No doubt. You know what probably my favorite Superman story was? "For the Man Who Has Everything", specifically because it showcases exactly what you're saying; his deepest and most heartfelt desire is to live a simple life surrounded by family.
My bone of contention, as it were, centered on "would she love him for Clark", which never strikes me as the right question considering how much of the Clark he is around her is performative. To put it slightly differently: The Clark Kent that people at the Daily Bugle know is very different (and deliberately so) from the Clark Kent that Ma and Pa Kent know, and the latter is the more "authentic" Clark. There's another scene that I like to cite from the Donner Cut for Superman II. The reasons for it are very similar to the scene I cite from the first Superman (namely, the impact of Reeve's physicality).
A semi-popular summation of that is something to the effect that at 3:43 we see Clark Kent and at 3:44 we see Superman with glasses. However, I think a more nuanced perspective is that at the latter moment we don't see Superman so much as we see Clark simply drop the act, too stunned that Lois would actually pull the trigger to put on any pretense. This gives us a glimpse at "authentic" Clark while he's having difficulty processing what just happened, which lasts until he starts crossing his arms and fully transitions to his Superman persona...which he briefly drops again when Lois reveals the deception. It's admittedly a largely academic distinction, but it's reflective of my view that while neither of them are his true self, his persona at the Daily Bugle is further from the truth than his persona as a Superhero is. Put a different way, in a world where he was normal, I easily see him living a humble, happy, and helpful life, but I don't see him acting as mousey as the "Clark Kent" in the Bugle does.
Ok, I get what's happening. This is my fault.
When I'm saying Clark, I'm thinking about Not-Superman Kal-El. The good natured, boring man. How Batman, Wonder Woman, and the rest see past his powers and sees the Man he truly is.
The Bumbling thing, yeah, a complete act. We all know that. But I'm afraid anyone who doesn't know will just find out that he's Superman and think that's truly how he is Twenty Four-Seven. The Cape is his actual normal clothing and everything else is a fake. I think most people who would find out that he was Superman would just be so entranced by all that Superman can do that they will forget to find out who he is under the S. They might confuse getting info about his abilities as getting to know him, but in Kal-El's head? That stuff is probably what he hates the most because that's all people are concerned about.
The very thing that prevents him from just being him.
Also, about that scene... I hate it. I mean, this is a man who can process thought fast enough to fly around the world in a second. More over to see a bullet in mid-air and catch it.
... Superman couldn't tell that it was a blank? Really? We can argue that he wanted to get caught. And yeah, I can see that. But seeing how he was instructed to play defeated, I'm just going to chalk that up to not thinking about who the character really is.
You're right, That JLU episode was great. A lot of the Justice League episodes actually got me to like Superman. I thought he was boring before. But the amount of restraint he has for everyone is beyond interesting because... well, compare it to the world we have now. Selfishness is normal. Someone truly kind is extraordinary.
Anyway, this is Kal-El to me.
