Superman is the man of steel, faster than a speeding bullet which bounce off his skin like...peas. His little quips to bad guys are contrived and silly and one can imagine Superman practicing them in front of a bathroom mirror for hours, late into the night. But no, his one-liners aren't sufficient evidence of his lack of brain power. I have further proof of Superman's stupidity, mainly in the vein of over-complicated round-about plans that seem extemporized without a thought to consequence or the feelings of others.
The most absurd example of Superman's poor tactics are the comic where he drugs a young football player, gets into a fight with these guys in the locker room, gets kicked off the team, is a massive ball hog, clearly ruins the game for everyone just to achieve personal glory, and he cheats the championship out of a fair winner. One team had superman scoring on every play for godsakes, I wish they had shown us the score at halftime. Here is how this plot should have ended: Superman overhears the crooked would-be football players. Then... He should have done his standard trick. Grab the guys by the back of their suits, fly them up really high in the air, return them after they are shook up, and make vague threats about returning. Comic strip over. Come on, just fly the Eagles over Mount Doom, don't muck through all of Middle Earth if you don't have to, Superman. Also, how is Superman getting his knockout juice? Is that legal? Should Superman be arresting his own drug dealer instead of ruining an important football game for everyone.
A man dies in Superman's arms (a hit and run criminal, but still a human being) and Superman is absolutely unaffected. He also leaves his innocent drugged football player stand-in alone with two nefarious football criminals so he could play a football game. This would also be a good time to use the old grab em and fly trick Superman is so familiar with. I think because Superman is an alien, he can have no true understanding of Human Emotion, making him the most powerful psychopath ever to exist, but that's a subject for a different blog post. And where do his morals come from? They seem very set in stone, but not chiseled with the same hammer use for most Humans.
Yeah, I'm a Batman fan.
I was thinking this as well. It seems like this theme of not caring about human casualties will be central in the new Superman vs. Batman movie. Is Clark Kent really a menace, as evidence by his lack of regard for humans at the end of Man of Steel? Perhaps the modern filmmakers are playing with this early characterization of Superman.
ReplyDeleteThese early comics have a sort of childish idealism. I think early readers were probably more interested in Superman the icon rather than Superman the person. It isn't about how the job gets done, it is about why it gets done. This is something you can even see in many superhero films being created today (although Ironman hasn't drugged anyone yet). I think people like the idea that these heroes will stop at nothing to get the job done. They like to think of the overall justice that has been served as opposed to all the small injustices that have been dished out to onlookers. To me, this is why I believe that many people consider comics to be childish.
ReplyDeleteThis has always intrigued me. It seems as though every version of superman I have come across possesses all these great abilities but at the same time lack one important thing: super intellect. I mean it doesn't even have to be a super ability of his but weren't the people of Krypton supposedly knowledgeable geniuses with advanced technology superior to that on earth? Why is it then that superman does not seem to possess such intelligence? This is even evident throughout the comics and movies where he goes up against Lex Luthor-- portrayed as having earth's greatest mind-- who always seems to outwit the man of steel.
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