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

[josemlopes]

The reason why I dont like Superman that much is because his limitations arent very well defined, there is this scene in one of the animation movies that I will use as example.

Batman and Superman are fighting against some random villains at the same time and their main target is to get Superman, Batman isnt important to them so Batman tells Superman to go away and he does... he starts flying away incredibly slowly ending up getting caught by a villain with wings in middair. What the hell, Superman? Arent you fast as shit? Didnt you raced Flash once? Even if someone grabs you just turn the turbo on, they will eventually let you go.

His powers are always toned down to make the scene more dramatic and interesting, but in the end it just seems retarded since Batman is taking a shitload of punches in the face just because Superman wanted to enjoy the view

 

[Kordie]

How is being able to build the Iron Man armor not a super power?

Pretty much the same way me building a computer is not a superpower. The only suspension of belief you need to have an Ironman suit is the power source. Weather he's using an Arc reactor, solar power, or something else. If we had access to a lightweight powerful energy source we could make a similar suit fairly easily.

*edit* Heres an article from 2010 that estimates building an ironman suit for around the same price as an F-35 Fighter plane... http://io9.com/5533077/how-much-would-it-cost-to-build-a-real-iron-man-suit

 

[Agow95]

The problem with superman is that he can only have two enemies who seriously threaten him, either fellow people who are insanely over-powered, or billionaires who can either block out the sun or afford a element that only exists on a now destroyed planet that renders supermans powers obsolete, also, his disguise is terrible, he wears glasses and suddenly who the hell is that guy?

 

[Palademon]

Yes, we stopped liking Superman because liking him became uncool.

He is overpowered. He has way too many powers.
He is unrelatable because he's just so freaking invincible, with his only weakness being a rare space rock.
And I believe Superman is far more "super nice guy" because he just is. He doesn't really seem to give any other option any thought because to him anything but doing what's completely right is unacceptable. This makes him lack depth of character.
See why he's unrelatable?

He shouldn't be outright insulted, but I can't find much reason to like him either.

 

[Garrett]

-snip-

...You've never read a Superman comic in your life have you?

Last sole Superman comic I read was when he still couldn't fly and had to fight this thing from other dimension that he had to made spell its name backwards. For my present look on Superman, please blame people who defend him during Goku vs Superman arguments. According to them he ALWAYS uses only like 5% of his powers so he won't destroy the whole planet and other OP stuff.
Also -> http://superman.wikia.com/wiki/Superman_Prime

 

[iamjonah]

Here's my problem with Superman:

He started off fine, his powers being limited to superstrength, superspeed, supersenses, and invulnerability. Basically, he could do everything normal people could do - just at the best level imaginable. You can jump; Superman can jump over buildings. You can run; Superman can outrun bullets. Essentially, he was a power fantasy.

Then time marched on. He needed to stay interesting. The easy way to do that was to add more abilities. They added x-ray vision, super hearing, and "the ability for Superman to reshape his face muscles to change his appearance" (thank you, Wikipedia).

Time continued to move on. They added the ability to fly, super genius-level intelligence, super-ventriloquism, and super-hypnosis. They also added to the other abilities. Superman's invulnerability went from "nothing less than a bursting shell could penetrate his skin" to "able to withstand the blast of an atomic bomb".

So now we have the Superman of today, who for all intents and purposes is a "God-mode Sue" (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GodModeSue). Yes, he technically has some weaknesses (kryptonite makes him just tired enough to sweat as he's lifting that mountain). But for the most part, he is a 80-year progression of additive wish-fulfillment fantasies from countless authors.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I like Superman because you can seemingly always count on him to do the right thing. Like the OP said he could run around going Kratos on everyone but he doesn't.

Everyone says it's ridiculous that glasses manage to hide his character but it's not just the glasses it's how he puts himself across. He pretends to be a klutz, a coward and a nerd and people just can't possibly think he is Superman. As a plain, shy woman I'm pretty certain no one notices I exist most of the time. I could get amazing powers and become a superhero tomorrow, put a tiny mask on and no one would know it was me because they couldn't possibly imagine it was me.

Harley Quinn is still my fave character (I'd say comic book but she came from the animated show). I loved her in Suicide Squad.

I think Wonder Woman is very underrated she's a greek demi goddess and awesome.

 

[Kordie]

How is being able to build the Iron Man armor not a super power?

Pretty much the same way me building a computer is not a superpower. The only suspension of belief you need to have an Ironman suit is the power source. Weather he's using an Arc reactor, solar power, or something else. If we had access to a lightweight powerful energy source we could make a similar suit fairly easily.

Even if we had something like an Arc reactor, there is no way with the technology we have today we could build a fully functional Iron Man suit.

You can read the article I edited into my last post, but here are some of the highlights.
( http://io9.com/5533077/how-much-would-it-cost-to-build-a-real-iron-man-suit )
Let's not forget that Stark industries is/was a big weapons manufacturer. They seem very similar to what DARPA is in the US. Now, let's consider what the Ironman suit actually is. Let's start with a robotic exo-skeleton. Heres a promotional video from Raytheon in 2008; Now that would need a powerful energy source. For that we have the generator from the mars rover (here) [http://www.ne.doe.gov/pdfFiles/MMRTG_Jan2008.pdf] You are then left with adding jetpacks and weapons, not exactly difficult to do at that point. I am not saying the average person could make one today, but someone with limitless resources and an engineering background like Tony Stark wouldn't have a hard time doing it.

 

[aba1]

The reason why I dont like Superman that much is because his limitations arent very well defined, there is this scene in one of the animation movies that I will use as example.

Batman and Superman are fighting against some random villains at the same time and their main target is to get Superman, Batman isnt important to them so Batman tells Superman to go away and he does... he starts flying away incredibly slowly ending up getting caught by a villain with wings in middair. What the hell, Superman? Arent you fast as shit? Didnt you raced Flash once? Even if someone grabs you just turn the turbo on, they will eventually let you go.

His powers are always toned down to make the scene more dramatic and interesting, but in the end it just seems retarded since Batman is taking a shitload of punches in the face just because Superman wanted to enjoy the view

Ya not going to lie this is why I rarely read any superman and flash. The whole time I am reading there books I am just thinking well if they had just ran in and out they could have solved the entire issue in less than a second. I don't mind the animated superman as much because at least he is consistently toned down rather than switching back and forth but the flash is almost always useless as all hell.

 

[hermes]

Superman is overpowered (compared to other super heroes), but he doesn't have to be boring. As proved by the animated series (and the justice league), interesting stories can be written about him being challenged without even recurring to kriptonite.

Besides, its not like other super heroes are not overpowered either. Case in point, Batman. Batman is the most overpowered superhero ever, because he is supposed to be human. However, for just a regular human being with a high income, he sure is a super competent detective, fighter, spy, suave, knows every language, has access to contingency plans for anything, has returned from death several times, faces planet-destroyer level villains regularly with nothing but his wits, etc... Yet we are supposed to buy that "he is just a regular man".

I am not even talking about "Silver Age Batman". By the time current Batman dodges Darkseid's Omega Beam (something that not even Superman or Flash could do, with all their powers), something is pretty messed up in their idea of "a regular man".

 

[Kordie]

That's why I said both being able to fly and do whatever superman does and being able to build the damn armor are superpowers. As in, as you said, both don't exist in real life.

Would you clasify Alfred as a superpowered for making all of batman's gear? There is a difference between having a super power and using technology. It is the same way that batman has no powers but he uses technology. In the comic universe, Tony already has access to all the pre-requisite technology. If you want to make the argument that his intelect is a super power, that is a different story (mind you one I would still debate). But inventing a power suit is not a super power.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Underappreciated? No, Superman isn't underappreciated. People might give him tons of crap but the things is, everyone knows superman. I mean freakin everyone knows who superman is. He's a pop culture icon and has been for decades. There are untold thousands if not millions of hero and villains in comics that nobody has ever heard of, but everyone knows superman. People may say good or bad things but just the fact he's so well known means that he's not underappreciated, people still recognize him and still bother to care and make arguments about him. What's more is that Superman is not a superhero, he's the superhero. He's been around since the beginning with Action Comic #1 and to a large extent what people imagine when they think 'superhero' is pretty much defined by superman. Generic superpowers, flying, super strength, resistance to damage, etc. are largely the powers of superman. He's part of what defines superheros and thus his influence which affects all superheros means that he really can't be underappreciated so long as people recognize the impact of Superman.

Anyways, I'm not familiar enough with comics to really know any underappreciated heroes (Although one underappeciated villain is certainly Baby Doll) but I do know that Aquaman gets too much crap. His characterization in the Superfriends, (which by the way mischaracterized lots of characters, including Batman) was so detrimental that any media with him that I've seen since then has gone out of its way to make him a badass because everyone thinks, 'lol aquaman'. He does more then just talk to fish you know, he's still the king of the sea. (Although giving him a hook for a hand was stupid).