Why is Superman portrayed as a bad parent?

In media outside of comics Superman is portrayed as a bad and perhaps negligent parental figure, especially in comparison to batman. In the Justice League unlimited episode 'Far From Home' Superman distances himself from Kara and won't tell her that he is proud of her. In Superman Returns he is a dead beat dad. And in season one of Young Justice, when Superboy asks Superman to help him figure out his powers Superman responds with 'Go to Batman he is your problem'. Honestly don't you think that one who stands for truth justice and the 'american way' would be a better parental figure than Batman?

I don't consider Supes as a parental figure to Supergirl. He's more like a really close older brother. And they have a very good relationship in Superman/Batman: Apocalypse and Superman: Unbound.

Yeah, I guess I agree with Superboy. It was really out of character for Superman to be so weirded out from the notion of a clone of him.

I'm glad this wasn't about Superman Returns.

Lois was happily married and her husband thought it was his kid...could you imagine how well it would have played out

"Lois: I have something to tell you....he's not yours"

Oh god then whos

Now I don't want this to turn into a comparisson I don't want you to feel any worse...but supermans

Yeah if he didn't feel like sh*t enough the icing on the cake is that he's superman's kid someone who is always going to be a million times better than you.

In young justice why was this clone created? how many enemies does superman have? Most people get freaked out when a woman comes around 15 years later telling guys they have a son...think about a clone of yourself that may or may not be designed to kill you. I would have found it even more stupid if right off the bat he was 100% okay with it.

Never thought of it that way, but you have a point.

No. That would have been the same kid of stupid, just at the opposite extreme (though, really, for Post-Crises Supes, that would have been IN CHARACTER). You forget: he's SUPERMAN. Sure, he might be weirded out at first, but he wouldn't be the level of non-communicating dick he was in that series. If Weisman got Superman, but still wanted Superboy and to have an arc where he gets Superman's love and respect, he shouldn't gone about it with Superman acting SO extreme about it and made his COMPLETELY accepting of Superboy gradual, but not SO gradual.

Superman is Kara's cousin not her father, he has no parental responsibility toward her. As for Superman returns, he didn't even know about the kid and there's really not enough movie after he finds out about it to see if he's going to be a good or bad parent. As for the Young Justice thing he's having a pretty understandable reaction to being cloned without his knowledge or consent and Superboy is a walking talking reminder of an egregiousness personal violation. Basically he'd see Superboy in a way similar to a rape victim who had her attackers baby, its not the kids fault but they can't look at them without being reminded of how they came to be.

Superman isn't Kara's father. The Kents are more of her parental figures than Clark is in the show.

In Superman Returns he didn't know the boy was his son, or that Lois was pregnant

In Young Justice Conner is not his son. He is a clone. And he's already aged to 16. Not Clark's problem

He was rude but he didn't treat him like a killing machine. He said thank you when the time called for it, but treated him as the awkward mistake that he was. Like someone above compared it to, being raped and having that child...except you didn't give birth to it so you have NO emotional attachment to it what so ever, why should he.

If someone said here is your son, by the way i took some of your sperm without your knowledge and made this byproduct,

P.S.

it may or may not kill you....play nice.

would you be perfectly fine with that?

Yes we get it he's superman, we have 8 stories where he acts lovey dovey to his clone...god forbid there is one story where he is on edge at the sight of one, and then in the end after all that he ends up calling the thing his brother anyway! He gradually accepted him, the only reason it seems so crazy is because most of that accepting happened in a 5 year period we didn't even get to see.

@tohoma: first off In superman returns he did not know he had a son plus he was out in space for 5 years. Second in JLU supes wasn't really a father figure sure they where cousins but he was not a father figure and he was proud of Kara. Third in Young Justice he was shocked that he had a clone and it took him a while to warm up to Connor plus Connor didn't exactly help the citation so in short they where as bad as each other.

The one thing I actually hated about YJ is that the show runners seemed to run with the idea that Superman had no reason to be uncomfortable about Connor despite the fact that he had the best reasons in the world to feel uncomfortable with him. The fact that he didn't totally flip the f**k out on Cadmus is an impressive feat of self control.

I especially found the Young Justice relationship to be very out of character for Superman. That said, I think that they needed to keep Superboy's character that way to strengthen the bond that he was forming with Megan.

The thing about his portrayal in Young Justice though, is that it has lead to Superman haters and other people not having a good first impression of the character, and first impressions are hard to beat.

@perezite: I am pretty sure in the comics Superman didn't tell superboy who he was. When superboy showed up at the farm he was completely rude to him. (superman vol2 155) he wasn't nice and welcoming either, his first question is "why are you here" lol he was just as paranoid. Why is it considered to be out of character on television?

Because I'm fairly certain that the first time, the hate was reversed.

Boom...Lawyered.

@perezite: but in that issue i don't remember people calling Clark out for being rude. They make it sound like this is the first time he was ever a jerk to Connor. In that issue he treated him the same way, except by the end of the issue they became fine with each other, where as in the show they did become fine with each other but it took time.

Why would anyone expect him to just be okay with his clone popping out of a facility that superman knows for a fact has heavy dealings with his mortal enemy?

In Superman & Batman: Generations he's portrayed as a bad dad too. He forgot about his children on New Genesis for 700 hundred years.

Didnt read the OP. I just read the title and my first and second thoughts were:

What? Superman isnt a parent.

Did the OP mean Goku instead of Superman?

LOL

and now ive read the OP.

Which super hero isn't a bad parent?

@tohoma: in comparison to Batman? The guy who has had two of his "children" killed, was abandoned by Dick because Dick wasn't allowed to be himself and who has rarely, if ever, told any of them that he loves them?

You over-exaggerate the way they write Superman's paternal instinct.

I'm always baffled that some people were turned off by Superman's portrayal in Young Justice to Konner.

Why are you baffled? It's a constant reminder to him that, no matter how much he tries to be human, they'll always view him as a threat. It was a very human moment for Superman, but I forget how human emotions for Superman are a no to too many Superman fans.

I thought he goofy portrayal in season 2 towards Conner was annoying and lack real growth. He accepted Konner because Konner kicked his @$$? Is that the only way Superman expresses emotions, through his fists?

I loved YJ, but Conner's story lines were some of the worst. Between the pointlessness of Superman to the annoying-ness of the Mey-Gan relationship, I really couldn't love Konner.

. . .

LMAO. TRUE

Wow this thread is old lol. But at the time I was referring to mediums outside comics. But even in comics Batman has been portrayed did allow Dick to be himself. It is why he didn't pressure him to take up the Batman mantle after his death. While he never explicitly outright said he loved him, it was shown through his actions towards him and all of the robins.

The problem I find is that he has been consistently portrayed like this in mediums outside of comics.

Well he is not as bad as yujiro hanma or Ging Freeces.