You’ve heard of Superman.

And how could you have not? There hasn’t been a child born in fifty years who hasn’t wrapped a towel around their neck and imagined that as they soared high above the world people would point toward the sky exclaiming: “It’s a bird, it’s a plane…”

Superman isn’t just the first popular superhero, he’s THE hero whose traits have been imparted to countless comic book champions that have followed the man of steel.

Problem is, all the Spider-mans, Wolverines, and Deadpool antics just blow olde Supes out of the water. He can take off the glasses, but he’s still boring Clark Kent next to the avengers.

So how do you make Superman exciting again?

Lets back up for a minute, we might already have the answer: You’ve heard of Superman.

The last son of Krypton’s greatest power might not be heat vision or ice breath, but the ability to be instantly recognizable. As a brand, the S symbol is arguably as well known as the McDonald’s M or Disney’s mouse head. But with that great power comes great responsibility, which hasn’t been properly executed often in the case of modern Superman.

As much as it is a strength, the point is, so much is commonly known about Superman. He’s such a icon in pop culture that when DC tries to introduce him to a new audience it usually ends up being somewhat boring. Usually being the key word.

Smallville on the other hand, was accepted as a successfully different take on Clark Kent and his surrounding mythos. By playing the prequel card, viewers could see a younger, less experienced farmboy from Krypton struggle to become the man we all knew he’d become. That was the fun of it, seeing where Clark picked up those dorky glasses or what inspired the classic S symbol.

But how do we make that lightning strike twice?

That’s exactly what DC and Grant Morrison are trying to accomplish during DC’s big re-numbering extravaganza. Come September, all DC comics will begin new story-lines with a slightly altered continuity in order to make the companies extensive history more user friendly. In this case, Superman is going to be rebuilt from the ground up.

In Grant Morrison’s Action Comics #1, (which takes it’s name and issue number from the very first appearance of the Man of Steel,) Clark Kent’s social awkwardness is no act. The new title begins with Ma and Pa Kent being long dead and Clark being nowhere near courting his once long time spouse Lois Lane.

Without the people that matter most to him, Clark is very much still an alien. Without those roots where does he go, what identity does he have left? Another beat Morrison isn’t skipping in the new Action Comics is while he may be a hero, Superman is still very much different, something people aren’t prone to openly accepting. With new conflicts inside and out, Superman is starting to get a little more relatable isn’t he?

Now that Supes himself is a little more busy, what about his foes? While there is a certain joy that comes from watching Superman foil 1930’s bank robbers, Superman needs a legitimate threat in order to keep a readership’s attention. But at what level of power should the Man of Steel play? It’s my opinion that while Kal-El can comfortably remain the strongest being on earth, he should struggle to defeat other aliens.

But Superman’s battles aren’t all about pure brawn, many of his classic antagonists fight with industrial, political, and ideological fronts at their core. A new villain appearing in this October’s issue of Superman is entirely undetectable to all of Kent’s super senses but completely visible to everyone else.

With yet another major reboot film on its way from Zack Snyder, will Superman appeal to movie goers as he once did? Has Snyder looked closely at the mistakes of Super Man Returns? Whether or not it can translate to the big screen, there is clearly potential for a much more enjoyable Man of Tomorrow…

Very good post, I think what it boils down to is some people just don't like Superman, for reasons none of us Superman fans can understand. I have love Morrison's run, I think he really nails the character, he really gets both Supes and Clark and writes them perfectly, in not only the new Action Comics but also in All-Star Superman. Action Comics and Justice League sales numbers remain extremely high, I think more people are connecting with the character than there have been for years, even though in my opinion he hasn't needed any upgrades, I've always thought that Superman no matter the era was awesome (though I do particularly love the John Byrne Superman era the most!)

Agreed, not a whole lot of fight scenes in TDK, hopefully that is changed in DKR and we see some Bane vs Bats action. And we do have to think about the time period like you said, Superman really didn't have too many super-powered villains he could fight that could work on screen. Really only Zod, and we got him in the sequel. Brainiac and Bizarro wouldn't have worked too well on screen with the special effects they had back then imo (tho we did get a Quasi-Bizarro in Superman III) but I don't think that they could have pulled off the cracked face look back then. Other than that his villains were usually one-liners that appeared sporatically and were easily dealt with. Supes didn't have near the rogue gallery back then that he does now (Doomsday, Cyborg Superman, Mongul, Superman Prime, etc) well I guess more like that he had 6 months ago :P

From the on-set images and explosions we've seen from pictures leaked from the set there should be plenty of action scenes where Supes throws down with Zod and/or Fadora

@Primmaster64: Yeah I think Superman's fights like the man himself, need to be larger than life.

Rework his weakness to kyrptonite a little. It seems to vary from writer to writer anyway, I see it at times as simply making Superman weaker/slower/less of a threat, but sometimes I see it basically reduce him to a legless baby. I prefer the first one by far, the second one is a little silly.

He should still be a powerhouse, though I agree he shouldn't be so powerful that either they'd have to constantly make up absurd ultra-power cosmic entities for him to fight or simply have no one at his strength level.

The idea that he's a symbol of hope and justice, but a flawed one who is a worldwide symbol that can't be everywhere at once despite the demand for him, is the theme they should stick to with him, though I'm not sure how they should go about doing it.

@Adnan: I think this is an interesting idea, showing how Superman copes (or rather doesn't) cope with increasingly being seen as a messiah or god, when for all his power he is ultimately a man. Seeing him having to face the fact he can't always save everybody, maybe even facing him with situations where he has to make the hard choices of who to save in some situations. We could see him faced with the truth that he can't save everyone having to live with the consequences of it and the public reaction to the fact that in the end he is a hero but not the god their secretly look to him to be. It could create some great character development pieces.

There's one version of Superman that's a good primer for introducing new generations to him. The DCAU Superman pretty much was an amalgam of many elements of the Super-mythos, and the show did a good job balancing all that. What do you guys think?

Never was a Superman fan till Action Comics #1 from Grant (or the animated series by Timm). First off, DC needs to stay away from the PIS super powers. He's stronger, faster and more durable than the normal man. That should be it. His brain doesn't think in nano seconds, he can't fly through red suns and come out not dead, super speed isn't less than light speed one issue and several times light speed the next (he shouldn't be light speed period, at least not sustainably, at most, short distances to dodge ala. anime afterimage) he actually does respond to his on paper weaknesses (aka no PIS invulnerability to them for some reason or other) and is not a skilled fighter (that's Bats and WW).

The problem was with past Superman, it was the fanboys telling DC what they wanted to see and we all know how exaggerated fanboys are about the abilities of their favorite heroes. Keep to the script and don't deviate. Nobody except kids wants to read a comic made by adults that have the logic of a kid. Sunlight gives off ~1.366 / meter squared. His energy regen should reflect that, in other words, he can't keep it up forever. You don't have to give out the science terms but that should be a guide to the limits of Supes powers. He can't do everything alone nor can he do everything period.

With that, he can interact with the rest of the DCU in a proper fashion. No man is an island, not even Superman. Having him level with other characters makes him immensely more interesting because it allows him the necessity of needing other characters. You can't tell me a comic about Batman beating up random crook # 278 is interesting. Batman has the best rogues gallery and supporting characters (as evidenced by the sheer amount of spin-offs) despite the fact that they are all "normal" (in the relative sense of comics to real life). by bringing Superman down to what i would call, his real not PIS level, you in turn bring up the rest of his cast and can then develop them in a way that in turn makes Superman interesting in return. Keep his powers "Super" but not "God". Do that and the rest of the stories and drama follows.

Another cheap and good way to make Superman instantly popular is to have him have very few friends and his best friend should be Bruce Wayne (but not Batman, Clark respects Batman not to try to learn his identity, God, that's situation comedy gold right there) >:)

@PowerHerc: Depends on how sales do. If he ain't hanging with at least x-men or avengers level in sales, he ain't fixed.

Good deal! I assume with Zod in the upcoming movie that there will be a place for him in the New 52 Superman books coming up here in the next 18 months. Maybe he's the villain behind the monsters Supes has been battling in the Superman book. In the past 4 or 5 years Mongul has become more of a Green Lantern villain, I would like to see him become more of a foe to Superman again like he was in the Byrne-era (The story Exiled is awesome, check it out if you haven't).

I like Cyborg Superman as villain, I really do, but I feel they've used him a lot lately, especially in Green Lantern. It appears that Alpha Lantern Boodika succeeded in finally killing him for good. I be okay with him remaining dead for a while before they bring him back. I do really hope that the Eradicator comes back in the New 52. He was definitely my favorite part of the new mythos introduced after Crisis on Infinite Earths (again check out Exiled and Eradication! for details on how sweet the Eradicator is to Krypton's past).

You could start by making him more like Joe Casey's Mr. Majestic. Not completely like him, but more so in the way he handles problems on a planetary scale. I like the new attitude and cocky swagger. Even his Clark Kent persona is ballsy. The Morrison take on the character was always good, but it is even better now. It might even be fun to have him and Majestic working together in a competitive way. Have Majestic as the hard line nobleman and Superman as the Steve McQueen-esque bad ass. With Morrison its all up in the air to happen. I love it! It is like All Star Superman again only with more sly grins and showing off. I hope the new interpretations for his rogues holds up to what has been shown so far. Brainiac needs a new name and to be brought up to Galactus level. Luthor should become a Batman villian, just because it would be interesting. Bring on the galactic threats and have him do more than just walk the country to reconnect with humanity. he isn't human, he isn't a mere man. He is the Superman. It is time he was made to act like it and we were able to see it.

The problem with Superman's villains is that the really powerful ones are not relatable enough. One reason why Batman's villains are so interesting is because you can feel for them and have some understanding of what kind of people they are on a more personal level. That's why Batman: TAS worked so well, it made a lot of villains much more sympathetic like Mr. Freeze, Two-Face, Clayface, Baby Doll, etc., so you have a much more emotional connection with them and it made you feel sad for them.

There are only so many massive threats you can throw against Superman. Sure you can create a sense of dread and fear with an extremely powerful villain but you can't rely on that for every villain. You can't just have Superman fight one massive galaxy conquering empire after another and still be able to maintain that same sense of impending doom.

Superman could definitely benefit from a few more Batmanesque villains, ones who became villains through circumstances beyond their control and have some hope of redemption. However, I think that what Superman really needs are villains and problems that challenged him on a more ideological level. They can go pretty philosophical with Superman, beyond the whole god among mortals thing they like to bring up. There are also issues of free will, choice, and destiny that they can really explore with Superman. It's not just a matter of Superman using his powers on other people, it's a matter of all the possibilities and choices that are open to him by virtue of him having those powers.