User blog:Pikazilla/The Dark Age of Superman

Superman; Talk to the average American, and they will say that Superman is still THE iconic American hero. Talk to the internet, and they want to lynch him. Lets rant as to why that is…

Other Fandoms and Superman
This lynchfest is especially true with anime fans, especially DBZ fans, especially Goku fans. I am both a Superman and DBZ fan so don't accuse me of being bias towards either/or. I’m not attacking the franchises, but I am arguing against the mentality of SOME (but NOT ALL) of what I notice from a small yet loud minority within these fanbases. However this 'fandom war' is quite obvious, especially on the web. The two best examples are these youtube videos;

Superman with a Go Pro: It's a simple yet awesome video; a FPS view of Superman flying over a real city (thanks to drone camera and editing). Literally months later; 'Goku with a Go Pro'. A clear ripoff video copying the same drone technique; but this time over a bland forrest and characters just talking to each other. Then literally out of nowhere: Superman shows up, says 'hey Goku, buddy, here's a dragonball', Goku takes it, AND TURNS INTO A DICK. Without warning; Goku blasts Supes and says 'you suck'. There is no point to this scene except to have Goku (and thus the makers of the short) be a dick to Superman: which makes no sense because Goku is NEVER a dick event to his villains; so why the sucker punch, why the taunt? Why even include Superman in a video ripping off the Superman video?

Death Battle: Even now, Goku vs Superman is the most viewed video Screwattack has EVER done, and the 2nd video to get a rematch/match (after Boba/Samus). Yet at the same time: these videos have some of the most massive dislikes. I actually find this a bit weird (for the 1st video at least) since the evidence was so concrete; it makes no sense (for me) for there to be so much debate. DB can still have debatable conclusions (Kirby episode), statements (Toph episode), and occasional copouts (Peach episode) but I don't see that here. Infact the counter arguments of this episode are EVERYWHERE. There are SO MANY examples of these blogs. Some blogs are large enough to be considered books; blogs using SCIENCE to analyze FICTIONAL and INCONSISTENT characters.

But it's not Goku specifically. Hulk, One Punch Man and Godzilla also have such rivalries. And of course these fans don't just demand but PRAY that their character doesn't win against Superman but instead brutally, mercilessly rip him limb by limb, atom by atom: ignoring the fact that Superman is just as overpowered as these characters. Perhaps this is one of the issues; these characters are such juggernauts that this power alone gains them praise. So... why doesn't Superman get the same praise? Well it could be due to his restraint in battle; afterall a HERO trying to save the Earth doesn't want to destroy the Earth (intentionally). Superman could appear weak at times due to his restraint, inconsistencies and weaknesses. However shouldn't we judge him fairly? Well according to his enemies; screw that; get him near a red sun, use kryptonite, use the dragonballs, aka: cheat. Godzilla vs Superman? Godzilla uses kryptonite... WHAT!?

I'm guessing the hostilities are due to Superman's iconic popularity and his title as being 'the greatest hero of all time'; both in terms of fame and power. It only makes sense that whatever character you back will claim this ultimate title if Superman is dethroned. I honestly think this mentality is pointless considering that the most powerful characters are basically; The Creator God of Light, Horakhty from Yugioh, the One Above All from Marvel, The Mother of All Things from Spawn... oh wait, it's God. It's either God or the God of Gods. Either way, that's your answer: strongest character ever is God. And I don't mean Kami from DBZ or Raiden from Mortal Kombat; I mean 'I control every relm of every universe to any infinitly massive or infinitly tiny magnitude' kind of god.

The Big 3
However even outside of these Death Battle style matchups or rivalries; I still see people disliking Superman, and I always hear these three reasons...

Superman is OP and so is boring; unlike Batman
So first of all; Superman has been nerfed in certain canons in order to avoid this trope. TAS is the best example; afterall it's Superman's first days as a hero. But here's the biggest issue with this argument;

Why is DBZ and OPM so popular then?

Honestly I don't think Superman is too OP; I think he's not OP enough. As aforementioned; it's very common to see a nerfed Superman nowadays. But he's SUPERman, so why make him weak? We want to be awed, we want power, we want to see bullets bounce off his eyeball.

Seeing a character struggle, yet overcome his struggle, that is entertaining. However it's not the law, you can still be entertaining otherwise. OPM NEVER struggles btw. And btw Superman does struggle sometimes; maybe he's fighting another kryptonian (Doomsday) or fighting kryptonite (Metallo) or fighting gods (Darkseid). ANYONE would struggle against these things; a clone or equal, literally their weakness, and gods.

Superman is nice and is boring; unlike Batman
But if you want conflict: don't be so edgy about it. You want to know why 52/Zach Snyder Superman is so edgy? Because fans demanded Superman to stop being so nice. Well; that's the result.

At first; I don't understand this. Superman proudly acts like a boyscout, and yet so many people make fun of him for that. Superman vs The Elites is the perfect example; when angsty antiheroes overshadow Superman's popularity. Even Superboy-Prime, THE edgelord of DC, declared modern Justice League to be too edgy to be considered heroes.

You can still make these kind of stories if the consequences and drama emerge from it (Marvel Civil War/Injustice). Batman V Superman however has both characters acting like dicks; Batman saves nobody, Superman hates saving people, then they meet, Superman tries to talk Batman out of the battle but attacks him anyways. Man of Steel did actually attempt to depict consequences; Superman actually shows remorse for killing Zod. But we don't believe it, because the two destroyed the city right before this; so why does Superman only now stop Zod?

So how do we do this right; Have Superman sacrifice himself against Doomsday; knowing that civilians will die otherwise. Have Superman feel genuine loss; his father's heart-attack, Turpin's funeral (TAS). Superman still acts nice, still has drama and can still fight against that drama. It's still dark, but not in a way that corrupts the character. Meanwhile; Zach Snyder just has Jimmy Olsen executed by terrorists and Supes never comments on this at all.

Superman is not relate-able; unlike Ironman and Batman
Look at Clark Kent; just look at him. A suit-and-tie whiter than white guy that grew up on a farm and moved to the city to work a 9-5 job. It's the most American man you can think of. 'Oh but he has superpowers', no shit. 'Well Batman has no powers so he's more relatable', I would rather be an indestructible flying man who can bitchslap trains rather than being an emotionally unstable normal guy with hockey-pads. Wait a minute; Batman's not even that relatable. Spiderman is a frail, shy cityboy with girlfriend issues, bullies, money issues, crappy job and overall bad luck. VERY RELATABLE. Batman is Mr. Perfect, body building, absurd genius, billionare CEO playboy. Ironman is exactly the same (minus body building). They are human; but NOT relatable otherwise, at least in terms of background. And all these characters can and do have personality that makes them human; and for some reason are all coincidentally orphans. Batman is harsh yet still has heart, Ironman is cocky and drinks but still has heart, Spiderman is just some kid but still does his best, and Superman is just some typical dude from Kansas trying to do the right thing: he just happens to have powers. Punshier is human, and he's a fucking psychopath. I wish I could relate more to Super Boyscout rather than Marvel Rambo.

Why and When
I did make this title 'The Dark Age of Superman' for a reason: because it is a dark age. Now I don't know when to declare the beginning of this age... Some say it's the the Reign of the Superman: where Superman's tragic death is just edit-undo, making fans pissed at the copout and the death irrelevant.

However I think it has more to do with Christopher Nolan. Batman had edgy stories in the past but this was the first time such a seriously dark tone was introduced to the general public (those who don't read comicbooks). Batman fits well in this environment because that's part of his character; his parents were murdered infront of him afterall. But this film became so popular that DC felt that this darker tone was the trendy fad to latch onto. And so we have Aquaman with tatoos, Harley Quinn looking like a Vegas hoe, and Superman (the solar powered hero) is never seen in sunlight. Copying what is popular is not actual artistic inspiration: it's a quick cashgrab. You can't say 'if it works for Comic A then it will work for Comic B because they are both comics.' This is exactly the issue with Zach Snyder: 300 and Superman are both comics but opposites otherwise; it sounds absurd to have brutal spartans compared to Superman, and absurdity was that result.

Conclusion
However I do see a revival of Superman; with DC Rebirth and Justice League Action. These writers are going back to the bright, happy and powerful mentality of Superman; acknowledging and avoiding the mistakes made during the 52 era. Supes doesn't have his red undies but otherwise this feels like Superman. He's not pretending to be Batman, he's able to stand on his own again. Only time will tell if DC can get its shit together.

Every character has their dark eras; Shadow had his gun, Goku had pink fur (actual canon: lol I hope not), Batman had his credit card to buy more nips. Supes is here to stay though; appreciate or deal with it.