Superman....

[Broken_Hero]

Do you hate this Superhero, or do you like him, or are you somewhere in between?

[Forkboy]

1. Never liked him as a character, but watched the old tv show anyways.

But the fact that he's all powerful immediately removes any tension from any story he's in. If he can do anything, why worry?

Take the movie, for instance. Disregarding the science, if he could reverse time by spinning the globe backwards, why not go back even further and prevent say, the Holocaust, instead of just doing it to save his love interest? Selfish AND invincible....what a dick! :)

[Rhiannon12866]

2. I've often wished I really knew him...

:hi:

[Cid_B]

3. Older Superman...

After Doomsday he was less interesting to me... Also the crap movie didn't help and the renouncing of citizenship irritates me (as it is meant to do.)

[BlueJazz]

4. Superman is extremely Cool.

[dimbear]

5. The theological implications are disturbing, but the 40's cartoons

are extremely well done for the time. Well worth watching. Era typical racial prejudice, but otherwise excellent.

[CJCRANE]

6. To be honest...

I prefer Thor, if we're talking about superheroes that wear blue and red, fly around and break big stuff.

[Iggo]

7. Other.

"There's the superhero and there's the alter ego. Batman is actually Bruce Wayne, Spider-Man is actually Peter Parker. When that character wakes up in the morning, he's Peter Parker. He has to put on a costume to become Spider-Man. Superman stands alone. Superman did not become Superman, Superman was born Superman. When Superman wakes up in the morning, he IS Superman. His alter ego is Clark Kent. His outfit with the big red S is the blanket he was wrapped in as a baby when the Kents found him. Those are his clothes. What Kent wears, the glasses, the business suit, that's the costume. That's the costume Superman wears to blend in with us. Clark Kent is how Superman views us. And what are the characteristics of Clark Kent? He's weak, unsure of himself...he's a coward. Clark Kent is Superman's critique on the whole human race." -- Bill (from "Kill Bill")

[CJCRANE]

9. Now that makes him more interesting.

I like that perspective...

But I'm not sure that Clark Kent is a critique of the human race, he's more a symbol of modesty.

[Iggo]

12. Yeah. Also, Bill's a murdering psychopath.

He oversimplifies things to fit his world view.

He fails to take into account the overwhelmingly positive influence of the nearly perfect Kents in Clark's upbringing.

But it is food for thought. There's probably a seriously interesting middle ground wherein may lie some uncomfortable truths about our Mr. Superman.

[mythology]

14. Unfortunately for Tarantino

the modern interpretation is that Clark Kent is the real person and Superman is the identity. Likewise modern comics have Batman as the real person and Bruce Wayne as the mask.

[YankeyMCC]

15. That's an interesting take

I think that may be indeed how Superman/Kent is understood by some readers. It'd be interested study of the fan base to understand who reads with that view vs the Superman as the costume.

For me I think when I was young I did see Clark as the disguise but as I learned more about Superman, even before knowing the background story (I knew Superman first from re-runs of the old TV show then later went to the comics) I began to think of Clark Kent was who he was and Superman was way of achieving the things Kent wanted. Perhaps Kent was portrayed as a more self confident person in the TV show than the older comics I'm not sure. Certainly the TV show Clark was much more self confident that the one in the Christopher Reeves movies.

And that fits to the back story. He was raised as Clark Kent from infancy, that's who he thinks of himself as. I think it is astute to realize there is a fundamental different between Batman and Superman alter ego identifies, because Superman is Kent's rediscovered heritage rather than a choice/personality quirk (disorder :) don't get me wrong I love Batman too). Still I think Clark is closer to who Superman thinks of as "Me" than the non-human Kryptonian with extraordinary powers over humans.

Just my 2 cents, thanks for posing an interesting perspective.

[Mojambo]

8. Boring. He's very boring. n/t

[Still Blue in PDX]

10. He was my first celebrity crush.

I wanted to grow up to be Lois Lane.

Then Paul McCartney came along and I wanted to be Jane Asher. I got in SO much trouble when I ditched the ponytail and cut my own bangs trying to achieve her look. Momma was much happier when I was running around with a steno pad playing Daily Planet reporter.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

11. DC always tried to "reinvent" him...

...and it seemed like the most distinctive stories were the result of distinctive villains, not Superman himself.

I would have liked to have seen a Frank Miller / Dark Knight type of adaptation, just Superman, maybe stripped of his powers for a storyline, filled with anger and self-loathing and questioning whether his decades as a crimefighter were "worth it."

For the most part, during my comic book years, I was pretty apathetic to his comings and goings.

[WinkyDink]

13. Always will love the hero of my 10- and 12-cent DC's. After that? Not so much.