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Superman: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''[[Super Speed|Faster than a speeding bullet!]] [[Super Strength|More powerful than a locomotive!]] Able to leap tall buildings [[In a Single Bound|in a single bound!]] This amazing stranger from the planet Krypton! [[Red Baron|The man of steel]] --(gong ring)-- Superman!''|The opening to the [[Superman Theatrical Cartoons]]}}
The Last Son of Krypton. The Man of Steel. [[Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?|The Man of Tomorrow]]. The Big Blue Boyscout. The [[Trope Codifier|iconic]] [[The Cape (trope)|Cape]]. The original [[Flying Brick]]. '''''[[Trope Codifier|The]]''''' [[Superhero]].
[[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 over 70 years]]. He first appeared in ''[[Action Comics]]'' #1 (June, 1938).
On the technologically advanced planet of Krypton, scientist [[Ignored Expert|Jor-El]] discovers that his planet will soon be destroyed by natural disasters. No one will believe him, however, and in a desperate attempt to save what can be saved, Jor-El builds a small rocket vessel to carry his infant son, Kal-El, to a different planet -- Earth. Because Kryptonians physically resemble humans in every way, the boy can blend in without being seen as alien.
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.
However, Clark turns out to be different from humans after all. Kryptonians had evolved to absorb and store solar energy. While on Krypton, which orbited a relatively low-heat Red Giant (or in some versions Red Dwarf), their physical abilities were about identical to humans. When exposed to the rays of Earth's much younger, brighter yellow Sun, Clark learns that the surplus of energy gives him incredible powers, which increase as he grows up. Deciding to use his power for good, Clark puts on some spandex (or indestructible Kryptonian uber-cloth, [[Depending on the Writer]]) and fights crime as Superman! (Or at first as [[Superboy]], in [[The Silver Age of Comic Books|the Silver Age]] version of his origin). When not fighting evil, he masquerades as a mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, ''The Daily Planet'', which helps him find disasters and emergencies that much sooner.
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.
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Aside from fighting crime, much of Clark's personal life is explored in relation to his supporting cast from the ''Daily Planet'', his hometown of Smallville, Kansas, and his beloved home city of [[Where the Hell Is Springfield?|Metropolis]]. Possibly the most famous supporting cast of any superhero, it consists of a large number of changing characters, the fixtures of which are: his doting parents Jonathan and Martha (aka "Ma and Pa") Kent, who continue to support and advise him throughout his adulthood (or [[Pre Crisis]], throughout his childhood and teen years, before dying shortly after Clark's high school graduation); his [[Da Editor|gruff, hot-tempered, long-suffering boss]], Perry White, who gladly accepts Clark's constant disappearances and eccentricities as long as he comes back with a headline story; his best friend (in both identities) [[Jimmy Olsen]], a young cub reporter/photographer with a wildly fluctuating age, the highest [[Weirdness Magnet]] rating in the DC universe and the unique gift of a signal watch he can use to call Superman anytime he gets into trouble; and most importantly, his sharp-tongued, recklessly determined go-getter of a reporting partner (and longstanding object of his affections) [[Lois Lane]], who was [[Loves My Alter Ego|desperately in love with Superman but who always dismissed the mild Clark Kent.]] However, she would eventually fall for Clark, not Superman, before learning they were the same person and marrying him.
Originally created by two sons of Jewish immigrants, who, after several tries, finally got him published in ''Action Comics'' #1, where he immediately took off; imitations of him pretty much created [[The Golden Age of Comic Books]].
This wasn't their first attempt at the character they had in mind. Ironically, he was intended as a villain with superior mental powers (also ironically looking a lot like [[Lex Luthor]], [[Bald of Evil]] and everything) but when that concept flopped they revisited the idea by exploring the real idea of a "Super"man and in collecting their ideas it formed the now famous "Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive..." pitch.
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His [[Flying Brick|powers]] include [[Super Strength]], [[Super Speed]], [[Flight]], [[X-Ray Vision]], [[Eye Beams|Heat Vision]], [[Breath Weapon|Freeze Breath]], [[Nigh Invulnerability]], [[Super Senses]], and [[New Powers as the Plot Demands|possibly others]], [[Depending on the Writer|depending on the interpretation]].
On the [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]], he and the series he stars in almost universally tends toward the idealistic side, being the iconic [[The Cape (trope)|Cape]].
Along with [[Batman]] and [[Wonder Woman]], he's one of the [[Power Trio|Big Three]] of [[The DCU]]. He has also been a member of the [[Justice League of America]] on and off (mostly on) since its founding.
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* ''[[Kingdom Come]]''
* ''[[Superman: Red Son]]'': Baby Kal-El lands in the Soviet Union instead of Kansas.
* ''[[Superman: Secret Identity]]'': A very [[This Is Reality|different]] spin on the mythos, which is technically not about ''the'' Superman.
* ''[[Superman Birthright]]'': The ''re''-revised origin, replacing ''The Man of Steel''.
* ''[[The Dark Knight Returns]]''
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* ''[[Ruby-Spears Superman]]''
* ''[[Lois and Clark]]'': The first TV series to pick up on the John Byrne-era post-Crisis idea of Clark as the real person and Superman as the disguise, and of Lex Luthor as a corrupt CEO.
* ''[[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]]''.
* ''[[Smallville]]'': One of the more unique takes on Superman, it follows young Clark Kent's journey from adolescence to adulthood and explores his reasons for becoming Superman. Recently surpassed ''Stargate SG-1'' to become the US's longest running sci-fi show.
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== Videogames Starring the Character: ==
* There are several Superman games, which go back to the [[Atari 2600 Superman]] at the dawn of video gaming and range from [[The Problem with Licensed Games|mediocre to terrible]].
* ''[[Superman 64]]'' is considered one of the worst games of all time.
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* [[Bizarro Universe]]
* [[Boxing Lessons for Superman]]
* [[The Cape (trope)]]
* [[Clark Kenting]]
* [[Clark Kent Outfit]]
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{{tropelist}}
* [[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.
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* [[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]].
* [[Arch Enemy]]: Lex Luthor, always. Depending on the continuity, [[Brainiac]], General Zod, and [[Darkseid]] may be up there as well.
* [[Armor-Piercing Question]]: Lex Luthor [[And Then What?|asks Superman one]] in the [[Elseworld]] of ''Red Son.''
* [[Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever]]: Titano
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* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]: Superman's one word response to being mindraped in "For the Man Who Has Everything".
{{quote|'''Superman''': [[Red Eyes, Take Warning|BURN]]!}}
** It's generally a good idea to keep this trope in mind when dealing with The Man of Steel. He may be the quintessential nice-guy, but he's also generally considred to be ''the most powerful being on the planet''. The rare occasions that his (rather immense) self-control slips are pretty damn terrifying.
* [[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.''}}
** This idea led to one of the most iconic Superman [[World of Cardboard Speech|speeches]], in the series finale of the [[Justice League Unlimited]] cartoon, where Superman is fighting Darkseid and declares:
{{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.'' }}
* [[Brainwashed and Crazy]]: Given how long running his series has been it's inevitable that this trope has come up a few times. Perhaps the most famous recent event to feature this is during the [[Justice League of America|OMAC Project]] storyline, where Max Lord is controlling him to demonstrate why superheroes can't be trusted (since they can be turned against Earth by [[Mind Control]], and the next guy might not be him and have more sinister plans in mind) and tells [[Wonder Woman]] that the only way to stop him is to kill him- and to the horror of Supes and the rest of the League, [[Thou Shall Not Kill|she does just that.]]
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** ''[[Smallville]]'''s Lionel Luthor, Lex's father, has been brought into continuity as well. Although Lex had obviously always had a father, albeit barely-glimpsed in flashbacks, in recent years his father has officially been referred to as "Lionel," and in ''Superman: Birthright'' he was depicted as having a beard and long hair just like on ''[[Smallville]]''. Recently, he reappeared in the ''[[Blackest Night]]'' story arc to get revenge on Lex for murdering him.
** 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.
*** In fact, most of his powers beyond the core strength/indestructibility have been immigrants -- for instance, his heat vision grew out of the early Silver Age conception of his X-ray vision actually projecting X-rays -- which the writers then decided he could focus and use to burn things.
** 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).
** To be fair, Icon and Superman had already met in ''Worlds Collide''.
* [[Catch Phrase]]: There have been many:
** Superman: "This looks like a job for Superman!" and "Up, up, and away!"
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* [[Funny (comic book)|Crowning Moment Of Funny]]: Yellow Lantern.
** And Pink Kryptonite. Lookin' pretty hot there, Jimmy.
* [[Curse Cut Short]]: One exchange between Superman and Brainiac in the Justice League cartoon:
{{quote|Superman: Read my lips, go to-
Brainiac: Unfortunate... }}
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* [[Elseworld]]: Pretty much began the practice in comics, in "Imaginary Stories".
* [[Entitled Bastard]]: Several of his enemies have no problem with begging for their lives after having tried to kill Supes.
** Really though, if you can't expect mercy from [[The Cape (trope)|Superman]], who can you expect it from?
* [[Enemy Civil War]]: Several. Often Bizarro World.
* [[Everything's Better with Monkeys]]: Beppo and Titano.
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* [[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.
** In [[The Movie]]... not so much.
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* [[My Dear Idiot]]: Lois Lane's use of "Smallville" for [[Superman|Clark Kent]] in some continuities goes from insulting to affectionate over the course of time.
* [[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]].
** Much of the new ''Action Comics #1'' is this to the original. This is a young brash Superman who is more activist like the original, his costume isn't finalized, his powers are mostly limited to the ones he had in the original Action Comics #1 (though the new version already has his heat vision and x-rays so this might also be a nod to ''Smallville''), he even works for George Taylor at the Daily Star like he did in the original (they only changed the name to the Daily Planet because at the time there was an actual Daily Star and there were trademark concerns.)
** 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'']].
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* [[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.
* [[Photographic Memory]]: He possessed this along with super-fast thinking in [[The Silver Age of Comic Books]] and [[The Bronze Age of Comic Books]], and regained these abilities post [[Infinite Crisis]].
* [[Phrase Catcher]]: "Look, up in the sky!"
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** In his first comic book appearances, Superman ''couldn't fly''. That helps to illustrate just how far the power creep has gotten...
* [[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.
** The idea of Lex becoming President of the United States was reused in ''[[Superman: Red Son]]''. It has also been hinted several times that this will also happen in the future of ''[[Smallville]]'''s version of the story.
* [[Pretty in Mink]]: Lois, at least in some of the silver age covers.
* [[Psychopathic Manchild]]: Toyman
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** When [[Jack Kirby|Kirby]] was writing him, Jimmy got his ''own'' sidekicks, the Newsboy Legion.
* [[Smart People Play Chess]]: Lex Luthor.
* [[Space Pirate]]: Amalak. Also Terra-Man.
* [[Space Western]]: As well as being a [[Space Pirate]], Terra-Man is also a literal, time-displaced [[Space Western|Space Cowboy.]] Complete with an alien flying horse. (The [[Post-Crisis]] version of Terra-Man [[In Name Only|never left Earth and is an eco-terrorist)]]
* [[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.
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* [[Superhero]]
* [[Stock Superhero Day Jobs]]: "Mild Mannered Reporter for a great Metropolitan newspaper..."
** In an episode of ''[[Smallville]]'', Tess Mercer points out that a Superhero might think twice about being a reporter, as their coworkers make a job out of REVEALING SECRETS, among other things. She says this in response to a character that's more or less read off the list of reasons why being a reporter is a Stock Superhero Day Job.
* [[Strong as They Need to Be]]: Supes' strenght seems to be all over the place sometimes, writers differentiated it by making scales of power between the other earths, in which the Superman from that universe isn't as strong as the Superman from the other one; ''[[Crisis on Infinite Earths]]'' came and mostly made the presence and worth of other earths useless, with this Supes was (in theory) given a consistent power level; still it's common to see writters making notes about how Superman ''can destroy Earth'' with his [[One-Hit Kill|strongest punch]] and run at the [[Super Speed|Speed of Light]], things that only the ridiculously overpowered Silver Age (Pre-Crisis) Superman could do.
* [[Superheroes Wear Capes]]
* [[Super-Hero Origin]]: There was this planet, see, and it exploded...
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* [[Trademark Favorite Food]]: Beef bourguignon with ketchup. Lois introduced Clark to beef bourguignon. The ketchup was his addition.
* [[Tranquil Fury]]: Very rare but used in some of his more memorable stories. Used against an Authority-Expy group in "What's Wrong with Truth, Justice, and the American Way?" with disturbing effect.
* [[Tribute to Fido]]: The miniseries ''A Superman for All Seasons'', by [[Jeph Loeb]] and Tim Sale, gave teenaged Clark Kent a dog named Shelby, after Sale's own dog. It was a two-panel gag, but Shelby later became more notable as the golden retriever in ''[[Smallville]]''.
* [[True Companions]]: The Daily Planet staff.
* [[Tsundere]]: Lois Lane is a type B towards Clark.
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* [[Unlucky Childhood Friend]]: Lana Lang.
* [[Underwear of Power]]: Well, yeah. It's ''Superman.''
* [[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?
** It made more sense when phone booths were walled off boxes you couldn't look inside, rather than tiny glass bubbles around a phone [[Technology Marches On|that don't exist any more anyway]]. [[Superman (film)|The 1978 movie]] got a good gag out of Superman trying to duck into a phone booth, only to find a booth-less kiosk. However, there is also another wrinkle to the legend: when reporters found themselves in the middle of a story, they would duck into the first phone booth and call the editor. Perfect alibi!
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