina jolie as maleficent.
The same way i don't want ever single mecha anime to be evangelion, the same way i don't want every single western to be unforgiven and the same way i don't want every single superman story to be injustice
I’m remembering this one Redditor ranting about how Superman should be unreliable and a walking nuke and how Lex should be proven right because of this comment… blech
@@lihns Well it’s Reddit so they attitude is to be expected.
My distaste for evil Superman (Superman is my favorite fictional character ever created) is why Superman vs The Elite is my favorite Superman movie (so far), because it's a pretty damn effective deconstruction of evil Superman/evil super"heroes" in general as well as a reconstruction of good Superman.
I will have to give that a watch! Thanks for the recommendation. Hope you enjoyed the video be sure to subscribe
No joke. Despite the way The Elite presents themselves, the crisis Clark faces isn't, am I ineffective? Should I change my ways? It's simply, does the world not want me anymore? The story is compelling, but betraying his morals is never actually something he considers doing.
@@JasperReviewsYou've been missing out not seeing this one! Comic has differences.
Will definitely give it a look!
Superman vs The Elite and it’s source material Action Comics #775 have serious problems. The biggest one being the Elite are Straw-Men. Caricatures of every ‘extreme’, in-your-face, ultra-violent anti-hero character and team from the 90s. The Authority (who will be in James Gunn’s DCU), X-Force, WildC.A.T.S, Youngbloods, Deadpool, Cable, Venom (when he got his solo title), Bloodshot (Valiant), 90s Doctor Fate etc.
For a time, these characters were outselling the old school Cape and Cowl heroes. Apart of that success came with the authors of these anti-hero books poking fun at the big name heroes like Superman, the JL, the Avengers etc. Joe Kelley (who redefined Deadpool after Liefeld and Nicieza’s original run on X-Force) wrote AC #775 and vs The Elite (he came back to write the movie and improve his original story) as a response to the anti-hero hype that swept the 90s.
Outside of being straw-men caricatures who were never intended to be used after their debut story. Superman loses the argument. He doesn’t have a retort to the Elites presence and popularity in the world. Superman sinks to their level, gets into a super powered brawl with them, kicks 50 shades of shit out of them, conjures up a way to remove their powers (which is never seen or used again) and then proceeds to preach, lecture and wag his finger in their face about how they are wrong and how he is right.
I will say the movie fairs a lot better than the comic. Kelley took the time to flesh out the Elite and explain their POV. But Kelley denouncing the Elite after flirting with evil Superman to do it. Doesn’t make it the story the slam dunk retort a lot of people think it is.
Wait, Batman's sunny disposition does work. Adam West proved that.
Anything can work. Thanks for commenting be sure to subscribe
Isn’t the Adam west Batman also a parody of Batman that just happens to also be a official batman product like Japan does all the time
@@jetheotaku yes and no. By today's style of storytelling it's parody. By the comics written when produced, it's not. Stories published between 1954 and 1970 were very much written in the style of a Saturday morning cartoon as were live action superhero shows and family oriented sitcoms...and the writers of the day have very much confirmed this...because the main market was for kids, not teens or above (although they would have some programming)...because the expected kid idea at the time was five archetypes and sidekicks would be based around that idea.
The main types? Ron Howard, Jerry Mathers, Keith "R.K." Thibodeaux, Butch Patrick and Patty Duke...and they became the models for the Fab 5. Supergirl on the other had an Erin Murphy thing going on.
It was a faithful adaptation at the time and even influenced the comics for a while. Nowadays it would be parody played straight.
Yeah but Adam west is fucking amazing
I'm absolutely sure that it were any other actor it wouldn't work
I’ve seen more evil Superman nowadays than the super chill, wholesome, down to earth Superman I’ve always enjoyed just a guy with the power to do literally anything apologizing for being late for work or helping a kid find their cat.
It's interesting how evil Superman trope started as a subversion, but ended up becoming so mainstream that now making a genuinely in-character Superman adaptation is considered a subversion.
I hate how so many people think a happy superman doesn't work! Thanks for the comment be sure to subscribe
@@JasperReviews I blame Injustice for the whole mess. NRS had dogshit writers who probably never touched a DC comic in their life. The only thing they probably saw Superman as was a big scary villain for the underdog heroes to punch.
It's no secret that the only reason Injustice became as popular as it is now was because of Tom Taylor who actually knew what he was doing and tried to salvage this shitshow as much as possible.
@WebbedManiac apparently the comics are very good so I will give them a read! Hope you enjoyed my video!
@@JasperReviews Oh the video was great. If you decide to give Injustice a read, you'll notice that Tom Taylor makes it abundantly clear that THIS is NOT the main universe Superman.
Without spoiling anything, Injustice Superman has had differences in mentality from main universe Supes since his childhood. That's how far they had to go to justify Superman becoming a fascist dictator.
THIS. That’s why as a huge Superman fan, I’m excited for James Gunn’s take on
I always thought an evil Batman would be more compelling and believable than an evil Superman. Injustice would’ve been a much better story if Bruce became the dictator instead of Clark.
Would love an evil batman. But you never see it! Thanks for the comment be sure to subscribe
There's Owlman (who's 100x times better than Batman who laughs)
I mean the only good evil Batman is owlman
We Stan owlman in this comment section.
It would make even more sense if Superman decided to send the Joker into the Phantom Zone but Batman who upon witnessing Lois' death starts reliving the death of his parents, Barbara Gordon's helplessness, Azrael and Jason Todd's death flips out and kills the Joker before deciding to stop his no-kill rule and starts to excessively brutalize people he considers his opponents including surgically implanting explosives in inmates in ways that would horrify Amanda Waller.
It's funny, I actually consider Superman to be who he really is rather than Clark Kent, but in a different way from how most people would see it: to me, "Superman" is the embodiment of everything the Kents taught him about being a good person and how to use his gifts. So, Superman is his real self but not because his Kryptonian side is more important, Superman is still his "human" side, in that it's the embodiment of the values he was taught by his very human parents. His "Kryptonian side" is Kal-El, who is neither Clark nor Superman.
I have a Very different view on that with Superman
I believe that Superman is Technically 3 Personalities in 1
The First is the Public Clark Kent, the Scrawny Nerd/Reporter man, Clark makes himself inconspicuous with his Body language, Vocal changes, and stance to differentiate himself with Superman
The second is Private Clark Kent, This one is usually with the Kents and later with people he starts relationships with, His True self and a True human in a way
And finally Superman, In a Kidlike way what a Kid would imagine if they had Super powers, and Opportunity to do Good with the Idea of being in a different light of sorts, this is just Clark Kent with Powers
Personally I have long since abandoned the whole “Clark is the real personality, Batman is Bruce real face” idea long ago. I feel both Clark and Superman are equal his real face while Batman/bruce Wayne are both equally fronts.
Superman is Clark embracing his true power, history and the spirit of what he wants to do/show the people of earth what they can be while Clark is the personality at the end of the day/the life while unremarkable is all he could ever ask for.
Bruce on the other hand has to wear two mask, one as an aloof billionaire playboy to the public and one as a dark terrifying force to the villains of Gotham, i do believe if Bruce did have the option of being a hero/help Gotham without having to be a terrifying figure he would but because Gotham is Gotham he has to. He puts on two fronts on both end which makes it more impactful when people like Alfred, catwoman and Superman can reach the real Bruce Wayne.
This is why I really like "Reign Of the Supermen", an arc that happened between Superman being killed by Doomsday and getting better. You get four would-be successors who each embody a different bit of Superman. The everyman hero who would do good even if he hadn't been born with super powers, the remote, aloof alien who struggles to relat to our world, the "this is so cool!" power fantasy, and the tireless public servant with no life beyond the job.
@@paulgibbon5991 and that's why Conner stopped being fun when he stepped out of his legion-esque costume from Young Justice in favor of that moody Titans look.
Great video!
The way I imagine Superman is that he's smiling as he's saving people. He loves people, and he enjoys being able to save them and does so willingly and happily.
Thank you for the nice comment glad you enjoyed the video, that is exactly how i see superman as well! be sure to subscribe! Really helps the channel.
1:02,Just an idea,i think it'd be better in this scene if instead of clark saying ''if i wanted it,you'd be dead already.'' he said,''Batman,stop. I don't like hurting people''
Haha, this superman definitely likes hurting people. Thanks for the comment hope you enjoyed the video. Be sure to subscribe!
That movie is full of scenes that had their meaning coming off wrong with how it's executed. The infamous Martha Scene can be shown: while it wanted to have a moment where Batman realises that he's become like his parents killer, the very type of people he fought all life to differentiate from, it felt to many like "Batman stops because his mom has the same name as Superman's mom".
@@NIDELLANEUM with Snyder he has too many ideas running around its extremely unfocused. so much about his DC films i love but also much i hate
This also explains their length. He had so much going on that he needed a 4 hour movie for the Justice League, which was the follow up to a 3 hour movie@@JasperReviews
What annoys me is that they keep ignoring the real evil Superman, Ultraman. They all these different ideas through him, but Earth 3 doesn’t get the same love and attention that used to.
It would be great to see ultraman! Thanks for the comment be sure to subscribe
@eldrideinherjar6711 were in a discussion about evil supermen which one do you think it is
@eldrideinherjar6711 The funny thing is that the Japanese Ultraman (a character I really like, mind you) is like the Superman of Asia. He’s an iconic hero who’s a symbol of hope across much of the Asian continent.
Then again who really cares about ultraman or the crime syndicate universe
@@AdamYJ across much of the asian continent is a stretch, more like just japan. but yes
I wouldn't even hate it as much if it weren't so damned overplayed. It's like every six weeks, someone walks into the office at DC with the mind-eraser thing from Men in Black and goes "Hey guys, I've got an idea! What if Superman....was a BAD GUY?!"
Fully agree its just so boring. They only do it because superman is the strongest so they think ooo how scary he is bad
@@JasperReviews spoken like a true superman fanboy. Shallow, surface-level thinking. What's even funnier is that what you say can be said about good superman, since it's been around for near 100 years.
@friedfrog5447 does that mean continously having Batman be the way he is makes one shallow?
@@jacksonhorrocks4281 never read any batman comics, only watched Nolan trilogy and Timm cartoons.
@friedfrog5447 The issue isn't that evil Superman is constantly used, it's that it's basically the only alternate version of Superman we get nowadays. And it usually boils down to the same plot point of "Some tragedy happened and now superman is evil"
No one would mind the idea of "evil superman" so much if they actually did something creative or unique ideas with it.
It's the reason why so many people consider red sun to be one of superman's better alternate versions, since it isn't just evil superman
Evil Superman is such an oveused trope at this point, and I definitely hate the concept of evil Superman. Regular Superman has shown that powerful people can still be good people who can inspire others to be better. Evil Superman just takes away from what makes Superman such a special and great superhero and person. Not to mention that evil Superman doesn't improve on Superman's character at all. An evil version of Superman is just a terrible thought and even a scary thought when you think about it, since if Superman ever was evil, it would be a bad thing for all humanity. I do agree that turning Superman evil just shows how depressing humanity is as a whole because Superman's goodness comes from how he was raised on Earth. Take that away from Superman, and it just makes humanity look bad. There's a reason why the evil versions of Superman tend to be relegated to DC elseworld stories. Evil Superman just ISN'T Superman.
We’ve barley seen a evil superman and most of them are not evil yall don’t even know what yall talking about
@@Xander315 There have been plenty of iterations of evil Superman over the years as far back as the superfriends era. At this point, evil Superman is an overused trope. You are the one who clearly doesn't know what you're talking about. If you look hard enough, you can find the evil Superman iterations and understand why people are tired of it.
@@StareachValcin evil Superman isn't just overused, it's Ultra over used, Man.
@@Superlad9494agreed. 👍
At this point we need a evil looking superman who is a good guy lmao
1 thing I have in mind about whole Evil Superman concept is that, it really shows how much world has changed for last 90 years. Superman, in way we know him, was originally created as symbol of hope at time, when world was expecting for Big War to come. Back then, he was Hope. But after 9/11, Superheroes became just another source of fear, with Power they had. That's where The Boys and Invinsible got created, and that's when Evil Superman moved from being Mind-Controlled by others, to being evil by himself. Kind of scary to think about it
I mean in this current times Captain America though became a symbol. People grew to love Captain America for his boundless dedication and drive
@@lightdarksoul2097 The difference between Cap and Sups, is that Steve is just human. Yes, modified. But he's still a normal man. While Klark is an Alien, probably most powerful entrance in the entire universe.
Clark has alien biology but is human in everyway cause he was raised by human parents and was given their values. That's why evil Superman going evil because he's an alien makes no sense. @@MrKiller392
@@anitabonghit7606 I'm not saying, that Clark becomes evil, BECAUSE he is Alien, I'm saying, that it is Scary for us to have Sups as Villain, because of that.
@@MrKiller392 and yet even though he's aware of his alien nature, he's still very much human...and turning him bad turns him into General Zod...and even Superman's six year old despises his biology and is insistent that his own girlfriend or biological family never calls him by his biological name if he is to be addressed in Kryptonian...he is simply K'riss-El if he has to use it, but this Nightwing...prefers to be called Christopher or Chris most of the time...even when he gets hyperaged to 16 every other week by Kryptonian shadow magic.
It just makes me sad when I hear people say, "I wasn't interested in Superman until MoS came out," "Snyder made me care about Superman," or "DCEU Superman is the best Superman because of how "realistic" it is."
If that's the case, then you don't understand Superman fundamentally and what he's supposed to be and represent.
Superman is hope superman is goodness. I fully agree. Superman is not edgelord ooo what if Superman is bad!
L take
Cool story
@@JasperReviews it is, if you actually read the story
Those people never saw, ir worse, didn't appreciate the Superman Animated Series or 2000s Justice League and it painfully shows. Superman was never one of my favorites necessarily but, if it took the dreary Snyder version of Supes to get people interested well, I have nothing I can say to change their minds. Strikes me as odd, it does.
I think a big problem with Injustice’s potrayals of an evil Superman is that you don’t have a lot in game to sympathize with, at least in Clark’s actual actions and dialogue. This where the Injustice comics really shine, because they show that downfall, and how Superman slowly lost his morals more and more, and went from a hero to an antihero to a villain
That's cool, I have never read injustice comics but I have heard they're good! Very interesting insight. Thanks for commenting be sure to subscribe!
@@JasperReviews definitely worth a read, I found all of them online for free. There’s quite a lot to read though.
@xaviergonzalez44 I need something new to read so I'll give them a go! Follow me on twitter and dm me
Yo, I read injustice and I actually think that it's one of the exceptions
Finally someone who understands. Not only that,
Superman is type of person to reverse the earth’s rotation, just to save Lois’s life…
Guess we forget
“He is the embodiment of truth, justice and the American way, guided by human kindness in a world that sees kindness as old-fashioned” - James Gunn
I thought he was a champion of the common worker, fighting for Stalin, Socialism, and the expansion of the Warsaw Pact.
To quote one of my favorite Superman TAS episodes of all times.
Jonathan Kent: He just can't be Clark Kent anymore.
Clark: But I am Clark Kent. I need to be Clark Kent. I'd go crazy if I'd have to be Superman all the time.
This is understanding Clark's character.
I hate when people think Clark Kent is superman's secret identity. Clark Kent is who the man is. Thanks for commenting be sure to subscribe
@@JasperReviews I think I will.
This is why My Adventures With Superman has become one of my favorite superhero shows of all times. It understands Clark Kent. He isn't some Messiah sent from the Heavens for humanity to worship. He's just a nice guy who wants to help.
I have never watching that before! Do you recommend it? I will definitely give it a watch
@@JasperReviews I highly recommend it. It is up there with the DCAU in terms of quality story telling. I don't wanna spoil anything. Just know that it is a show that totally understands Superman, all the while taking some new creative steps.
@youtubecreators384 I will add it to the list!
Evil Superman looks interesting for a teen that thinks everyone is good by default and thinks of him as an samaritan alien.
Superman is inspirational to an adult because we actually understand how hard it is to stay commited to his idealistic ideas power or not.
It is not just Evil Superman, but most media with a Superman standin makes him evil.
I remember watching a review by Captain Midnight of My Hero Academia. Captain Midnight does not watch anime, but his watchers talked him into reviewing My Hero Academia, because of the superhero theme. He was expecting the Superman standin, All Might, to be revealed to be evil. He was waiting and waiting, and did not happen. Captain Midnight even namedropped Homelander and Omni Man for comparison. It was not some sort of meta commentary about the state of superhero stories, Captain Midnight was just reviewing media from outside his comfort zone and was confused by the lack of familiar tropes.
Point is, Evil Superman has become the norm and Good Superman the subversion.
Kingdom Come is a great example of a Superman who lost Lois Lane and became a bit darker but still remained a hero and an example of hope for humanity and other heroes.
6:28 "Superman is what I can do, Clark is who I am" Lois and Clark, the new adventures of Superman explain it perfectly
When you think about it, the Man of Steel's Superman was raised differently from the many other supermen. Clark in many stories is raised with the idea "If a good man sees injustice, and misfortune, a good man helps." Where Man of Steel, Jonathan constantly fed the message "You are meant from something great so you cannot help others and reveal your powers." So it makes sense that MoS Superman feels like an alien because he was raised with the idea that he is some Messiah figure who has to constantly hide himself and as such could not form connections with people.
Always found Jonathan and Martha Kent's upbringing of Clark in man on steel was completely bizarre. Telling him perhaps he should have let all those kids die on the bus. Complete madness! Thanks for commenting hope you enjoyed the video and be sure to subscribe!
That was only when Clark was an underaged minor. When Pa Kent told him to "Keep this side of yourself as a secret" he said it more as a parent trying to protect his child than as a comic book character building up another comic book character. Similar to how Smallville's Pa Kent did in wanting Clark to get to grow up with a normal childhood without getting exposed as an alien until he is legally an adult.
Honestly Jonathan's death in MOS was too dumb.
So what you're saying is that MoS Superman is Elsa?
The thing is when there are evil versions of superheroes you often get warped corrupted heroes that could challenge the originals methods
With evil superman he’s just, a superman that failed
which is why the best evil supermen, are entirely different characters
Totally agree. Evil Superman doesn't challenge superman in anyway. Thanks for commenting be sure to subscribe
I blame that 12-year-old in a man's body, Zach Snyder. The idea existed before him, but it was more sparingly used until he went and screwed it all up with his need to be "edgy" and also not get the character _nor_ what could be compelling about inverting a well-known character. And how to use that idea _competently._
Any use of an "Evil Superman" requires juxtaposition. It's not interesting in a vacuum. If everyone in the narrative world is just as dour and uncaring and selfish... then it's just a miserable world.
People often critique The Boys here, because of Homelander, and fair enough it is a prime example of Evil Superman. But he actually is the _antagonist_ of the story and not the POV character. Additionally, you have the contrasting character of Starlight. So you can still honor the hopefulness of a Superman character, but you've just moved that trait to a less powerful character so now it's a different kind of story.
When not oversaturated as a trope, the concept can be used to pretty good effect to have an exploration of what unchecked power looks like -- that while the fantasy of Superman is nice, in reality we have to be wary about assuming that someone with power will just be a good guy, and why it's important to check power. But also it can be a good vehicle for showing why we need to interrogate _ourselves_ if/when we wind up in a position of power. Normal Superman can teach this message, but for some it's important to show the counter as well and why we shouldn't be careful of who we turn into.
So, again, Evil Superman is a perfectly fine kind of character when used with care. But we live under capitalism and so anything that is interesting and liable to sell tickets/subscriptions will get oversaturated and misused and run into the ground. A lot of instances of this trope can wind up not even having a message beyond "isn't it cool how powerful this evil dude is?! Did you see all the gore?!" And _that_ is a problem.
I always found making Superman a villain or a metaphor for Jesus just lazy writing I always liked when hes a friend as well as a good person I hope we get this in James Gunns Superman Legacy
I totally agree, why does he have to be Jesus makes no sense to me. I think James gunn will make his superman far more light hearted. Thanks for commenting be sure to subscribe!
@@JasperReviews superman wasn’t supposed to be this “Jesus figure”, it’s about how (in the dc world) people would perceive some random alien appearing on earth just to help others out of generosity and the will to do right thing.
If you genuinely do not see on how that would correlate not only through religion (not only as a figure of good) but through the human condition, how most/some would want to help other and how one with a extreme traumatic event can change the character forever,
then you really don’t live in the real world nor understand the character.
Sorry but there’s a reason why Batman called Superman a Boy Scout and also a reason why Superman only threaten to kill the joker but didn’t….
in his own comic 🤷♂️
Yeah especially because there’s an even better story metaphor being wasted. Superman is literally based off/meant to symbolize the idea of human potential, what we can be, what we can do, what are future can hold if we strive to do good and be better than what was before, to be the super man. Also the Jesus metaphor is additional dumb because his story is based of Moses? That’s like having a character who’s a humble farmer who is forced to face of against a giant titanic hulk or “Goliath” and deciding let’s make him a Samson metaphor
@@christopherauzenne5023 there are various Old Testament allegories in the Superfam...specifically it starts on Krypton by making Jor-El a Noah...he placed his family on an ark (it wasn't called a rocket there)...which Krypton laughed at. The Moses allegory comes later, but generally the idea is that Superman is the Shem to Jor-El's Noah...and becomes the Adam of Superheroes (and yes that has actually been said about him and Lois being Eve in different comics...by their descendants having those names) and the hero boom is the nations of the world...also a Noah thing.
@@PhenomVRExcept Snyder on his own said he's supposed to be a Jesus figure and it's implied through the theming, and bruce is literally wrong about it, you missed the entire point of the comic besides it being a piss poor adaption of their friendship, Clark is literally Bruce's friend and his favorite superhero
Thank Rao for My Adventures with Superman. You have no idea how happy I was to see a new piece of Superman media where he actually acts like the classic Big Blue Boy Scout.
Here's to hoping that James Gunn's Superman: Legacy is great so we can FINALLY have a good big screen Superman for the general audience.
I am really looking forward to Gunn's superman. I think he will definitely be the classic superman a true interpretation of the character. Thanks for commenting! Means a lot! Hope you enjoyed the video and be sure to subscribe!
My Adventures With Superman still made Superman look bad by making his enemies lesser downgrades of their previous incarnations. If we go by the saying "Your enemies define you" then we should start focusing more how we have Superman's enemies challenge him to be better in going forward and My Adventures With Superman did the exact opposite.
6:15 it’s stated by Superman in the DCAU Justice League Christmas episode and I believe one of the animated movies that neither Superman or Clark from the Daily Planet are his real identity, but rather the Clark Kent that exists when he’s with his parents, and when he’s with them he’s one of the most kindest people we see in the DC universe.
This is part of what makes Kingdom Come so interesting. We get Joker killing Lois but what makes Superman retire is the people cheering on another "hero" for killing the clown.
Terrible of me I have never read kingdom come! Would you recommend?
@JasperReviews I definitely would. It's a great read with absolutely GORGEOUS artwork by the great Alex Ross.
It has been added to the list, looking forward to reading it! 😀
@@JasperReviews I would recommend it even if it started a lot of plot points that I don't like. Kingdom Come did them well but others don't seem to grasp why.
@@JasperReviews Absolutely recommended because it made the readers understand just how noble and selfless Heroes can be after Watchmen viciously destroyed it. A similar read is the Siege crossover event in Marvel which sounded like their take on Kingdom Come.
I feel we have an evil Superman already, and it’s General Zod, he’s the alien ability without the humanity while Superman is the human with the abilities of an alien. General Zod is the Superman without holding back, Superman is the Superman with him holding back.
that and the mirror verse thing of Ultraman from Earth-3. aka the alternate earth from Justice League crisis on two earths.
@@worldweaver2691 it’s actually why I enjoy the lighter tone of My Adventures as Superman cause he’s still learning, but when shown what his people could do, it genuinely scares him.
Evil Superman can be good, its just way too overdone.
Yes I agree it can work. Injustice I enjoyed initially but I feel wirters decided that was the only way to tell a Superman story. Thanks for commenting be sure to subscribe
I think one of my biggest problems is that all these evil Superman versions are all just the generic superpowered god complex villain in love with their own power and believe every other being is beneath them, it’s the same villain you have seen countless times just pretending to be unique because “ now it’s superman, dundundun”. My favorite version of the evil Superman is ultraman from crisis on two earths (I know owl man often gets the spotlight but he is just as interesting) and that’s because he ACTUALLY an evil mirrored version of Clark. Clark/supes whole thing is the despite his grand power he is just the average Good Samaritan jus ton a grand scale, ultraman by comparison is just the average thug/punk just put on a grand level. Like take the moment where he threatens the president to know his place, it’s treated less as a god threatening a lowly human but more as a mobster shaking some “protection money” from a business, even The crime syndicate acts more like a gang rather than superpowered overlords. (Additionally, as Clark was eased in Kansas/farm boy ultraman has a slight Brooklyn/New Yorker accent. Two major places representing American life but with two majorly different contexts and perceptions) this is why he is probably the only good version because he reflects aspects of Clark and uses the evil equivalents of that/elements of the character that make the most sense
Very interesting read! Thanks for the comment be sure to subscribe
I like how the same guys who say “He’s too overpowered” will also then turn around and say “Batman solos EVERYONE with prep time”
That's why I like MAWS, it basically looks at the evil superman trope in the eye and says "hell no we're not going that route"
Sadly, even in the My Adventures with Superman series, the evil Superman trope still finds its way into the narrative.
It’s why I love Red Son, it could have gone the usual propagandistic route of “Communist Superman? He must be evil!” But instead they maintain his core morality while giving him some complexity.
That’s exactly why I love Superman vs the Elite, it shows the notion of an evil Superman but quickly pulls the rug and shows that it was all an act, as Superman would never just become evil
A comment that i saw resumes Superman well for me is “Superman is not a hero you can identify with. It’s a hero who you can take inspiration from”
Liked MoS for the action and effects, but yeah, that portray of Clark is what bugged me. ANother thing Snyder got wrong, in my humble opinion, was having Jonathan Kent die in a way CLark could have save him..
Remember when Superman TAS showed an alternate universe where Lois died and Superman was manipulated by Lex to support a fascist regime but when Clark realized he was lied to about what was really going on he turned on Lex and tried to fix his mistakes?
While Omniman and Invincible draw inspiration from Superman, they are distinct characters in their own right. They serve as symbols of a national ideal, inspiring others to strive for greatness and embody the virtues they represent.
Shin Ultraman is what modern Superman supposed to be.
No, not the evil Superman with a U on his chest.
A silver giant hero from the land of light.
I really want you to cover it, no pressure.
I'm going to read up on ultraman. I am getting a lot of comments on this video regarding him. If I have any passionate opinions on him I'll cover it. Need to see what subscribers would like to hear from me!
I do however like the idea of changing Supeman's origin/upbringing and showing how it impacts his values and decisions later on in life
Obligatory Red Son mention
One of my favourite comments on Clark/Kal-El/Superman's personality comes from Batman: "In many ways, Clark is the most human of us all. Then he shoots fire from the skies, and it's difficult _not_ to think of him as a God. And how fortunate we all are that it never occurs to him."
*That* is pretty central to who he is, and it sums him up very succinctly (as Batman is wont to do). He's not a 'God', he's just a man, doing his best for the good of all.
It's just that his 'best' happens to be better than most others, simply due to the feats he can accomplish.
I just always like to point this out: What Superman did to Zod in the comics is far, far worse than what he did in Man of Steel.
I think It stems from a trend of some disliking characters that are genuinely good ppl i.e. finding them 'unrealistic ' (whatever that means) and/or boring. I just wish they wouldn't change up superman to make him more 'interesting' or 'better'. I think it's slowly becoming better now tho since fans are starting to miss generic good guy heros. Videos like yours help too imo.
I love the fact superman makes me want to be a better person. Thank you for enjoying the video! I worked really hard on it and it means the world to see comments like this
Finally! someone who understands what Superman is about!
Snyder should not EVER get near any Character! let him destroy his own characters!
I'm so tired of all the modifications that's being done to the character that destroy what he is about...
Thank you for the lovely comment! I love superman. My favorite comic book character by far, superman doesn't need modifying he is perfect the way he is. There is a plethora of stories to be told about him. I think Gunn will tell a fantastic superman story
Superman himself is NOT the problem. It is how DC and Warner Brothers handle him. And they commonly handle him HORRIBLY.
Earth-3's ultraman really paints a good picture of a clark raised wrongly
Never read it will have to give it a look thanks for the recommendation! Thank you for commenting hope you enjoyed the video and be sure to subscribe!
@@JasperReviews I hope I don't spoil too much by saying that the kents in that universe were douches
@tenyearsinthejoint-md6fy haha that would make an evil superman make more sense! I'll look to start reading it today. Thanks for the recommendation!
@@JasperReviews there's many incarnations of earth-3 so I can't narrow down which era or story features this arc so I can't help you in your search so good luck
This is such a problem that in the Batman wiki, Superman is classified as one of Batman’s rogues
that is an insult to jerry siegal and joe schuster and gives me more reason to dislike batman
@@warlord8106 the problem isn’t Batman, it’s the writers (By that I mean Zack Snyder) try to make them rivals, Batman is my second favorite hero, but it makes no sense the stupid rivalry that the writers make them have, they are friends, not enemies
That goes back to frank miller and dark Knight returns. That is where Batman became bat god and people began to assume super has no will to resist being made a toddy.
@@warlord8106the man wiki was stuid enough to do that
He is Born as Kal-El but rise as Clark Kent and his alter Ego IS Superman, is what is true Superman but the Man of steel got all wrong!
He definitely sees himself as Clark Kent first and foremost. Thanks for the comment hope you enjoyed the video. Be sure to subscribe!
Smallville, i think, did a pretty good job of touching on the idea of evil Superman without it feeling forced or overstaying it's welcome. It was never made into a season long arc. Only shown when you take the influence of the Kents out of him or strip him of his inhibitions.
Something we see in full effect in episodes dealing with Red K or the other world where he wasn't raised by Martha or John. Like Red Son, it challenges the nurture vs nature ideal by presenting a Kal El that was raised by Lionel. It's short & to the point, only running for a few episodes, & makes us wonder about our Clark if circumstances were different.
Most people think that Lois is what makes Superman human, but is the Kents. And is not that hard, every single good adaptation has excellent Johnathan and Martha Kent, like Lois and Clark, Superman the Movie, Smallville, and Superman and Lois.
Batman's popularity surpasses Superman's due to the complexity of his character. Despite his brooding demeanour, he is still considered a great hero.
"When you peel away all the darkness from Batman, what you're left with is someone who doesn't want to see anybody die."
--Superman, "Kingdom Come"
@@paulgibbon5991That's disputable.
He seems to be far more concerned for the safety of his ENEMIES than his allies THESE days.
The only things that are deep or complex about him are the lengths he goes to to excuse playing catch-and-release with his murderous Rogues gallery
@@jeremyallen5974 Not just him but just about all of the traditional heroes follow the same rigid code of ethics, totally overrated.
There's a video discussing how DIsney's Hercules character is a much more compelling Superman adaptation than all modern Superman adaptations
A god-like entity, born with immense power and with huge responsibilities, end up being taken, raised, and loved, by a small rural family that bestowed him the values of kindness, simplicity and solidarity, and it's these values that brings the good and the "human" in him, to the point that he'll end up fighting people with similar powers and natures in order to protect humanity and love.
I’m getting so tired of seeing Superman Evil, sure it was interesting at first in Injustice but Snyder’s Vision completely ruined the whole concept of the Character being the embodiment of a Human Man that that’s physically a Alien but has alot of Humanity that he only wants to do Good and stop the Evil and Corrupt in the Right Way, the reason why Homelander and Omni-Man works isn’t because they’re Supermen that Kills but because they’re raised by different Environments and are a Interesting as a Character Study as Nature and Notcher, hell if DC wants a Superman that Kills then Zod is the Perfect Evil Superman they could Adapt More.
The biggest issue for me when it comes to the laundry list of evil Superman stories and character-types is that it always comes from a place a cynicism from the writers and the people who love these stories. This isn't my quote but it sums up the issue pretty succinctly: "It's become easier to believe a man could fly over that a man could be this good".
Fully agree! Thanks for the comment be sure to subscribe
I think there are ways to explore a 'Superman' without making him evil. I really liked Jupiter's legacy with "The Utopian" facing how to uphold his beliefs in right and wrong with a more modern society, and why his values were still important, even if people viewed them as 'ineffective'.
I absolutely DETEST both Evil Superman and this Idiotic desire to make him "Cool, Dark & Edgy." To me, he is a representation of every HACK "writer" who has zero business writing for a character that they don't know Jack Squat about, even more disturbing the idea that they want people to empathize and relate with THAT type of a monstrous misrepresentation; It kind of says a lot about the quality of character of those HACK "writers."
You change ANY aspect of Superman's core; he ceases to be SUPERMAN. Every single time Dolts like Zack Snyder think they can make these changes based on their own infantile lack of sense; they FAIL every single time.
I am not against the concept of the "evil superman" provided that they are essentially a pastiche, i.e. an ORIGINAL CHARACTER not in any way resembling Clark Kent. What makes me laugh at the sheer idiocy of these HACKS is that they are so desperate to have an Evil Superman, they ignore the fact they already have an Evil Superman; HIS NAME IS GENERAL ZOD!!! To a lesser degree: BIZZARO. Nope, they need to tarnish Clark Kent because they are 100% GARBAGE Talents.
I do find it concerning that somehow relatability is thought to require someone just straight up being a bad person
Yh. If the love of his life dies, he honors her by destroying her home and making her planet hell. Doing stuff she will never want. And for what?
I'm sick of him too. I prefer the optimistic, wholesome and humble version of the character.
Well said! Be sure to subscribe
Just IN GENERAL modern writers don't really understand superheroes... They make them edgier and morally grey, when in reality they're not. Batman and Superman actually aren't that different, they both have a strong moral code and do what they do because of justice and what they believe is right. They're two sides of the same coin, forces of GOOD, who fight villains to protect and defend, rather than revenge. You just never see heroes being morally good people anymore. Wearing the cape and kicking butt isn't what makes a hero a hero, its the strength of character and will.
Superman is cool AND a kind of dork, which is the charm.
Superman being a giant dork is the best thing about him. Thanks for commenting be sure to subscribe
There’s only one evil Superman I really like and that is the Justice Lord version from the Justice League show. I also really like implications of it that are explored in the Cadmus arc in JLU.
You nailed it. I absolutely hate it when Snyder fans say "Superman is only realistic when he kills and is depressed" gtfo
Thank you for your lovely comment! I agree superman is such a great character to inspire hope very much an captain america esque attitude to life. Thanks for commenting be sure to subscribe
I finally truly understand why people hate this Superman, because I had my own versions of this with drunk hobo Luke Skywalker and evil corrupt murderer Jedi in the Acolyte.
I am personally tired of evil Superman and frankly I have lost my patience a long time ago, and personally for me I am more of a fan Superman Clark Kent and Lois lane being married and they have there son Jonathan Samuel Kent superboy as his little 10 year old self being a great family in my opinion.
Yes I agree as well. All superman stories seem to be oh look here is am evil version! Oooooo! Very boring to me. Thanks for commenting hope you enjoyed the video be sure to subscribe!
@@JasperReviews your welcome and will do, and also I agree we have reached a breaking point with evil versions of superman in mainstream media that frankly I have my patience of it a long time ago, which is why i always maintain we should focus on Superman aka Clark Kent being the hero we all know and love and being a great husband to his wife Lois lane and being a great father to his son Jonathan Samuel Kent superboy as his little 10 year old self being a great family is a far better story and far more interesting then doing another evil superman story that have just been done to death that it ain't fun anymore but just sad and depressing in my opinion.
For me superman should be inspiring to be the best version of yourself like captain america. Thank you for subscribing means a lot!
@@JasperReviews your welcome and i agree with that one hundred percent :)
DC plz bring back the OG Superman who has lost love ones before and still fight for whats right 😰
I want a Superman who is not overpowered, loss some fights, and doesn't gives up, but when he's not holding back he's powerful enough to destroy a planet and scale up to atleast Black Adam or Darkseid base form.
Superman and Lois is the closest thing to the True Superman we all know and love. And that’s a shame because there’s a perfect template for a great movie but Hollywood likes to trash anything that’s good.
Love that show need to finish it! Do you recommend completing it? Thanks for commenting be sure to subscribe!
there's this brilliant line from Lois and Clark tv show that perfectly encapsule the character ''Clark Kent is who I am. Superman is what I can do''
I feel like with all the other Superman-inspired evil supers like Homelander and Omni-Man, people have kind of gotten tired of the dark, evil, “sigma male” icons. I saw people call “My Adventures With Superman” corny, but honestly it’s a breath of fresh air and a return to what the character was supposed to be.
in my opinion Superman is last person who can go evil
Snyder-Verse trying to push “muh evil Superman” was trite the first second they showed it. It’s a tired, worn out trope at this point. Leave it at the Justice Lords from the Animated Series and only that, DC.
The fish out of water is a great story...for supergirl, the person who actually lived on Krypton
My thoughts on it boil down to this:
If you're gonna do an evil version of what Superman is, then it has to be an original character and not Superman. It never works for the original, but it works far better when you get stuff like Homelander or Omniman as opposed to "what if we made the big blue boy scout punch a hole through The Joker?" This is why New Adventures of Superman and Jack Quaid's take on him works for me. They recognize that fact.
I very much agree. You have to like I say in the video change the very essence of superman. His upbringing is so key. That's why I like stories such as red son. You change his up bringing. Is it nature or nurture which makes superman. Thanks for commenting be sure to subscribe
If you read the earliest superman stories, you will see that the character wasn't always what you might call a purely good guy. He was originally the type of character who gave bad guys a taste of their own medicine. He would beat up wife beaters, scare the crap out mine owners by trapping them in mines for not inventing in safety equipment, force war mongers into the middle of a war zone, ect. It's true he never let these people really get too badly hurt, but in the origins of the character there was definitely a seed of a darker side. He only became a more virtuous character after the very first stories. Just the no guns and no killing wasnt always a batman thing, what we think of the definitive spirit of supes wasnt reflective of the original concept. The reality is superman was concieved to someone who could do the thing we could do when we see things that are wrong. A power fantasy, not so much an ideal like truth or justice, but the ideal of the power to act. At the end of the day, i think evil superman is fine because what we think superman is supposed to be isnt the original either.
If any director wants to make Superman not boring or evil then they should that inspiration from Batman and Superman Public Enemies. That movie has one of the best Superman adaptations in the 21st century
Never watched it do you recommend?
@@JasperReviews yes it’s underrated
Added to the list! Thanks for the recommendation
Injustice and Zack Snyder: Supermans biggest slanderers
Why is it that a Superman thats angry is alot more interesting than a modern evil superman? Because evil superman is so easy and cheap to the point no one has naunce to it. An angry Superman, is our glorious boy scout being mentally tested, where he must truly rise tothe occassion and live up to his mantra and be a real symbol of hope. And above all......shows he is VERY MUCH SO......human. who makes mistakes, who is not all powerful as we think be is .....but will do what is right even when it doesnt feel good at the moment.
Evil Superman just makes Superman a paradigm shift but with NO naunce at all. The worst part, VERY VERY much against any sight of coming back to the side of good. Not a single ember in sight of the main who spent most of his life protecting people.
As someone once said in this platform "Most people do not understand Superman".
Well I think you’re missing that being an alien is an important part of his character as well. It’s shouldn’t define him but it’s important. Other than that I agree with everything else you said
Yeah I don't think I explained that part particularly well. What I mean is clark Kent is first and foremost human. He isn't an alien searching for purpose man of Steel made it as if he can't adapt to human life when really he sees himself as human. Thanks for commenting I hope you enjoyed the video and be sure to subscribe! Really helps the channel
Christopher Reeves is, was, and always will be the ideal Superman on the big screen with The Animated Series Superman being the ideal Superman on the TV. I think something that Superman needs as a character is to always see, inspire, and try his best to bring out the best in people. His greatest strength isn't superhuman strength, the ability to fly, laser eyes, or any of that... it's his ability to inspire the good in people. Instead of turning a petty criminal in to the police, he does what a father would do to a child and brings the criminal back to the person they wronged and tells them to make what they did right and apologize. If somebody tries to shoot him, he doesn't immediately punch them, he smiles makes a quip about how they could hurt someone like that. Even when stopping a more serious crime, he should approach it like somebody who is trying to not only stop the crime from happening, but as somebody who cares about the person committing the crime. Even though they may have to go to jail for what they did, he still wants to understand them and help them not make the same mistake again.
Superman isn't the one who needs to be morally complicated and gray... his villains need to be. His villains need to be the ones who do bad things for the right reasons so Superman can show/tell them that while their intentions may have been good, they went about trying to do good the wrong way. That's why Bizarro is such a great villain; he WANTS to do the right thing, but goes about doing it the wrong way. Instead of picking a cat out of a tree, he knocks down the tree. Instead of rescuing people in a burning building by going in and flying them to safety, he pours a rooftop water tower out onto the building resulting in people getting hurt by rushing water and steam. He gets frustrated when his efforts go wrong and he lashes out because he just doesn't get why his good intentions are met with anger and resentment.
Lex Luthor is another great example of potential for moral complexity. Just look at Superman Red Son. That comic was so great because it inverted the dynamic between Lex and Superman perfectly. They both wanted to do right by humanity, they both wanted to end poverty, disease, war and famine. The twist was that it was Superman who was going about it the wrong way by trying to control everything people did so nothing bad would ever happen to them while Lex Luthor recognized that people need to be free.
People just refuse that someone with than much power can use said power for the benefit of their fellow neighbour, they took the saying "Absolute Power corrupts absolutely" as an absolute truth not taking into account that a lot of DC heroes,specially Superman are an idealistic point we should strive to be
I totally agree. Superman should be make us want to be the best versions of ourselves! Thanks for the comment be sure to subscribe!
I'm not even a superhero guy but doesn't Bizarro exist? If they're gonna do so many evil Supermen they better be respecting the OG
To be fair though Superman and the Golden Age was often Petty and spiteful and did some crazy stuff man
Best way to describe superman is like the scooby doo show turning into velma. Apart from some of the looks you're basically just making a completely different character (not saying evil superman can never work but it requires time and dedication as well as making him maintain the same qualities which is kinda hard to do)
Superman was created by two children of immigrants. Both were part of a minority that was actively discriminated against in America and that was at the time being actively exterminated in Europe. Both grew up poor. The dream Clark came to represent in those early stories was that a refugee could be adopted, and loved. That this adopted child raised on a farm in small town America could come to the big city and do good. Both as a crusading reporter, which was a common style of pulp hero at the time, and as a two fisted costumed adventurer. That the immigrant could successfully assimilate. That he could fight the evils oppressing working people, and get away with it because he was bulletproof. Look at his earliest adventures. Stopping a wife beater. Fighting the gangs that made life miserable for ordinary people. Stopping crooked landlords and war profiteers. The adventures got wilder. More fantasy and Science Fiction elements kept being introduced as more writers got in on the character. World War II turned up the patriotism, the comics code authority limited depictions of violence and other more realistic elements, The Donner films added and turned up the Jesus allegory, etc.
It has been a long road.
But that dream of doing good, even though the powerful try to stop you; of being an outsider yet being embraced and loved for your differences; of having the power to help people. And, of course, of being the small town kid who comes to the big city and finds somebody who represents the very best of that city who loves you.
That is a great dream. It’s a great story.
Characters like Homelander and Omni man are not “evil Superman“. They are evil kryptonians. They are what you get when you have the power set but not the kindness.
I think the writers could've made a foil or counter point towards superman, maybe a character who has a really good reason to be evil like....facing horrible abuse, starvation and violence of an untold number, without anyone to save or council the poor fellow.
His or her trauma grew into distain and resentment, being forced to steal, kill, and/or join gangs in order to survive, getting exploited by others in return.
I'm not sure on any decent ideas or any ways to make it a good story but hey who knows, maybe it's already been made or I'm just tired asf XD
Superman is spose to be a boy scout
Superman and Lois and My Adventures with Superman both do Superman right. Still we need a theatrical film that nails his character again.
I like evil superman, but he's way overused
I definitely agree with you as far as the movie Man of Steel is concerned. I think that fish out of water element would be beneficial to the character growth of a young teenage Clark Kent, when his powers are getting stronger and he’s trying to find his place. But for him to still be that way as an adult is odd.
I had a concept for a Superman what-if story where Clark grows up with a neurodivergent twin sister. While he adjusts well to life on earth, she doesn’t, and whenever she gets frustrated or overstimulated, she lashes out. They are very close but they grow apart as they get older, mainly due to the fact that Clark is accepted by those around him and trusted by his fellow superheroes, while his sister is not. I’m still working on the concept, but I thought it would be an interesting exploration of nurture versus nature and the choices siblings make based on how they believe they are perceived. It would also be more believable for people to be suspicious of a powerful alien (like in Man of Steel) if that alien did not behave “normally”.
Ya evil Superman is just lazy writing and shows that the writer has no idea what Superman is actually like.
I completely agree. Evil Superman shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the character. Thanks for commenting be sure to subscribe!
Starman walking in the sky, he'd like to come and meet us, but he thinks he'd blow our minds.