From any media or any superhero franchise, what would be his badassness cred compared to thiers.

For example Luke Skywalker, Spawn, Batman, Thor, Dark Schnider, the doctor etc.

Scale of 1-10 I'd say 6 at the Max on a good day but I'll rank him about a 2

1-10 scale I say 1

i like the guy, but badass is not a word I'd use to describe him

0.5. He is just too far from badassery

Superman makes Scott Summers look cool.

He's not interested in being "badass."

I don't think a character's worth is measured by badassness :P

I mean you don't love Luke, Spock, Spider-man because they are badass. You love them for who they are. Same with Supes, while he has plenty badass moments, badass isn't what writers are going for when writing Superman.

Then again it depends on what you mean with Badass. You mean cool or "break necks and deliver punches to your door" :P

Bump because I would question your definition of being a badass, Superman is the alpha hero of alpha heroes. He's the top of the food chain and the embodiment of all that is powerful and perfect as a main protagonist. Just because he's not a cigar smoking, bitch getting, shit talking master of toughness doesn't mean he doesn't measure up as ultimate manly man of tough and ass kicking supremacy. He is still the ultimate hero and good guy so more or less he is the expected measure on how cool and tough anyone is to be compared to him since if you can fight him you are worthy but that doesn;t mean you can beat him.

@jimishim12: What do you mean by "top dog"? If by that you mean the standard and in a lot of ways first mainstream superhero, then yes. If you mean most powerful comic protagonist, Supes is not even remotely close.

Anyways, he can be badass when he wants to be, but he usually doesn't want to be. He's typically around a 3 or so.

So much truth here.

I believe this is somewhat subjective given his many different versions. The traditional boy scout/do-gooder can't even be spoken in the same sentence as one who is bad***. However, if we're talking the 90s version, Earth One version, New 52 version, and even the DCAU version, then I would say he's a 10 on all counts.

As for the DCEU version, I once considered him a bad***, but he doesn't really go looking for trouble and wish to bring harm to anyone unless severely provoked. He spends more time helping people and questioning himself than he does actually going out there and roughin' up scumbags. You can count how many fights he's been in on ONE hand...

He is not badass. He is super.

Comparing this:

To this:

I had say 0.0000005

What constitutes bad assness in this thread? Is being badass a quality or is it just an adjective? Superman is kind and gentle and boy scouty, not inherently bad ass and thats great about him but i'd say every time he shoots into the sky and catches bullets or his eyes start flaring up, a good adjective for that is bad ass. Even in Superman the movie when he enters Luthor's lair and walks through a barrage of bullets, fire and ice like it was nothing. That is so cool and bad ass.

Superman's badass because he's everything a typical badass isn't. Supes knows it's not about the money or the women or whatever, it's about helping people as much as you can. When people say things to me like 'Superman's boring, why would anyone like him?', I get a flashback of reading that part of All-Star Superman where he talks a girl out of committing suicide. Superman did used to be the first of many 'square' superheroes who did things purely because their conscience told them to. Now, in a post-1990's age, where we sadly still see too many edgy anti-heroes, Superman is essential. A badass does thing his own way and stops for no one, Superman does exactly that, it's just not popular because his 'way' is 'Truth, Justice and the American Way'. We live in an increasingly nihilistic world, so Superman's strong values are more important than ever.

Depends.

New 52 Clark is far more badass than Superdad.

But then again, I think Kal Kent, The High Councilor, Prime One Million, are all pretty BA interpretations.

@akshsarpanch: Not a really fair comparison, Alucard is the Lord of Baddasery.

When he gets going he's actually a 9

Other than Superman no, not a chance. You could argue that in dark goth level badass types like Alucard, that goes to Spawn or Ghost Rider.

incoming weeaboos

Superman is the Most "Super" of Men and Beings, his middle "Joseph" name means Blessing, his original name means god.

He's the pioneer of Badass types like your beloved Alucard in being a Super human god like being, plus is stronger than him.

Someone who is named ubermensch is as Badass as the come. Not even Goku is as Badass as Superman because he has a womans voice and screams to get his super powers.

Lmao what the hell is "badass" to begin with? That's a hilariously subjective term. A lot of stuff some people think is "badass" can be passed of as "lame" by others. I personally love Helsing, and subsequently the character Alucard posted up there.

But I would not be surprised if anybody can just pass that image off as "weab lol" haha because I don't think they'd be completely wrong. Depends entirely on what you value more.

Badass is also contextual, there are badass aesthetics (which this thread seems to be focusing on) and badass actions etc. I don't think Superman requires that kind of intensity appearance wise. He's a deliberately humble, welcoming and warm guy. His entire appearance and demeanor is deliberately constructed so by him so that he is welcoming and approachable. Being physically intimidating is not only well within the range of his ability, it's actually the default. Superman's existence is not something people can acknowledge without a certain level of worry. It's always been incumbent on him to put everyone with less power than he possesses at ease which he has done so well over the years to the point they take it for granted in the way they approach him sometimes: ways they could never approach less warm and restrained characters like a Hulk, Wolverine or a Mr Majestic (all very good guys but not about to take anybody's shit for free).

In terms of actions well, that's subjective too but to me, flying into the depths of space and carrying an entropy bomb into a red sun-eater with no guarantee of one's own survival is a pretty damn badass thing to do. Action speaking louder than appearance in that case and Supes has no shortage of those moments.

Gallery

What is your idea of badass? You gotta start with a better quality question to get any quality answers.

You see Superman is even more badass then most. The reason is because what he stands for. Hope he stands for hope and truth, and he acts like a boyscout. Now you may think that, that isn't badass. well your right but when you take into account how no other being wants to take him on and fears his potential then it starts to be. if a being can stand for good and still scare the toughest people in the universe then he definitely is badass. And then you have angry superman who is probably the scariest thing most people would ever see.

Superman's position as the original fictional superhero always should keep him at 10 honestly.

"Badass" isn't really his personality type.

Threaten Lois and his family and see why thats a lie.

Superman and Manchester Black scene is pretty much a sample of how Superman can become Guts levels of Hardcore.

He has his moments.

Superman is polite and tends to use minimal violence necessary, but sufficiently roused he can be incredibly violent and hits like an asteroid. Really depends on how irritated he is.

I'm not into threatening fictional characters.

about a 2.

I meaning comparing him to kenshiro, Yusuke, Alucard, Guts, kaneki, Lucifer Morningstar he falls verrrrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyy low.

You know thats fair especially when he fought the elite