Superman Day is here! On April 18, 1938, Superman made his debut in the pages of Action Comics #1!
Happy anniversary to DC's legendary Man of Steel! He certainly looks better than most of us would at 87, so let's wish him a happy life, filled to the brim with wonderful adventures!
On April 18, 1938, Superman made his debut in the pages of Action Comics #1!
Happy anniversary to the DC's legendary Man of Steel! He certainly looks better than most of us would at 86, so let's wish him a happy life, filled to the brim with wonderful adventures!
June 12 is officially considered to be Superman Day!
Happy Superman Day, everyone! Enjoy it while lasts! Days might be temporary but Superman is forever!
132 Votes in Poll
On April 18, 1938, Superman made his debut on the pages of Action Comics #1!
Today, the Man of Steel celebrates 85 years of life and history and clearly looks better than most of us would at that age. Happy birthday, Superman! May your legend endure for a long time to come!
Hello, everyone! I'm here to talk about a particular topic that has been around for quite some time, a topic has had me scratching my head a little. Whenever a new adaptation of Superman gets announced, a section of the Superman fanbase (I don't know if they're a vocal minority or a very sizeable crowd) will often claim that the new Superman is very different and distant from the real Superman. This is an idea that needs to be nipped in the bud before too many people start believing it.
Let me ask you a question: if none of the guys pictured above is the definitive Superman, then who is? No, really, this is a sincere question. Can you answer it? By saying that none of the men above aren't the true Superman, the implication is that somewhere, out there, is a true Superman, a single, definitive version by which all the others are judged and can't measure up to. So, which one is it? You have dozens of movies and TV shows and thousands of comic books to choose from, so which one of them contains the true Superman?
The answer is that none of them do. The definitive Superman does not exist. We're talking about a media franchise that has run more or less consistently for the past 83 years, making it one of the longest-running media franchises in the history of entertainment and Superman, as a character, has the kind of career most actors would kill for. He's played just about every role imaginable: champion of social justice, space-faring adventurer, reluctant Messiah, loving father, awkward teenager with no idea of what to do with his life (I'm no big fan of Smallville, BTW).
Why does a single character has so many interpretations? Well, because Superman has always been whatever the audience needed him to be. When the audience needed him to stand for the poor and the oppressed, he stood for the poor and the oppressed. When the audience needed him to fight alien invasions, he fought alien invasions. When the audience needed him to offer someone, anyone, a helping hand or a shoulder to cry on, he did that as well, regardless of the story. These are all different interpretations and each of them are equal in their legitimacy and you can't say that one Superman is truer than another.
Some of you might ask: "what about the comic books? Superman originated as a comic book character. Wouldn't that mean that the definitive Superman can be found in the comics? Action Comics #1 is considered the most valuable comic book of all time. Does that mean that the Superman in that comic book issue is the definitive Superman?" Well, I don't think so. In fact, Superman's appearance in that comic book supports the idea that he is whatever the world needed him to be.
Action Comics #1 featured a very different Superman from the one modern audiences are used to. He was a very aggressive character who attacked men who brutalized their wives, intimidated criminals with his imposing physique and extraordinary powers and was not afraid to break laws if it served the greater good. In the Silver Age, he was interpreted as a more lighthearted character that had a healthy respect for law and order and was, for all intends and purposes, a superpowered lawman. That was the way the franchise progressed because that's what audiences needed.
Besides, you can't really make the claim that the original Superman from 1938 is the definitive version because no one has ever done that for any character in the history fiction. For example, look at this picture of Sherlock Holmes, also played by Henry Cavill.
Many will tell you that this is the definitive version of Sherlock Holmes, but it's not the original Sherlock Holmes. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle never once described the great detective as wearing that costume, and he certainly never pictured Sherlock as looking exactly like Henry. Even if Henry doesn't play the original Sherlock, many people will consider him the definitive Sherlock because they're already used to that version of Sherlock. Ironically, if you try to change that image, even by using things present in the original books, people will freak out because you're not respecting Doyle's vision, by which they mean you're not respecting the vision they're used to.
But even then, Henry doesn't play the definitive version of Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock has been around for longer than Superman and seen far more adaptations in different media, and in each of them, he's been slightly different and each version has its own legitimacy and its own appeal to a particular audience.
If you wanna keep playing the "original version is the definitive version of the character" card, then the one, true version of Godzilla is the nuclear-powered monster from the 1954 movie. What? It was directed by Ishiro Honda, the original creator of Godzilla, and the character himself was portrayed by Haruo Nakajima, the very first actor to ever play Godzilla in any form of entertainment. I don't know who this impostor is, but he clearly isn't Godzilla. By that logic, Godzilla vs Kong can only work if the titular characters are the giant lizard from 1954 and the giant monkey from 1933, respectively.
Have I made my point clear yet? Just because a version of Superman is different from what you're normally used to doesn't mean he isn't Superman. You can't just write off a version of Superman simply because he doesn't cater to your particular tastes as a Superman fan. Superman has and will always have different interpretations, again, each with their own legitimacy and their own appeal to a particular audience. If you don't like a particular version of Superman, that's perfectly fine, but it's unfair to call that version a "fake" or an "impostor", which I was always try to keep an open mind about new Superman stories so I can make informed decisions about them. Perhaps you could do the same.
Well, that's all I have for you this time. Now, it's your turn to tell me what do you think about all of this. As always, this is the start of a dialogue and you have my thanks for participating in it and for taking the time to read what I had to say. Posting my opinions in this website doesn't make them any greater or more valid than yours and I'm just glad to have this privilege and this honor to share my opinions with you. The only thing I ask of you is to deliver your opinions in a polite and civilized manner. We're all Superman fans here, we just see things differently. So leave a comment below, thanks for your time and stay safe out there!
Hello, everyone. I found this discussion thread at CBR's Superman forum so I thought it would be a good idea to bring the discussion over at the DC Database and see if people think Superman is a badass or not.
This is meant to be a friendly discussion, so please be polite and argue your points in a civilized manner. We're all DC fans here, we just see things differently. So leave your comments below, thanks for your time and stay safe out there.
