Why does everybody hate Superman?

[triggrhappy94]

I feel like he's alittle bland as far as Super Heros go.
Also he doesn't get a lot exposure--I think the last Superman game was on the N64 and that didn't go over very well.

 

[Shadu]

Because, honestly, I don't read the comics (I don't care about superheroes enough to do so),and most of what I've seen about Superman is just bland. I'm sort of neutral, but much perfer other characters such as Batman (mostly the way Batman Begins and the Dark Knight portray him).

I'm sure this is not the best way to experience superheroes, but I don't have the time or the drive to read the comics, especially considering how many most of these superheroes have a million volumes.

Going solely on what I know, I don't like Superman because he's just boring. I don't hate him either, I just would rather give my time to something else.

 

[Doom-Slayer]

-snip-

I find the perfection thing to be why I dislike him. Hes super strong, superfast, nearly invincible, can fly, xray and heat vision, can turn back time etc etc. Its just too much compacted into one character. A lot of other superheroes that are more liked generally have only one or two abilities they excel at, and have to rely on those more heavily in order to be effective. Hes overall uninteresting as a character too since theres very little that people can relate too, he has no personal struggles other than "theres this one girl I like" and the whole dual life thing which is just silly. Glasses on, not superman, glasses off, superman.

Characters that actually have personal struggles and overall restrictions on them are generally more interesting, and since since Superman seems more like a swiss army knife of available tools its hard to see anything that could challenge him. WHile I haven't read the comics I cant really see how there can be many threats to him other than the cliched "capture the heroine" or kriptonite which as a weakness seems rather lame.

 

[xdom125x]

I don't hate him. He isn't anywhere near my favorite superhero (Depending on definitions: either Batman or the Flash) but there isn't anything inherently bad about him as a character. I always thought the dislike of him stemmed from a) him having pretty much every classic superpower (and sometimes super-ventriloquism) which makes him look like he shouldn't have a problem dealing with anything; and b) how he gets treated by the writers when working with other people. In a story where he is working by himself, he gets treated with some respect and has reasonable flaws but will eventually solve the problem. But once he gets put on a team, that seems to go out the window. He usually gets dumber, more powerful (yet less useful), and turned into a punching bag.

 

[Nieroshai]

Because being super strong, flying, and lazer vision are the most original superpowers ever.

I'm gonna stop you right there. Who did this in comics before Superman? Also: x-ray vision, super hearing, super speed, ice breath, limited telekinesis, eidetic memory, and enhanced smell. Also, empowered by yellow solar radiation and weak against such things as: radioactive isotopes, red sunlight (takes away his powers), magic. You laugh at a picture of Superman painted in your own head by yourself, not the Superman drawn in the comics.

 

[Nieroshai]

Super-Man doesn't have a cool car. That is all.

The planet is his car.

 

[nothingspringstomind]

Big Superman fan over here. I've always loved the character study pieces that involve Superman, especially some of the Elseworlds stuff.

Seriously, read Kingdom Come, Red Son, and, for a laugh Superman; True Brit. All the stories touch upon the psychology of the Man of Steel in different ways that show what his role in the DCU actually is.

I especially love his interactions with Batman in their crossover stories. Superman/Batman; Public Enemies sits proudly on my shelf as one of my favourite pieces.

And i just realized; i'm actually wearing Superman boxers as i type. *Nerd*

And Superman has more than a few equals this guy included;

And this is my favourite scene in Kingdom Come.

Spoiler: Thar be Spoilers ahead!

EDIT; also, if we're talking overpowered, the modern Flash is possibly the most ridiculous in the powers department. He can vibrate through physical objects and run at light speed. Not to mention punching you a million times a second, while travelling at speed.

This article, while filled with more bile than my statements, probably explains it better.

http://cheesebadger.xanga.com/650384722/why-the-flash-is-the-most-overpowered-superhero-ever/

 

[Hattingston]

He doesn't have a humanizing flaw. His super power is to be awesome at everything. With Iron Man, he's womanizing and can be selfish, Batman is an orphan who channels his desire for revenge into stopping criminals(honestly, there's a lot you can do with Batman's psyche, this is bare-bones). Superman is just perfect, and that's boring. It's hard to connect with him on a personal level because he's just regular guy++. Iron Man and Batman are imperfect, damaged even, and that allows us to connect with them, because we are flawed as well. (this is just from the limited stuff I read, there very well may be some Superman work that analyzes his psyche, but I haven't read it, and what I've written seems to be fairly prevalent in Superman storylines).

 

[TheDrunkNinja]

Superman's awesome. To me, his story is the constant struggle of having godlike powers while still having the humanity to not abuse them in anyway. The struggle of the desire to be human in a situation that has granted him inhuman power, which is why I agree with those that believe Superman to be the most human of the DC characters.

All my friends hate him for the reason that he has all this power but holds back all the time. I say, that's what makes his character so strong.

 

[game-lover]

My brother and I go over this. There's no hatred towards Superman at all.

But we do believe he has a tendency to be a bit of an idiot...

Like he'll already have established that a certain thing like magic is a weakness or that crashing into something headfirst didn't work the first time he did it, so what makes him think it's gonna work this time. And yet, he seems to forget this stuff.

He could probably learn to dodge. Yes, normal stuff won't make a dent but when things that aren't normal come out of the woodwork, let's not assume they're the same thing. Chances are, they aren't.

The TV show Smallville had a point in an episode that we thought was just typical Superman.

Lana had been overtaken by this magic witch *****. Now, Clark knows that magic can hurt him. And yet when Witch Lana tossed from friggin' magic things at him, what did he do? He stood here! Like he forgot that MAGIC HURTS HIM.

Maybe it's not stupidity. Maybe he just lacks common sense. Relatively often.

 

[EclipseoftheDarkSun]

Plus how about some commentary on the tv shows featuring superman.. it's been a while since a batman tv show - it's not just about the movies and comics..

 

[Raika]

Superman doesn't. At least, not to my knowledge.

None of Batman's rogues' gallery can compare in any way to Lex Luthor, just sayin'.

OT: I don't care what anyone says. I fuckin' love Superman, and unless DC decided to bring back the Supermullet, I always will.

 

[Durgiun]

I don't hate him, I just find no appeal in him. He's nigh-indestructable and super-powerful. I don't find that interesting.

Batman is a Mary Sue, for sure, but he at least has no super powers that make him god-like.

 

[TheDrunkNinja]

Oh right! Also, don't forget that people in our age group and generation can only channel two emotions: gushing, fanboy love and pure, raging HATE. People don't hate Superman because there's nothing to hate about him. They're just indifferent to him, but they can only express that through HATE.

 

[thiosk]

Because superman is a

[HEADING=1]SUPER DICK[/HEADING]

Spoiler: also, this one

 

[axlryder]

Big Superman fan over here. I've always loved the character study pieces that involve Superman, especially some of the Elseworlds stuff.

Seriously, read Kingdom Come, Red Son, and, for a laugh Superman; True Brit. All the stories touch upon the psychology of the Man of Steel in different ways that show what his role in the DCU actually is.

I especially love his interactions with Batman in their crossover stories. Superman/Batman; Public Enemies sits proudly on my shelf as one of my favourite pieces.

And i just realized; i'm actually wearing Superman boxers as i type. *Nerd*

And Superman has more than a few equals this guy included;

And this is my favourite scene in Kingdom Come.

Spoiler: Thar be Spoilers ahead!

EDIT; also, if we're talking overpowered, the modern Flash is possibly the most ridiculous in the powers department. He can vibrate through physical objects and run at light speed. Not to mention punching you a million times a second, while travelling at speed.

This article, while filled with more bile than my statements, probably explains it better.

http://cheesebadger.xanga.com/650384722/why-the-flash-is-the-most-overpowered-superhero-ever/

Flash's powers inherently make him OP though. Just by their very nature. That post didn't even mentioned some of the shit flash is potentially capable of. The dude is potentially omnichronological and multidimension. I mean, he's no pre-retcon Beyonder or Living Tribunal, but the dude is fuckin' nuts. The issue is that some writers tend to take character's abilities closer to their logical conclusion (such as modern flash) where as others will reign in their capabilities for the sake of drama and story telling. It's sort of like seeing the obvious difference in powers when you juxtapose Silver age or Prime Supes (who could move many, many times the speed of light) against the nerfed modern version.

Another obvious issue is that the writers usually can't keep up with the potential ramifications of the powers they bestow upon their creations. Totally understandable, but it makes nitpicking the scientific implications of certain things somewhat pointless.

 

[Wintermoot]

I haven,t read any comics about him (except for superman Red Son) and well it,s kinda boring if your super hero has only one weakness (two if red son is cannon). Overall from what I heard about him he,s a pretty cool guy.

 

[Agayek]

He's the epitome of "boring", as far as superhero characters go, IMO.
The most interesting anything I've seen him in was a war-propaganda cartoon called "11th Hour".

Red Son is also a very good take on Superman. Base concept is Superman lands in the USSR instead of Kansas. Ultimately ends up conquering the world in the name of Communism, and is haunted by his one major failure in saving Stalingrad (which somehow got shrunk and he keeps it in a bottle as a reminder).

It's really, really cool take on Superman.

 

[AgentCooper]

Superman is really bad ass and I like what some modern writers have done with the character. But, I can also see why people dislike him and totally understand why.

With that said the only person that annoys me is when Frank Miller has to take jabs at the Man of Steel and proclaim how awesome Batman is... Serious all you have to read is All Star Batman and Robin. I doubt Miller understands Superman at all.

Seriously, Its like Frank Miller never stopped writing Sin City.

 

[katsumoto03]

I find him so boring that I can't even hate him. He's completely irrelevant to me.