Superman

[Anthony]

I was arguing with a friend about how awesome superman is. Basically my viewpoint is that he is amazing, because he is the only superhero who is WAY WAY WAY better than his opponents, so they have to try really hard and come up with great plans to try and get around how amazing he is.

Its the opposite of what we are used to, where the superhero is underpowered and makes the most of various ideas and opponent weaknesses to win. In superman, the opponents have to make the most of his few weakensses, its like a comic strip where the vilians have all the development.

Does this happen in superman? Maybe i just like the IDEA of superman, not the execution.

[Advocate]

[ChaoofNee]

Batman is so much better.

[Bacon McShig]

Its the opposite of what we are used to, where the superhero is underpowered and makes the most of various ideas and opponent weaknesses to win. In superman, the opponents have to make the most of his few weakensses, its like a comic strip where the vilians have all the development.

Does this happen in superman? Maybe i just like the IDEA of superman, not the execution.

That's nice in concept, but yeah, the execution just isn't there in Superman. Parasite, Mr. Mtzsyplk, Bizarro, and Metallo aren't exactly swimming in character development. Supes' rogues gallery is crap compared to Batman's.

The animated series did a pretty good job with 'em though.

[Rem]

he is the only superhero who is WAY WAY WAY better than his opponents

To me this is exactly why superman isn't interesting, if he doesn't have to try why should I care?

[MarsKitten]

Everyone is more interesting than superman.

[rezo]

To me this is exactly why superman isn't interesting, if he doesn't have to try why should I care?

Because his stories aren't framed around showing how hard he has to try to defeat his opponents.

Or they shouldn't be, anyways. There are plenty of other ways to make characters interesting. I've only seen a few stories that handle overpowered characters well and what they tend to do is not pretend the characters are ever in any kind of peril. If you want the drama that comes with people who work hard and struggle against impossible odds you can get it from the people who get their asses beat by the impossibly strong main character.

Maybe i just like the IDEA of superman, not the execution.

Basically. The best Superman stories are the ones where he picks on petty criminals and makes fun of Lois and Jimmy's bumbling attempts to figure out his secret identity. If you like that kind of Superman you'll probably enjoy the TV series from the 50s.

[BerringerX]

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IMO

[Rem]

If you want the drama that comes with people who work hard and struggle against impossible odds you can get it from the people who get their asses beat by the impossibly strong main character.

This just doesn't sound very compelling, because you already know the villains will lose. And when you take the struggle of the hero out of the equation all you're really left with is a big fat who cares?

[YellerDog]

I like the archtype of Superman a lot, just not the execution. When someone takes the character (or type) in a drastically different direction, it's a lot more fun.