I hate it when heroes are weaken unless it is vital to the story. Superman is a great character and the problem is the writers. I like to think that he is such a complex character that only the talented writers can create a super story worth.

all of these, basically you want superman to not be superman anymore...

Same, I want a super-hero not a b!tch-hero

I can't disagree with this enough.

same here... visiting cv after months and there's still a thread like this going hot and heavy.... what about characters like Thor(who the same people saying superman is overpowered believe can beat Superman), Hulk( same as Thor, Hulk fanboys say Superman is op, but in a debate won't hesitate to use the argument that Hulk's strength is unlimited), Martian Manhunter, Shazam, Sentry and the vast plethora of the Supermen clones.

If superman has gotten some crap stories its because of crap writers not because of the character himself

All star superman, whats so wrong about truth justice and the american way, for the man who has everything, birthright and many other great stories didnt change supermans powers or stuff like that and they are just amazing reads

Also, its pretty clear no superman fans will agree with you, only non-fans, but at the end of the day its the true fans that will stay loyal to the character not the newer fans who just became "fans" out of novelty and nothing else (which is pretty much the lesson of the new 52)

this, im sick of all this superman isnt a very good character crap

@dernman: That was wonderful. I have to agree with you.

Yes but by doing so you are not fixing the actual problem but creating other ones.

@unjustkitty: I agree with what you are saying IF a writer could actually write a compelling Superman story and retain all of that. But more often than not it doesn't happen.

That's because more often then not most modern writers fall under the same failed misconceptions that many of casual current comic fans fall under. I've seen these writers talk about Superman I wonder if they are actually talking about the same character. They wrongly look towards all the wrong things about the character that have already been left behind by most fans who love Superman.

It's been ages since Silver age and most of them keep thinking that's who he is and what the fans want which we don't. Also the problem of they DC can't seem to decide on who the character is. They focus on the superficial aspect that keep changing like that is really him and don't even realize there is a consistency to the character that is who he really is.

There have been plenty of good stories of Superman by writers that get him to prove it can be done. Further proof are the many many stories done for the many characters of equal power that the keep putting out. Again all this shows is that it's it's not the characters fault but DC and it's writers. Instead of focusing on the real problem you're trying to change something that isn't a problem. By doing what you suggest it changes things unnecessarily and changes thing which will in fact create problems. One of which is piss of his fans to what? Appease the non fans who are ignorant of what the character really is? What needs to be done is to focus on the REAL problem and not mess with things that are not.

Yes bad things have happen to Superman but nothing thats been THAT impacting. Nothing that seems to linger over Supermans head, nothing that seems to haunt him and make him question his ethics. If i'm wrong please point me in the direction of a series/writer that did so, i would love to read it!

Many bad things have happened to Superman. I wont go though all of them but just off the top of my head there is .

1: When Superman executed Kryptonion's. IIRC that is something he dealt with it for years until it was retconed.

2: There is always stories the get repeated over and over of him overstepping his bound either by his own fault or by being controled where he has to regain the peoples trust so much that it's almost become trop.

3: What's so wrong about truth justice and the american way was a great which was one of my favs (granted I only remember the cartoon although I read the book) where it tested his "old fashion views" against the more "modern mindset" of a lot of fans.

4: There has also been stories where their are people in power that he doesn't take out because of the overstepping thing even though people suffer.

5 Planet Krypton and the war tested him greatly and was nothing but a HUGE failure for him. Which followed one of the worst superman stories where he tried to walk across america to deal with it. That walking story I read would have been different but then they started planing the new 52 and went in another direction so they could rap it up. I believe they ended up spinning their wheels at that point.

It is easy to reduce the powers of Superman to more believable levels so no more pushing planets, no more pushing whole cities, or no more pushing whole buildings. I have to agree the current Superman has too many super powers and the Martian Manhunter has a similar problem. Superman's personality can be improved whether you reduce the powers or not, which is what the Superman movie is doing. Basically, just copy more from Philip Wylie's Gladiator about a super guy who can't find his place in the world.

@unjustkitty: All it takes is a good enough writer to make him work, he has plenty of rogues who could challenge him in one way or another, and if you mean he needs to have more "human" problems in his stories, I think (New 52 aside atm) there has been tons of good stories that touched on that.

@the_stegman: He should be super but what's the point of having such a great and powerful character if no one, for the most part, can write a great character for him?

@dernman: Maybe i should clarify(as it seems muddled): My issue isn't with the character its with how people write him. Like you said about the poor unimaginative writing. THATS my problem. I think taking Superman down a notch or two could help writers/DC get a better grasp on what works for the character and then proceed to write the bigger stories with a stronger character.

I disagree, he's Superman, he's supposed to be super, the most powerful hero on the planet.

@dernman: I agree with what you are saying IF a writer could actually write a compelling Superman story and retain all of that. But more often than not it doesn't happen. I would love a earth shattering(so to speak) Superman story but a lot of the time they just aren't that good. I think doing the things i mention would make it easier for a writer to create a more compelling story.

Yes bad things have happen to Superman but nothing thats been THAT impacting. Nothing that seems to linger over Supermans head, nothing that seems to haunt him and make him question his ethics. If i'm wrong please point me in the direction of a series/writer that did so, i would love to read it!

Oh and i completely agree about the marvel thing. Its more ridiculous.

I definitely agree.. except for the powers part. He needs some of them. But icebreath just doesn't make sense.

This. Silver-aged, planet pulling, planet punching, kryptonite f****** Superman, sure, but not him now.

I also disagree. I like the character the way he is. I do like Morrison's nonlinear approach to the character though. I would like to see how his character got his powers though.

Basically what I was going to say about this blog but you beat me to it. Couldn't have said it better myself.

Weaken him: There is no need to weaken him. There are plenty of characters that can compete with him.

Lose the powers: No why there is no need. I'll give you superbreath but there is nothing wrong with the others

Mortalize him: Sorry but you're wrong here because the things you say don't happen to him do in fact happen.

Superman hasn't become to more super as of late in fact besides a couple of wank feats nobody takes seriously he isn't even as super as he use to be.

It's funny how Marvel has characters like Thor, Hulk, Sentry so many characters running around but suddenly people have a problem with Superman. Martian Manhunter can wipe the floor with Superman. Captain Marvel can go toe to toe with Superman.

Don't blame poor unimaginative writing on an otherwise great character.

The only reason I don't agree is that he still gets beaten. It would be huge problem if he was unbeatable which clearly isn't the case. No one else has the amount of abilities that he has. Why not just let one hero have said powers?

I disagree with all of this.

I agree with this statement in particular...and the ice breath thing. It's really lame. But I actually think that having such a powerful character forces a creator to really stretch the old writing muscles. Almost nobody is going to be a physical rival, so they are forced into being more psychological or intimidating in some other way. That's what Morrison did. His story didn't end in an Earth-shattering boxing match like H'El on Earth did.

I agree,certainly about his character and making him weaker.Some of these are reasons he doesn't really appeal to me as much as Batman

I agree