Why do people call Superman a god?

He can't do magic and nor can he change reality or anything like that. Sure hes strong and so on but hes more of a super human with some abilities..

Oh I don't know:

Because he can beat Batman.

Who calls him a God?

Because he's an alien being who has come to watch over and protect the innocent people of our world.Just like the real God.

That time Superman renounced his American citizenship is analogous to when God left us.

But then the Universe resetted...

Lol, I'm joking. He's just powerful and the greatest good in comics.

Seriously I think this is the reason why.

Because fans want him to be perfect and flawless

He can beat gods and demons.

Are you saying he should be something more than a god? :)

Not sure. He has no godlike abilities. He's not the god of anything. Wonder woman is a girl and it makes more sense to call her a god than to call supes one.

Symbolic image and the vast power he possesses over normal men. One can even call him a benevolent one since he chooses not to abuse it and do good.

What do you mean by having no godlike ability?

His vast powerset is godly at the very least.

Is magic the only attribute used against Supes to say he isn't "godly"?

@minaruto: Being vastly powerful doesn't make sure you a god to me. For example. Wonder woman is the goddess of war. Thor is the god of storms and strength. Darkseid is from a race of gods. Superman is just some alien, who is only powerful under certain circumstances.

@redwingx: For him to be considered superhuman, wouldn't he have to biologically be considered human? "Super Kryptonian" is probably a better term, but since anyone from Krypton would gain Superpowers, that's not really right either I suppose.

I wouldn't say magic makes someone a god though. I wouldn't consider Zatanna or Zatara, as powerful as they are, Gods.

I think it's a combination of familiarity and potential. Time after time we and the people of the DC Universe see incredible things. We see insurmountable odds. Yet, Superman is always there to do what nobody thinks can be done. They see it as much as as they probably read/hear about God and what does God do? What do Gods do? They do things that we can't imagine getting done. Sometimes it takes effort and other times it doesn't, but it gets done.

Combine that with the idea of the potential Superman has. Superman One Million is arguably the strongest incarnation written, who has all the qualifications you've given and then some. 15K years absorbing solar radiation in the center of the sun combined with space travel from the end of the 21st Century to the 700th where he gained even more power. If he's not a God, I don't know what else would be at that point.

@jayc1324: Those "gods" are arrogant and can't help but attribute something to themselves. They obviously don't have complete control of whatever it is that they're god of.

The title is a bit trivial as it doesn't put them on a whole other level to many metahumans, especially Superman.

Superman is god-level easily and will undoubtedly go beyond that eventually. He doesn't need to be a god of anything if that's what some think is a requirement to being a god.

Superman Prime One Million makes "gods" look like chumps. Nuff said.

@ScouterV @Minaruto

I'm talking about Superman and not another what if Superman character. There are tons of people who can give Superman a run for his money and even defeat him yet no one calls them a god even though they have godlike abilities.

Let's be real. Being a god is not all that. Wonder Woman is an example; Supes will tear her apart if he needed to.

Supes may not be a god by your definition but that doesn't mean he is not on that level.

And who are these tons of people who can give Supes a run for his money? Never forget that Supes HOLDS BACK and DOESN'T KILL.

Supes could defeat WW if he wanted to but so could WW.

WW, MM, Dr Fate, Darksied, Flash, Spectre and Doomsday. I got more but can't think of them atm.

Wait a minute. Wonder Woman, Darkseid and Spectre are "gods" in their own right.

I did mention earlier that magic bridges the gap between Supes and humans; Dr. Fate.

MM and Flash? lol. Don't let their showings make you think that they can handle Supes. Some just tend to overrate those two. They're good, but when it comes down to it...no way are they gonna outdo Superman.

Then there's Doomsday. Didn't a more mature version of him just get ripped apart by Supes? How many times did there need to be a comment on how Superman was the ONLY one to be able to handle Doomsday? Unless I read it wrong.

Because he has godlike abilities. Lifts mountains, outruns light, shoots fire from his eyes, can hear everything, can see everywhere, is invulnerable to most things. Hell, some Greek gods would be envious of him.

Symbolism duh

In comics people consider him a god because well, how do i explain it. What if someone with powers that doesnt even seem remotely possible all of a sudden were real. With his power he could dominate the entire earth, but he decides to just work for the common good. I think batman said it best in this quote

It is a remarkable dichotomy. In many ways, Clark is the most human of us all. Then... he shoots fire from the skies and it is difficult not to think of him as a god. And how fortunate we all are that it does not occur to him.

Yea, there are more powerful people in DC, but how often do the people of earth even see them? In there eyes supes is the most poweful being ever created.

Superman #659

Not completely relevant, but still… (anyway, I find question “why people see Superman as something divine” to be self-explanatory).

Being a god in marvel is a joke. If you don't believe me, just watch how the Hulk tore through Mt Olympus. He defeated every god on his way up, making them all look like jokes. He then allowed himself to be beaten by Zeus in order to prove a point to him. A regular hulk beat so many gods! Then Ares, the god of war, was torn in half by the Sentry. The Void even said, "how many gods am I going to have to kill today".They are jokes in this universe. Superman at full power, can easily rival this.

@minaruto: trust me flash can beat superman 10/10 times but no one calls him "god"

@betarayz8317: Yea im sure Superman could practically get disintegrated and just come back and beat molecule man like it was nothing.Zeus odin loki and thor can contend with any version of superman

i guess be cause he's so noble.

@kgb725: I don't get your argument. Are you saying that odin, Loki, or thor can bring themselves back from the dead? Because that would be a lie. If your referring to the sentry, who was the one who did this to the molecule man, he is not a god. His powers are said to be above a gods power. No god has ever shown the power to bring themselves back from the dead instantly. No god could contend with the molecule man. As for superman, his powers are equal to the gods, just in a different way.

Uhmmmm, no.

Flash may be faster but it's not like Superman can't hang in there right?

That means Flash doesn't have that much of a speed advantage over Supes.

Add in the plethora of abilities for Supes, his durability, his strength, not needing to breathe in space, etc. and it's really absurd to think Flash has a chance.

Speed can't be everything and that's the only thing Flash has, lol.

Here's a scenario. Supes flies into space, proceeds to destroy Earth and there you have it, Flash dead.

I love Flash but no....just no.

He is a god, just because he is specified as a alien or a space like being doesn't really change the perception of what he does normally and occasionally to beyond what the definition of a near omnipotent being would do. Superman is IMO the physical avatar of jesus or just a advance alien offshoot of actual angels from heaven that are biologically similar to human beings and such. Superman is a godlike creature to the point he's just a god/divine being himself but he's also a alien or an advanced evolution of a human, he is all of it.

He wouldn't be any of thee things if he the man of steel faces unnatural forces of magic, metaphysics, and primeval forces of creation and come out victorious if he wasn't.

But DC will never make Superman reach omnipotent levels any time soon or fanboys will cry mostly Marvel's fanboys who's gods and cosmics can't fuck with Supes anymore. Doesn't mean he doesn't have the potential though.

Wonder Woman who is a goddess, daughter of Zeus, cannot remain in space for too long, she had a limit to how far out she could go, got beat by Doomsday like nothing and consistently relies on Supes to be the end-all against super strong villains like Wraith.

Supes on the other hand can space anytime, beat Doomsday and is about to lay the hurt on Wraith after Wraith was beating up WW and Batman.

If that doesn't answer this thread, I don't know what will:)

@jimishim12: the sentrys powers are insane. As quoted in his first comic series, "your powers are truly limitless. At full power, you will be omnipotent." What he has done so far, while still learning all of his powers, is already far beyond what any god has done. I thought I was the only guy on this entire website that respected his true power. I'm glad there's another.

Yet he can't ask a girl out LOL!

He's got wondy as his baby mama. I say that Supes is what all pimps strive for.

@minaruto: flash is alot faster than him

superman won't have the time to get into the air not too mention flash can hit harder than supes himself.

Something tells me you don't read flash comics and don't know anything about his abilities

Flash would win 10/10

I guess you can make a case that a bloodlusted flash is a god

He is on level with the Greek/Roman gods that we study in mythology.

As Morrison put it, Supes is "a Sun God from Smallville."

I don't think anyone ever called him a god, except for Lex Luthor or Batman, but both have their points of view. Lex thinks that people worship Superman has a god because they don't see his true nature (which of course is just one of he's many lunacy moments), and of course Batman, because he has a idea of what superman can do, he believes if superman was to truly turn against the world there would be almost no one who can stop him.

But superman is no god. If anything he's to "human". Too much for my taste. If he were to be more kryptonian in mind than he is, maybe then he would come close to being godlike both in mind and power.

But he's not. Not by a long shot.

Maybe the DC ONE MILLION superman was godlike in power and mind, but no other version is.

Seriously asking this?

Read or watch any origin story of Superman (comics, TV, film) and the biblical references are overflowing.

Superman is Jesus. A father sending his superhuman son to Earth. His son then proceeds to save people.

There is plenty of evidence for this. Superman's father is Jor-El. Superman's Kryptonian name is Kal-El. "El" is a Jewish word meaning "god". Superman's adopted parents are Jonathan Joseph Kent and Martha Kent. Named after Jesus' parents, Joseph and Mary. Lois is Mary Magdalene. Catholic Tradition was that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute, and there's always been a conspiracy theory that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married. So Lois is more wild than Superman, and also his love interest.

There is also a connection to Moses. A parent sending away his baby son to survive the destruction of his people. That's exactly what happened to Moses when he was a baby.

Well, anyone who's invulnerable, has super strength and can fly is easy to call a god. Simply put.

Relative to humans, he is.

Superman is not a God, he's Jesus.
So to all the people that hate him,

Just remember........

SUPERMAN DIED FOR ALL YOUR SINS!

Both Superman and Jesus did die and come back, but that was just a coincidence. The writers didn't expect Superman's death to gain the widespread media attention it received...

@l3g3ndarypheonix: If we are talking about the new 52 then Flash is only slightly faster than Superman who tagged him in the Justice League comic. flash has also been tagged by Supergirl, Cheetah and Krypto. He's not as invincible as soooooo many people like to make out!

@minarutosaid: Being vastly powerful doesn't make sure you a god to me. For example. Wonder woman is the goddess of war. Thor is the god of storms and strength. Darkseid is from a race of gods. Superman is just some alien, who is only powerful under certain circumstances.

That's why they call him a God. Because he defeated gods.

He's a god because his lover is a goddess <3, so he decides he will be immortal :)

I just don't agree that he is called a god but not Flash or others who are as powerful as Superman.

@redwingx: How many times does it need to be said in 52 that Supes is the most powerful being on Earth?

Flash is not as powerful, sorry:)