Superman: Difference between revisions

[[File:Superman_Posing.jpg|frame|"This looks like a job for..."]]

 

 

 

[[Older Than They Think|While not quite the first]] superhero, he is certainly the [[Trope Codifier]]. Has been published continuously by [[DC Comics]] [[Long Runner|for almost 80 years]]. He first appeared in ''[[Action Comics]]'' #1 (June, 1938).

As Krypton explodes, baby Kal-El is sent to Earth without any knowledge of his real identity. He lands outside of the rural town of Smallville, a small town in Kansas (although [[Where the Hell Is Springfield?|it wasn't too clear originally]] -- see [[Wikipedia]] for a [[wikipedia:Smallville (comics)#Location|full list of canonical locations]]). The baby is adopted by [[Muggle Foster Parents|Jonathan and Martha Kent]], who name the boy Clark, give him a loving home and teach him right from wrong.

 

 

Naturally, the Clark Kent/Superman dichotomy has been explored a great deal and has changed over time (with Kent going from nervous, geeky klutz to sharp-witted [[Intrepid Reporter]], among other changes). In the [[Golden Age|Golden]] and [[Silver Age]], Clark Kent was little more than a facade for Superman. After ''[[Crisis on Infinite Earths]]'', this idea was reversed. Nowadays, [[Depending on the Writer]], either Clark Kent is the "real" person and Superman the façade, or both people are equally valid and natural aspects of his personality. Both sides also tend to be a lot more psychologically/emotionally vulnerable than you'd expect. Given his powers, and the usual [[Dumb Muscle|stereotypes]] about strength of his level, it would be easy to mistake him for a simplistic oaf; but Supes is actually quite a complex guy.

* ''[[Action Comics]]'': Anthology series for most of its run, starring Superman as the lead feature plus various backup characters.

* ''Superman'': Superman's [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|self-named]] series. Renamed ''Adventures of Superman'' between the Byrne reboot of the late 80s and the mid-2000s, when it resumed its original title and historic issue numbering (and a second ''Superman'' title created after the Byrne reboot was canceled).

* ''Superman/Batman'': The modern successor of ''World's Finest Comics''.

* ''[[Jimmy Olsen|Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen]]'': Probably the comic that truly shows the [[Silver Age]] in its purest, distilled form. In the [[Bronze Age|'70s]], [[Jack Kirby]] used the series to launch his [[New Gods|Fourth World]] metaseries.

* ''Superboy''

* ''Adventure Comics'': Featured various Superboy or other Superman family member stories.

* ''[[All-Star Superman]]'': A recent comic series based on the [[The Silver Age of Comic Books|Silver Age]] version of the character that strips away current continuity in favor of telling fresh but classic stories.

 

* ''[[For the Man Who Has Everything]]''

* ''[[Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?]]'': The "imaginary" final story featuring the pre-1986 reboot (see the next entry) version of the character.

* ''[[Superman for All Seasons]]''

* ''[[The Death of Superman]]''

* ''[[Superman: Birthright]]'': The ''re''-revised origin, replacing ''The Man of Steel''.

* ''[[The Dark Knight Returns]]''

* The ''[[New Krypton]]'' arc, where Superman has to deal with the death of his father, his loyalty being divided between humanity and the 100,000 Kryptonian survivors he's manage to rescue, and a government/military conspiracy to kill him, led by his [[General Ripper|father-in-law]] <ref> OK, he doesn't actually know the weak and unmanly nerd Clark Kent that his daughter married is the dangerous and powerful alien menace that threatens Earth, humanity and mom's apple pie are one in the same, but he's still Supes' father-in-law.</ref>.

* ''[[Superman Secret Origin]]'': The ''re''-re-revised origin, replacing ''Birthright'' - until [[New 52|DC rebooted its whole continuity again.]]

* ''[[Superboy]]''

* ''[[Ruby-Spears Superman]]''

* ''[[Superman: The Animated Series|Superman the Animated Series]]'': an animated series that was a successor to/companion of ''[[Batman: The Animated Series|Batman the Animated Series]]''.

 

'''TV series where he's part of an ensemble cast:'''

** ''[[Superman IV: The Quest For Peace|Superman IV the Quest For Peace]]''.

*** ''Superman'' and ''Superman II'' were very well received and are the reason most people are familiar with him. Both ''Superman III'' and ''[[So Bad It's Good|Superman IV: The Quest For Peace]]'' have their ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000|moments]]'' to enjoy.

* ''[[Man of Steel]]'', a 2012 reboot of the character, directed by [[Zack Snyder]]. Not, as the name suggests, an adaptaption of John Bryne's 1986 [[The Man of Steel|miniseries]], it stars Henry Cavill as Superman, [[Amy Adams]] as Lois Lane and Michael Shannon as General Zod. It's produced by [[Christopher Nolan]], who has had success with [[The Dark Knight Saga|another DC hero]].

 

'''Animated movies starring the character:'''

* ''[[Superman: Brainiac Attacks]]''- Intended as a quick tie-in movie to ''Superman Returns'' and while the action good and story serviceable, the serious derailment of Lex Luthor made the film almost unwatchable and reception was very critical.

* ''[[Justice League: The New Frontier]]''- A Superman as he appeared in the transition between [[The Golden Age of Comic Books]] and [[The Silver Age of Comic Books]], featured alongside most of the other [[DC Comics]] heroes.

* ''[[Superman/Batman: Apocalypse]]'' - Direct sequel to the above.

* ''[[Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths]]'' - Superman and his Justice League teammates team up with a heroic Lex Luthor from a [[Mirror Universe]] against their counterparts from said universe, the [[Evil Twin|Crime]] [[The Syndicate|Syndicate]]. Based on a script for a story meant to bridge the gap between ''[[Justice League (animation)|Justice League]]'' and ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'', but had undergo a few tweaks.

* ''[[Superman vs. the Elite]]'' - Based on the comic story "What's So Funny About Truth, Justice and the American Way?" Superman clashes with The Elite, [[Expy|Expies]] of [[The Authority]], whose brutal style of heroics wins them a lot of fans makes the public question if Superman is still relevant.

 

 

'''Other versions of the character:'''

* The [[The Adventures of Superman (radio)|1940's radio version]]

* The [[Tangent Comics]] version of Superman

 

'''Parodies of the character:'''

* Super-Turtle, a [[Funny Animal]] turtle with Superman's powers, who appeared in various half-page humor strips in various [[Silver Age]] DC Comics.

* Super-Squirrel, Superman's [[Funny Animal]] counterpart on [[The DCU|Earth-C-Minus]]. The "Squirrel of Steel" is shown to be a member of his world's "JLA" (the "[[Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew|Just'a Lotta Animals]]").

 

See also [[Supergirl]], his [[Distaff Counterpart]], and ''[[Krypto the Superdog (animation)|Krypto the Superdog]]'', a 2005 cartoon based off the adventures of his Kryptonian dog.

 

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* [[Acid Trip Dimension]]: More than one.

* [[Alliterative Name]]: Commonly alliterating the letter L; Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, Lana Lang, and so on.

** Clark Kent is not alliterative in writing but if said out loud uses the same k/hard-c phoneme.

*** Clark Kent's and Lois Lane's alliterative names may actually be the [[Trope Codifier|Trope Codifiers]] that started the trend of comic book characters (and sci-fi characters in general) being given alliterative names.

* [[Alternate Continuity]]: Between the various media adaptations and the "[[Elseworld|Imaginary Stories]]", arguably more than any other fictional character.

* [[Ambiguously Jewish]]: Superman's background story is a pastiche of [[Moses in the Bulrushes|Moses]] and the immigrant Jewish experience, with a bit of [[Take That]] towards the Nazi idea of the Ubermensch.

* [[Anti-Hero Substitute]]: During ''[[The Death of Superman]]'' arc, Eradicator was essentially Superman if he were a [[Nineties Anti-Hero]].

* [[Bash Brothers]]: Superman and Batman. Also Superman and Supergirl, at least before the Crisis.

* [[Beat Still My Heart]]: A variation, in one story. See that trope page.

{{quote|'''Superman''': [[Red Eyes, Take Warning|BURN]]!}}

* [[Big Good]]: Leader of the Justice League, on top of being the [[Captain Obvious|most powerful superhero of all time]].

* [[Bored with Insanity]]: Mr. Mxyzptlk, in an [[Elseworld]]/"imaginary story".)

* [[Blessed with Suck]]: [[Post-Crisis]], this is often how Superman views ''his own'' powers. While he is as strong as a god, he's also, well, ''strong as a god.'' His best writers have made him into quite a psychological thought-experiment: on the one hand, he's terrified to not lose self-control or someone (or many, many people) may die; on the other, he often hates himself for still being mortal enough to not be the god everyone wants him to be (such as when he can't save everyone who cries out for him - especially because he hears them... ''all'' of them).

{{quote|He knows he cannot save them all. ''And he still tries.''}}

{{quote|''I feel like I live in a world made of... cardboard, always taking constant care not to break something, to break someone. Never allowing myself to lose control even for a moment, or someone could die. But you can take it, can't you, big man? What we have here is a rare opportunity for me to cut loose and show you just how powerful I really am.'' }}

* [[Brought to You by The Letter "S"]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hRKBPTu8vw (Just take a look!)]

* [[Bus Full of Innocents]]

** Jimmy Olsen, Inspector Henderson, Perry White, Kryptonite and the name "Daily Planet" from ''[[The Adventures of Superman (radio)|The Adventures of Superman]]''

** Professor Pepperwinkle from the first TV show

** His flight power comes from the Fleischer cartoons where it was introduced because the animators found it easier to depict than his original jumping power -- and far less silly-looking.

** Kryptonite comes from the 1940s-vintage radio program.

* [[Captain Ersatz]]: Arguably, the entire super hero genre. But, more strictly speaking, there's [[Shazam|Captain Marvel,]] [[Charlton Comics|Captain Atom,]] [[Supreme]], [[The Authority|Apollo,]] [[Wild CATS|Mister Majestic,]] [[Icon]], [[Astro City|the Samaritan,]] [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003|the Silver Sentry,]] [[Mystery Men|Captain Amazing,]] [[X-Men|Gladiator,]] [[Squadron Supreme|Hyperion,]] [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|the Sentry,]] [[Irredeemable|the Plutonian,]] [[Doctor Slump|Suppaman,]] and (at least in regard to his origin<ref>in most other respects, Goku is based on [[Journey to the West|the Monkey King]]</ref>) [[Dragon Ball|Son Goku.]] It's usually taken as a given these days that any [[The Verse|"super hero universe"]] needs someone to fill the role of the top, most respected super hero in the world, and it's almost always an [[Expy]] of Superman. This creates some awkward situations when these companies fold, DC buys up their characters, and suddenly these Superman Expies are running around in the same universe as Superman himself (as has now happened to Captain Marvel, Captain Atom, Icon, Mr. Majestic, and Apollo).

* [[Characterization Marches On]]: Way, way back when Supes was first created, he was far more rough and aggressive than his modern counterpart. While he was never as cold-blooded as the early Batman, the Superman of the 1930s had no problem using his strength to the fullest and never seemed to care that fatalities would presumably occur, although these were seldom shown explicitly on the page. This came to an end late in 1940, and ever since then, Supes has been the [[Thou Shalt Not Kill]] boy scout we all know and love.

* [[Chest Insignia]]: The big S in a diamond shield, at first just standing for Superman, later explained as being the symbol of the house of El -- and that even later as the Kryptonian symbol/glyph for "Hope".

* [[Clingy Jealous Girl]]: Silver-Age Lois and Lana, though not Lori, Luma, or Lyla.

* [[Cloning Blues]]: Averted completely in the first (non-canon) ''Superman Red/Superman Blue'' story. When he accidentally clones himself, the two of them eliminate all evil and turn earth into a paradise, and restore Krypton. It even resolves the Lois/Lana [[Love Triangle]]! A later version of the story played the trope more straight.

* [[Clone Degeneration]]: Bizarro

* [[Clothes Make the Legend]]: DC tried changing his costume a few times, but it didn't last long.

* [[Comic Book Time]]

* [[Complete Immortality]]: In many incarnations.

** And Pink Kryptonite. Lookin' pretty hot there, Jimmy.

* [[Curse Cut Short]]: One exchange between Superman and Brainiac in the Justice League cartoon:

* [[Da Editor]]: Perry White

* [[Death by Origin Story]]: Ma and Pa Kent before the [[Continuity Reboot]], most of Krypton's population in all versions.

** Jimmy Olsen who, due to [[Comic Book Time]] and [[Ret Cons]], repeatedly goes back and forth between being a journalist in his early twenties and a tag-along photographer in his mid teens fetching coffee.

* [[Depraved Kids' Show Host]]: The Prankster

* [[Determinator]]: Oooooooh, just ''ask'' Supes to give up if you're a villain. Let's see how long you last afterwards.

* [[Enemy Civil War]]: Several. Often Bizarro World.

* [[Everything's Better with Monkeys]]: Beppo and Titano.

* [[Evil Knockoff]]: Bizarro

** {{spoiler|This exact origin is brought back in the ''Superman: Red Son'' story but it is not revealed until the end. Superman in this series is ironically a distant descendant of Lex Luthor with the "L" suffix being a contraction of his name.}}

* [[Expansion Pack World]]

* [[Flying Saucer]]: Brainiac's original spaceship. He replaced it with a skull-shaped one after his [[Skele-Bot 9000]] upgrade.

* [[For Great Justice]]: Truth, Justice, and the American way.

* [[Fourth Wall Observer]]: Mr. Mxyzptlk

* [[Friendly Rival]]: Vartox, and [[Shazam|Captain Marvel.]] He's actually friends with both of them, but they end up fighting a lot anyway.

* [[Green Rocks]]: Good ol' kryptonite, of course. Note that pre-''[[Smallville]]'', it was really only good for Kryptonian-killing, so it wasn't Green Rocks by that trope's definition.

** Well, from 1985 until 2005, this was true, kryptonite was only good for hurting Kryptonians (and, about as quickly as realistic radiation, humans). Until the ''[[Crisis on Infinite Earths]]'', though, a number of different colors of kryptonite existed, and they each had a different effect on Kryptonians, and some even had an effect on humans. Some of them were brought back after ''[[Infinite Crisis]]''.

* [[Happily Adopted]]: Clark is from outer space, but he and his folks are closer than blood.

* [[Heavyworlder]]: Superman's powers were, in many older stories including the entire [[The Silver Age of Comic Books|Silver Age]] run, due in part to Krypton's heavier gravity.

* [[High Altitude Interrogation]]: Superman has, [[The Cape (trope)|surprisingly]], [[What the Hell, Hero?|has done this]]. On at least one occasion, he dropped a mook, used superspeed to catch him, and said, "Now, we can keep doing this until I get tired, or..."

* [[Hitler's Time Travel Exemption Act]]: [[Pre-Crisis]], Superman could visit the past by exceeding the speed of light, but it was physically impossible for him to change history.

* [[Hollywood Cyborg]]: Metallo, as well as the Cyborg Superman

* [[Home Base]]: The Fortress of Solitude

* [[Human Aliens]]

* [[Iconic Logo]]: The S-symbol, one of the most instantly recognizable symbols in the world in real life, as well as the actual logo used on his comic book, with block letters at a slant.

* [[Intrepid Reporter]]: Clark Kent and Lois Lane, later Jimmy Olsen.

* [[Invincible Hero]]: Most writers take pains to avert this trope, but Supes is hard to write unless [[Kryptonite Is Everywhere]], and that gets old fast. [[Alan Moore]] was a master at finding compelling stories for him. The best Superman stories (''[[Kingdom Come]]'', among others) thus tend to be the ones that focus on the problems his powers ''can't'' fix. A perennial favorite is "Sure, you're invincible. But everyone else isn't." Also leads to [[Blessed with Suck]].

* [[It Amused Me]]: The Prankster

* [[The Jailer]]: The Master Jailer

* [[Lantern Jaw of Justice]]: the [[Trope Codifier]].

* [[Last of His Kind]]: One of the classic examples, although the degree to which it actually applies varies over time.

* [[Lilliputians]]: People from the Bottle City of Kandor.

* [[Line-of-Sight Name]]: In ''[[Superman (film)|Superman]]: The Movie'', Lois Lane dreamily says after her first interview with Supers, "What a super man... ''([[Beat]])'' ''Superman''!"

* [[Mad Scientist]]: [[Lex Luthor]], back in the day. And back in [[The Golden Age of Comic Books]], there was the Ultra-Humanite.

* [[Make Me Wanna Shout]]: Silver Banshee

* [[Master of Disguise]]: Jimmy Olsen, when he had his own book.

* [[Me's a Crowd]]: This is how Bizarro populated Bizarro World.

* [[Mind Screw]]: A story arc in ''Superman #307-309'' written by Gerry Conway was about Superman being tricked by Supergirl into thinking that they are actually Earth-born mutants (because Superman was being a [[Soapbox Sadie]] over potential ecological disasters).

* [[Mineral MacGuffin]]: Sunstone, the crystals Kryptonians used to grow buildings.

* [[Moses in the Bulrushes]]

* [[Muggle Foster Parents]]: The Kents.

* [[Mythology Gag]]: In at least two continuities, Superman turned evil -- one of of which involved serving [[Evil Overlord|almighty]] [[The Fourth World|Darkseid]]. Similarly, in at least three continuities -- one of which is the mainstream DCU -- Lex Luthor aspires to or becomes [[President Evil]].

** The 2013 film ''[[Man of Steel]]'' made a very subtle one -- it takes a bit of [[Fridge Brilliance]] to realize that Superman's iconic costume, other than his cape, is in fact the [[Underwear of Power|''underwear'']] for Kryptonian battle armor!

* [[Name's the Same]]: Despite her name, Lois Lane is not going to be in [[Kiss Me Kate|the musical version of ''Taming of the Shrew'']].

* [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown]]. Superman rarely enjoys such moments, but he has his moments. Superman explicitly tells Darkseid that he's going to enjoy finally ''not'' holding back in the final episode of ''JLU'', in a major [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]].

{{quote|'''Superman''': That man [Batman] won't quit so long as he can draw breath. ''None'' of my teammates will. Me? I've got a ''different'' problem. I feel like I live in [[World of Cardboard Speech|a world made of ''cardboard'']]. ''Always'' taking care not to ''break'' something, to break some''one''. ''Never'' allowing myself to ''lose control'', even for a moment. Someone could die. But ''you'' can take it, can't you, big man? What we have here is a ''rare opportunity'' for me to ''cut loose'', and ''show'' you '''''just how powerful I really am'''''. [Lets loose with a punch that distorts the air with a sonic boom and sends Darkseid flying... ''real far''.]}}

* [[Official Couple]]: Superman and Lois Lane.

* [[Old Retainer]]: In the Post-Crisis reboot, Superman eventually inherits his father's faithful robot servant Kelex.

* [[Our Mermaids Are Different]]: Lori Lemaris

* [[Papa Wolf]]: Clark is generally a nice guy but threaten Kara or Chris and you will be lucky to leave with just a few broken bones.

* [[The Paragon]]: Depending on the continuity.

* [[Perma-Shave]]: Courtesy of heat vision and mirrors.

* [[Phrase Catcher]]: "Look, up in the sky!"

* [[Pillars of Moral Character]] {{context}}

* [[Powers as Programs]]: The Parasite

* [[President Evil]]: Lex Luthor, from 2000 till roughly 2004. Arguably, one of the most iconic and interesting character developments that Lex Luthor has gone through over the years.

* [[Pretty in Mink]]: Lois, at least in some of the silver age covers.

* [[Psychopathic Manchild]]: Toyman

* [[Raised by Natives]]: The Kents

* [[Reality Warper]]: Mr. Mxyzptlk

* [[Robot Master]]: Toyman

* [[Robot Me]]: The Superman robots

* [[Romantic Runner-Up]]: Poor, poor Lana. Also, Superman himself wound up this to [[Our Mermaids Are Different|Lori,]] after she married an alien (an alien ''merman,'' natch). Poor Supes had actually ''proposed'' to Lori back in college, and she turned him down.

* [[Samaritan Syndrome]]

* [[Spider Tank]]: A recurring [[Running Gag]] in Superman stories (including ''[[Superman: Birthright]]'' and ''[[Superman: Doomsday]]'') is Supes having to fight a giant robotic spider, due to [[Executive Meddling]] (by [[Jon Peters]]) on the never-made '90s Superman film.

* [[Spinoff Babies]]: Superboy, "Superbaby"

* [[Stealth Mentor]]: Mr. Mxyzptlk, [[Depending on the Writer]].

* [[Story-Breaker Team-Up]]: Superman / Madman. Averted with ''Superman / Batman''.

* [[Superhero]]

* [[Stock Superhero Day Jobs]]: "Mild Mannered Reporter for a great Metropolitan newspaper..."

* [[Superheroes Wear Capes]]

* [[Super-Hero Origin]]: There was this planet, see, and it exploded...

{{quote|Doomed planet. Desperate scientists. Last hope. Kindly couple.}}

* [[Superhero Trophy Shelf]]: ''Not'' the [[Trope Codifier]] (that's probably the Trophy Room in [[The Phantom (comic strip)|The Phantom]]'s [[Home Base|Skull Cave]]), but the Fortress of Solitude is still probably the best known example. It's huge, and most of the space seems to be filled with souvenirs of Supey's adventures.

* [[Super Senses]]

* [[Superpower Lottery]]: No matter how much some want to balance him out.

* [[The Syndicate]]: Intergang.

* [[Villainesses Want Heroes]]: [[Hot Amazon]] Maxima thinks Superman would make a good baby daddy.

* [[Voodoo Shark]]: Superman needs to change into his costume, so he has to duck away for a second...into a phone booth?

* [[Where the Hell Is Springfield?]]: Both Smallville (see above) and Metropolis -- though the "Big Apricot" is almost universally on the East Coast somewhere, and 90% of writers make it a [[Captain Ersatz]] of New York City. In the Fleischer cartoons, in fact, it was specifically stated that Clark & co. lived in ''Manhattan''; it was a plot point in the "Electric Earthquake" short.

* [[Wife-Basher Basher]]: In the very first issue of his own comic in the 1930's, Superman deals with an abusive husband by brutally throwing the guy into a wall and beats ''him'' until he promises to never hit his wife ever again.

* [[Will Not Tell a Lie]]: Superman himself, mostly. Except for those related to his [[Secret Identity]].

** And not even then. It isn't ''technically'' a lie if he says his name is Kal-El when asked, after all...

* [[Wolverine Publicity]]

* [[Wonder Child]]

* [[Wrong Parachute Gag]]: In #176, which explains how Superman decided on his ideal location for his Fortress of Solitude, he's on a flight over the arctic as Clark Kent when the plane suffers engine troubles. Almost immediately, everyone went for the parachutes, but Clark, who was inspecting the packs with his x-ray vision, notices a ripped parachute and switches it with his good one. Luckily for Clark, nobody notices the [[Human Aliens]] dropping like a stone in the arctic night.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:The Kiddie Ride]]

[[Category:Better Than It Sounds/Comic Books]]

[[Category:The DCU]]

[[Category:The Great Depression]]

[[Category:Franchises]]

[[Category:Super Title Index]]