Superman gets too much shit (And underrated heroes in general)

[Eddy-16]

[small]except aquaman, fuck that guy[/small]

Hey! I'll have none of that Aquaman is a badass. I say what pretty much everyone else has already he's just too overpowered to be interesting, the guy has like 3 weaknesses kryptonite magic and Doomsday. Still going to give the movie a chance though.

 

[Kolby Jack]

Since when is Batman a superhero? Wouldn't that imply that he has super powers? I know economic times are tough but we are mentally stable enough still to realize the wealthy aren't super humans, right? Kidding aside Batman isn't a super hero he is simply a hero. Now that is out of the way...

Superman is one of the worst comic book characters to ever exist. I would argue that he isn't even a hero at all. A hero is a person that puts some sort of risk to themselves for a good cause. Superman just doesn't have this threat to himself. I don't know if the current comics still follow this line but even kryptonite at one point became beneficial to him! Removing his one weakness that was never a large enough weakness to ever actually ever stop him
more than a short period of time anyways.

If there was ever proof that you have never read a single Superman comic in your life, it's that you just said Superman isn't risking himself in his battles. He's NOT invincible. He CAN be hurt. His loved ones can be hurt. He DIED for a while. There are numerous stories about the consequences of Superman's heroics. There are many beings in the DCU far stronger than he is. Green kryptonite doesn't take away his powers (that's red sunlight that does that), it just kills him, slowly and painfully. So any time kryptonite comes into play, his life is very much in danger. Don't try to discuss things you clearly know NOTHING about.

Okay reporting you for the personal attack at the end.

As for your points I never claimed he could not be hurt. Certainly he suffers wounds when fighting other extremely powerful beings. But you decided to put words in my mouth. In most encounters there really isn't much threat even when he does fight a greater challenge everything is always so predictable. As for his death in the 90's one no one believed he would truly stay gone his death was meaningless.

As for his loved ones being able to be hurt, so what? So does every single comic book character that has personal connections to others. Hell, even a common man in real life could easily find themselves in such situations. This isn't either a heroic or even mildly interesting trait if anything it is too over used. So once again Superman falls into blandness. I'm actually baffled on why this would be thought of as a defense to defend the character.

Superman is a old comic book character and one that helped comics be successful he played a major role in this and nothing can take that away. But he is only held on because of this. It would be more respectful to put the character to rest than to endless beat the dead horse that he's become.

If you would like to continue this discussion I would love to but do ask that you remain civil and respectful unlike your last comment.

All of your complaints are generic complaints that could be said of many characters and aren't exclusive to Superman at all, which just further shows you don't really have any context for your arguments. Hell, you cited him being immune or benefiting from kryptonite, which hasn't happened in AGES. The last story I can remember where he became immune was All-Star Superman, and that was because he was dying from too much sun exposure. Hence we arrive back at my original point: don't try to discuss things when you have absolutely none of the context necessary to discuss them. Anybody can skim a wikipedia page, but it doesn't make you knowledgeable. Your context is outdated, your points are generic, and your attempts to appear all "high-ground" are transparent. So really, until you go do some actual research into this topic....

And I know it's not a personal attack because this time I said please!

Well most characters fall into mediocrity whether it be through the character itself being rather poorly developed or the countless that have potential but get neglected. Obviously Superman fits within the poorly developed. Just look at what you said you actually admit those major character flaws exist in most characters so how is Superman special in any form of way? Why are you even defending him if you admit this yourself?

I never claimed to be a major fan of Superman or a heavy reader of the comics. I will gladly admit the last comics I read containing him were back in the 90's but I really doubt he has evolved much if any since then. There really isn't a need to go all fanboy on here. If you like Superman, fine. But be a adult about this and understand that some people do not like him and have reasons for such. Nor does one have to be hardcore follower to see aspects they do not like.

There you are again! Trying to make points when you already admit your understanding of Superman is dated by about 15-20 years. Now you're pulling out the tired old fanboy argument? Playing the victim? Laaaaaame. Those problems I said were true of many characters means that any decent writer can find a way around them, and that goes for Superman as well. He's NOT special, that's my point. Notice how when people in this thread have legit complaints about Superman, i didn't feel the need to comment on them? I'm not defending him against reasonable and fair criticism, I'm defending him against your incredibly flawed and irrelevant perspective on him. You come in here wallowing in ignorance and looking like a fool, and I'm just telling you to stop it. You have nothing to contribute, no point to be made. By your own admission, your perspective is flawed and outdated. Just stop.

 

[UnmotivatedSlacker]

Also while Superman is weak to magic. People misinterpret this. He is weak to irrational chaotic forces of magic. If someone magics up a fireball and throws it at him, it won't hurt him because he is immune to fire, it being magic doesn't matter. But someone makes him swap bodies with someone, mind controlls him or casts an illusion it will affect him like anybody else.

Then it's not a weakness, rather not invulnerability. So why is magic called his weakness.

Also to few of you who accuse people of knowing nothing about Superman, just because they don't read comics about him from past 10 years or so. Why does it matter?

Because judging a character based off of outdated information is dumb. A lot can happen to a character in 10 years.

 

[McMarbles]

Nowhere near as bad as this guy. Also sometimes "more interesting" doesn't necessarily mean good.

That power is far more useful than you'd think.

Plus, that guy KNOWS his powers are stupid. He EMBRACES that his powers are stupid.

 

[Nulmas]

SNIP

Hey, leave Aquaman alone! He's actually a great character when, once every blue moon, a good writer happens to stumble onto him.

Oh, and there's this:

Spoiler

 

[MrMixelPixel]

I find Superman to be boring primarily because most of the threats he deals with are too artificial. He's a very difficult character to write a compelling story for and often find that I just don't care for them. Plenty of other characters share similar issues (Hulk being a good example on the Marvel-side).

I don't think it should be that hard to write a story for the man of steel. Plenty of the stories from his animated series, as well as the Justice league are fantastic. The animated movies D.C. has been doing that feature Superman... are also fantastic.

When you have a character overpowered as Superman, you shouldn't give whatever villain he's facing kryptonite all the time (or give them red sun energy... whatever), you should instead,have him fight villains that are just as powerful or even stronger!

In the recent movies alone, Superman has some neat battles with : Doomsday, The Elites, Lex Luthor with Superman's powers, evil negaverse Superman, and Darkseid (which Superman needed help from Supergirl with).

Superman stories are... fantastic from what I've watched. Notice I didn't say read.

Personally, I feel the animated stuff does a much better job than the comics anyway.

 

[pilouuuu]

I agree with you. He is the archetype of a superhero. He is THE superhero. He is also noble, good and cares about other people.

As for the reasons he is not so popular nowadays, well I think that he had the last decent movie like three decades ago is a good one. Another one is that this are dark and cynical times. People are not so innocent as in the 70s or 80s. For that reason, people find antiheroes or flawed heroes much more interesting. Definitely Superman is a role model for more positive and optimistic times, but that's the reason we need him so much nowadays. To have a reason to believe that being good is possible and that there's someone that kids can look for when they need someone to admire and to try to be like him when they grow up (although sadly without that kind of superpowers)

In my opinion, the fact that Superman is so "perfect" is very interesting for a story. We can see how always being right can be impossible, how he may have dilemmas when having to take a difficult decision, for example having to choose one of two people to save (similar to Batman in TDK) or struggling not to kill a villain, etc.

While Batman is interesting because he is tormented and fights crime without superpowers, Superman is interesting for other reasons. And he is a tragic hero! He lost his family and all of his planet! Isn't that tragic enough for you?

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