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Unread 07-29-2010, 10:33 PM   #47
w0rf
It is Worf madam not Woof
 
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Join Date: Nov 2004
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The problem with Superman... is that he's "F'ing Superman" (tm).

What you have in Superman is both the literal and the figurative ubermensch. He is stronger than all the strong heroes, faster than all the fast heroes, smarter than all the smart heroes, "good-er" than all the good heroes. He's nearly indestructible, unflinchingly moral, and revered without exception by all of his superpowered peers. (except Batman and you could argue Guy Gardner).

So what do you do with a guy like that? The idea of an invincible good guy stopping bank robbers is noble, but that's not even a light workout for someone like that. So you cook up some superpowered bad guys. And of course he's always more powerful than all of them also, or when they have a physical edge he thwarts them tactically. He's literally unstoppable.

So again, what do you do with a guy like that? You contrive limitations for him. Kryptonite and magic are all right but how many time is one guy going to fall for the same gag? (according to the trailer, I guess one too many) Same with human shields. So you come up with other reasons: worn down from constant fighting, memory loss, suddenly less strong than you thought, self-imposed exile... You're stuck trying to imagine reasons he is NOT invincible because you have to find a way to make the story interesting when technically he should defeat every nemesis in like five seconds. But then the instant you make him something less than he is, you're being unfaithful to his character.

The Superman in the trailer was interesting, but to make him so, you had to make him not care about the lives of billions of innocents and all of his comrades (except Wonder Woman... makes you curious). You had to make him absent from the battle until the right dramatic moment to step in and be all Supermanny. You had to make him mortally violent against Black Adam and Luthor ("you don't deserve to live"? Seriously?). Essentially, you had to make him not-Superman. And that is the problem with being Superman.

On a different note, is it just me, or did everyone including Superman, Batman, Luthor, Adam... basically, every male character except Joker, sound like Kratos? Did they all take their gravelly baritone pills with their breakfast? I kept expecting to hear "And so, Kal-El cast himself from the highest mountain in all of Krypton..."
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