I love Superman.
More people should love Superman.
Character » Superman appears in 18942 issues.
Superman is the greatest, this is true. It is a shame that his popularity has dwindled to the point it is today where people don't appreciate him.
Which Ultraman ?
Superman is the greatest, this is true. It is a shame that his popularity has dwindled to the point it is today where people don't appreciate him.
He still got a few tittles action comics, superman, smallville season 11, supegirl, unchained
@greenarrowfan12: But you hear more people speaking negatively of him than positively.
@greenarrowfan12: But you hear more people speaking negatively of him than positively.
They never read a superman comic before. plus 10 DC comics movies thanks to superman..
I love him, but I love Ultraman a bit more.
You love Snyder more.
- TAS
Yes. Without a doubt in my mind Superman is great, but what really bothers me is that he could be more than great he could be awesome.
He has way to many vulnerabilities, and his own lack of knowledge on how his powers work, what are their limits, and what he can do with them, throws Superman back a few points.
Why is he only Super physically!? Why didn't DC took the chance with the reboot to make super both physically and mentally. Throw in some psionic abilities, like telekinesis, telepathy and a 12th level intellect so he could go head on against any psychic that came his way.
That, to me, would be the near-perfect Superman. I don't want him perfect because perfect sucks.
@heavenlydarkdragon: And how would limiting his vulnerabilities and giving him mental powers add to his character and make him have a more intriguing personality? If anything, it would make people who don't read or like Superman more pi$$ed off because Superman would not only be nigh unbeatable but he'd be even more overpowered than people already think he is. You may claim you don't want him to be perfect but if he had those powers, Superman would be as close to perfect as can be. So overall
Besides, DC have a character like that already. Maybe you've heard of Martian Manhunter?
@heavenlydarkdragon: Because that's actually similar to what Superboy already does, using Tactile Telekinesis.
And anyway, Superman is probably one of the smartest beings on the planet. The only reason that's probably not used a lot is because he doesn't have to/it detracts from other characters if Superman is the brain and the brawn.
Because the way he is now is simply infuriating.
In the past Superman dealt with his stuff, New 52 made him much more dependable on other characters, mainly Batman. In Unchained everything that he asked Bruce to do, he could have done so himself, or at least pre-flashpoint Superman would have. But this version feels in some ways so off. He doesn't fully understands how his powers work, but he never goes around to actually train himself to learn their limits and the full extent in how he could use them. Both Wraith and H'el have shown that he's much less powerful and intelligent than he should be. Even Luthor has joked about the fact that Superman seems to always be a step behind him. Which should be impossible given not only he's powers but the sheer raw power of his intellect that he has shown in the past.
And I'm not saying to make him unbeatable, I'm saying make him less vulnerable to the things he's already too vulnerable. Even H'el that also was a kriptonian and had power that far surpassed that of Superman got injured with kriptonite, the main difference being that that kind of injury would have killed any other kriptonian, for him it was much less severe.
We see this with other heroes and villains all the time. They surpass their limits, find new ways to improve themselves. Only Superman seems to be locked in a sort of limbo, where even writers don't know what to do with him. So much so that they're already gonna change both his costume and his powers. And seeing that isn't happening to any other character in DC we can see how far off the train has derailed.
So:
1. Having some sort of psychic powers would actually make sense seeing that all versions of Kon-El have psychic powers and they do come in handy when you're facing other psychics and even magic. Even the Psycho Pirate went after Superman because and I quote "You have the most powerful mind on Earth. Filled with psionic energy, shining like a star. To bad you don't know how to use it". When I read stuff like this I'm like "WTF!" and I'm right to say that. Because not only what that villain said made sense but to have it said out loud that Superman has those powers but he doesn't know that he has them is kind of an insult to the character itself.
2. No. Superman might have and I believe he has the potential but like I stated on the previous point, he doesn't know how to use his mind has well has he should. If he had a 12th level mind then he would have known about Lois being controled by Brainiac, he never would have let Hector Hammond hide in his mind, he would have been able to face the psychic war arc without having to depend on Lois for help. He might have been able to stop Brainiac without having to go has far has to give in into the doomsday virus that was taking over his mind. If anything Superman is way far from a 12th level mind at this point.
3. True! But this version of Superman is the closest we've seen him reaching power levels and abilities since the silver age. It has been shown throughout the New 52 that he has more powers than in previous versions. He doesn't just have heat vision, he can emit energy throughout the entire EM spectrum. He has been showned in more than one ocasion to be able to move faster than light, although of course he only does so in space, which makes perfect sense (he doesn't have the speed force to create an anti-inercia field like the Flash has). And also previous versions had in one way or another, a way for him to know more about himself. Either by the use of Jor-El AI or by kriptonian knowledge that was inserted either into the ship or with crytal tech that was sent with him.
4. What detracts people from Superman comics aren't his powers and vulnerabilities, but what is writen about him. His adventures, enemies and challenges. People (the fans) are a little tired of seeing that with each reboot very little changes about Superman himself, or to be more precise, the way he lives both his Superman and Clark Kent lives. What he see now, is basicaly what we've been seeing for years now. And of course that detracts a lot of people. If you'd do a survey about what Superman fans like, deslike and would change in all aspects of the character life, you might find yourself surprised by some of the answers.
And yeah! I know about Martian Manhunter. Another great DC character treated like shit over the past years. And again it wasn't his powers and the abilitie to surpass (to some point) his vulnerability that made fans lose interest. It was the lameass story writing and lack of creating a world were fans could connect with the character. They made Martian Manhunter such an outcast that people started losing interest.
But that's my point right there. It would make little sense for him to be shown using his massive intellect in JL stories, because that would pretty much make Batman presence and membership useless. But outside JL, that's where it doesn't make any sense.
But even in JL DC fails to use all its potential.
Why not have Batman come up with a plan and have him go through it with Superman. Here's an example "Look I got this plan but I need you to confirm my points and see if there's anything I've missed. Use that superbrain of yours and try to see every possible outcome". This is team work. Not "Look I'm the guy with the plan. So follow up, do what you're told and shut up." Ok Batman never says things this way, but you get my point. He's smart and isn't shy to make everyone in the room remember that he's the smartest person there. Which with Superman mind that should sound ridiculous, but the matter of the fact is, that he's the smartest guy in the room, period. And seeing that the JL has members like Cyborg, The Flash and Superman its kind of hard to not think everytime (at least for me) "Yeah, you're the smartest guy in the room. Because the writers made it so. Comics logic my ass!".
And about him having some psychic powers to complement his physical ones, what's the big problem? Superboy has them, although it makes little sense for him to have them. At least at those levels of power. If he draw power like kriptonians do, then it would be more believable. But has they are right now, they make much less sense then those of a kriptonian. At least those use the sun to activate their powers, where do Superboy powers come from? The psychic spectrum....
It stands then to reason that Superboy telekinesis is a byproduct of having kriptonian genes mixed with human genes. That somehow the more advance kriptonian dna mixed with human dna makes it so the kriptonian dna can't fully develope the powers it would have under natural circunstances and so it amplifies certain human and kriptonian traits that both species share. And that would be the mind.
Remember when Superboy was dying from a genetic breakdown and Superman gave him his kriptonian armor. What happened? Because Superboy is in part kriptonian the bio-armor amplified his kriptonian dna and he lost most of his telekinesis but in turn started to show other abilities like super-strength, speed, resistance, senses... traits of Superman.
So it also stands to reason that psychic powers are a kriptonian trait, only that it's one that was never developed has a species. Seeing that they focused all of their minds capacity into learning and becoming smarter. Maybe if they trained their minds maybe they could have psychic powers also. And maybe some of them even had psychic abilities, we can't forget that very little is known about their culture and the different branches of their society.
So to me and anyone with a clear and open mind, can see why psychic powers would make a much better addition to Superman abilities. Much better than that time when they changed his powers to energy based, or whatever they have in store for 2015.
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