Superman
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Superman, nicknamed "The Man of Steel," is a fictional character and superhero who first appeared in Action Comics #1 in 1938 and eventually became a popular and well-known comic book icon.
The character, created by Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel for National Comics (today DC Comics), subsequently appeared in various radio serials, television programs, films, and video games. Superman was born Kal-El on the planet Krypton. He was sent to Earth in a rocket by his scientist father Jor-El moments before Krypton exploded, landing on Earth outside the town of Smallville, where he was discovered and adopted by the amiable Jonathan and Martha Kent. As he grew, he discovered that he possessed superhuman powers. When not fighting the forces of evil as Superman, he lives disguised as Clark Kent, a "mild-mannered reporter" for the Daily Planet. Clark works alongside reporter Lois Lane, with whom he is romantically involved. In current comics continuity, they are married. However, he had several other relationships during his years in comics.
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Publication history
Creation
Image:Superman14.jpg The first Superman character created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster was not a hero, but a villain. Their short story "The Reign of the Superman" concerned a bald-headed villain bent on dominating the world. The story did not sell, forcing the two to reposition their character on the right side of the law. In 1935, their Superman story was again rejected by newspaper syndicates wanting to avoid lawsuits, who recognized the character as being a slightly altered Hugo Danner, the lead character from Philip Wylie's 1930 novel Gladiator. An upstart publishing company, DC Comics printed another of their creations, Dr. Occult, who made his first appearance in New Fun Comics #6, October 1935. DC decided to take a chance with Superman, figuring if any lawsuits were filed, they would just drop the feature.
The revised Superman first appeared in Action Comics #1, June 1938. Siegel and Shuster sold the rights to the company for $130 and a contract to supply the publisher with material. The Saturday Evening Post reported in 1941 that the pair was being paid $75,000 each per year, still a fraction of DC's Superman profits. In 1946, when Siegel and Shuster sued for more money, DC fired them, prompting a legal battle that ended in 1948, when they accepted $200,000 and signed away any further claim to Superman or any character created from him. DC soon took Siegel's and Shuster's names off the byline. Following the huge financial success of Superman: The Movie in 1978 and news reports of their pauper-like existences, Warner Communications gave Siegel and Shuster lifetime pensions of $35,000 per year and health care benefits. In addition, any media production which includes the Superman character must include the credit, "Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster."
Superman vs. Captain Marvel
Throughout the first decade of Superman's existence, DC sued several competing comic book publishers for introducing superheroes with similar powers. Among these companies were Fox Feature Syndicate for its character Wonderman, and Fawcett Comics for its character Master Man.
In 1941, DC filed a lawsuit against Fawcett over the top-selling character of the time whom DC perceived as a Superman clone, Captain Marvel. Fawcett fought the lawsuit, and continued publishing Captain Marvel, who surpassed Superman and the other superheroes in sales in the mid-1940s. While DC was suing Fawcett for allegedly copying Superman as Captain Marvel, DC began making Superman's adventures more like Captain Marvel's, making red-headed villain Lex Luthor bald like Captain Marvel nemesis Dr. Sivana; having Superman fly (Captain Marvel gained this ability in 1941, a year before Superman); and introducing Superboy, similar to Marvel's boy sidekick Captain Marvel Junior (DC would later create Supergirl, similar to adapt Marvel's young female sidekick, Mary Marvel, with the help of the latter's own creator, Otto Binder).
By 1953, the National Comics Publications v. Fawcett Publications case had been in litigation for twelve years, and in court for five. The case was decided in DC's favor. Fawcett paid DC a fine and ceased publication of all Captain Marvel-related comics. DC would acquire the rights to Captain Marvel in the 1970s; as an inside joke to the characters' long legal battle, Superman and Captain Marvel are often written as battling opponents. However, the comics make it clear that the superheroes are otherwise staunch allies who deeply respect each other. This respect often comes into play in stories that have Captain Marvel consciously volunteering to be Superman's back up in situations when the Kryptonian is not available or in situations where his weakness with magic is a factor.
Into the Silver and Modern Ages
During a multimedia career spanning over sixty years, Superman has starred in every imaginable situation, throughout the universe, and in many eras of history. Facing myriad perils, his powers have increased to the point that he is nearly omnipotent. This poses a challenge for writers: "How does one write about a character who is nearly as powerful as God?" (Superman's Kryptonian name, Kal-El, resembles the Hebrew words for "all that God is") This problem contributed to a decline in Superman's popularity, especially during the 1960s and 1970s under the editorship of Mort Weisinger and then Julius Schwartz, when Marvel Comics brought a new level of character development to mainstream comic books. By the early 1980s, DC Comics had decided that a major change was needed to make Superman more appealing to current audiences. Writer-artist John Byrne joined Superman and re-started with his The Man of Steel retelling of his origin. This 1986 reboot brought substantial changes to the character and met huge success at the time, being one of the top-selling books. The re-launch of Superman comic books returned the character to the mainstream, again in the forefront of DC's titles.
Some fans debated whether the more drastic changes were necessary, and some of the more traditional historical elements Byrne removed from the backstory were later restored. Byrne himself quit the books after a few years because he felt DC was not supporting the changes he made. But Byrne's changes became the template for Superman's origin and characterization for almost two decades. Most notably, his alterations to Lex Luthor, altering him from a scientifically oriented villain to a businessman, which has only recently changed.
Two alterations have had long-term effects. In the epic The Death of Superman storyline, the hero apparently died at the hands of supervillain Doomsday. He returned from the dead, though his "death" gave rise to a number of new characters and storylines. In 1996, Superman (or rather, Clark Kent) finally married Lois Lane, and the two have had a happy marriage... so far. Future editorial changes to the series may reverse some or all of these changes.
In 2003, DC Comics released a 12-issue "maxiseries" titled Superman: Birthright, written by Mark Waid and penciled by Lenil Francis Yu; this series was a retcon of Superman's post-Crisis origin, replacing Byrne's version, but yet using many elements from that version; it also reintroduced various pre-Crisis elements discarded in Byrne's revamp, along with elements that subtly tie into the Smallville television show.
All Star Superman, launched in 2005, is an ongoing series under DC's All Star imprint, written by Grant Morrison and drawn by Frank Quitely. DC claims that this series will "strip down the Man of Steel to his timeless, essential elements". The All Star imprint attempts to retell some of the history of DC's iconic characters, but outside of the strict DC universe continuity.
Character history
Superman's abilities and relationships have changed over time. Editors and writers used the process of retroactive continuity, or retcon, to adjust to changes in popular culture, eliminate restrictive segments of the mythos, and permit contemporary storylines. These changes, while significant, permit the retention of the core elements that make Superman an iconic character.
The story of Superman's origin parallels that of other cultural heroes and religious figures [1] who were spirited away as infants from places where they were in danger.
Golden Age version
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}} Image:Action1.JPG In the original Golden Age comics (as shown in Action Comics #1 (1938), Superman (volume 1) #1 (1939), and Superman (volume 1) #61 (1949), as well as in later post-Golden Age stories such as Secret Origins (volume 2) #1 (1986)), noted scientist Jor-L had discovered his planet of Krypton was about to explode yet was unable to convince his fellow Kryptonians to save themselves. However, he did manage to construct a spaceship to save his and his wife Lora's infant son, Kal-L. The ship was launched just as the planet finally exploded, with Kal-L landing on Earth around the end of World War I; his landing was watched by passing motorists John and Mary Kent. The couple took the infant to an orphanage, and soon returned to adopt the child, naming him "Clark." (The names of Jor-L, Kal-L, Lora, John and Mary were eventually changed to the more modern "Jor-El", "Kal-El", "Lara", "Jonathan" and "Martha" by the the late 1940s/early 1950s).
Clark grew up in an ordinary childhood on the Kent family farm, slowly discovering that he possessed various superpowers, but unaware of his Kryptonian origins. After the deaths of his parents in 1938, Clark decided to use his powers for the benefit of humanity, constructing a stylized costume and moving to the nearby city of Metropolis. Obtaining employment at the newspaper the Daily Star, Clark soon made his debut as the world's first superhero, Superman. Eventually, Superman's powers increased over the 1940s from his earliest appearances, including vast increases in his superstrength and gaining the ability to fly (his earliest comics featured Superman able to only leap about an eighth of a mile at a time). In Superman (volume 1) #61 (1949), Superman finally learned of the existence of Krypton.
During the 1940s, Superman also became a member of the Justice Society of America, though was shown only participating in two cases in the original Golden Age stories (All-Star Comics #8 and #36).
After the establishment of DC Comics' Multiverse in the 1960s, it was established retroactively that the Golden Age version of Superman lived on the parallel world of Earth-Two, while his Silver Age counterpart lived on Earth-One (although the character, having never gone away after the end of the Golden Age, had been published as one ongoing incarnation since his debut). A series of stories in the 1970s established that the Earth-Two Superman, after losing his memory thanks to the Wizard, had married his version of Lois Lane in the 1950s (Action Comics #484, (1978)), followed by having him become the editor-in-chief of the Daily Star. In the late 1970s, Superman discovered a rocket of Kryptonian origin landing on Earth, which contained his cousin, Kara Zor-L; after acclimating to Earth, Kara became the superheroine Power Girl. Superman also continued in serving with the revived Justice Society as a member; he was revealed to have been a founding member of the group in the team's origin story in DC Special #29. In the early 1980s, Superman was also shown to have been a member of the All-Star Squadron during World War II.
During the 1985 miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths, the various parallel Earths were collapsed into one, retroactively eliminating Earth-Two and all that it contained. The Earth-Two Superman, along with his wife Lois, were spared from annihilation, however, and entered a "paradise" dimension at the end of the series. This Superman wasn't seen again until the miniseries The Kingdom in 1999, where it was revealed that he had found a means of exiting his dimension, but chose not to at that time. In Infinite Crisis #1 (2005), the Earth-Two Superman was shown as having observed events in the post-Crisis DC Universe from his dimension, and finally decided to re-enter the mainstream DC Universe.
Silver Age version
During the 1940s and 1950s, various familiar elements of the Superman mythos were gradually added, and became firmly established by the late 1950s. This included a greater emphasis on the science fiction elements of Superman's world, including his Kryptonian origins, as well as an updated version of his origin story.
In the version that had become extant by the early 1960s (and memorably summarized at the start of each episode of the 1950s Adventures of Superman television series[2]), Superman was born on Krypton as Kal-El, the son of Jor-El, a scientist and leader, and Lara, a former astronaut. When Kal-El was two or three years old, Jor-El learned that Krypton was doomed to explode, and he brought this to the attention of Krypton's ruling leaders, the Science Council. Disbelieving Jor-El's prediction, they refused to warn their fellow Kryptonians, and forbade Jor-El to do so. Jor-El and Lara promised that they wouldn't leave Krypton (Lara vowed to stay by her husband's side rather than accompany Kal-El to Earth, so that his ship would have a better chance of surviving the trip), and decided to use the little time remaining to save their son. Moments before Krypton exploded, Jor-El launched Kal-El in a rocket ship towards Earth, knowing that Earth's lower gravity and yellow sun would give the boy extraordinary powers.
Kal-El's ship landed in a field near the town of Smallville, and was discovered by the elderly Kent couple. They named him Clark, after Martha's maiden name. After formally adopting him, the Kents raised him on their farm through his preschool years. By the time Clark started school, the Kents had sold their farm and moved into Smallville, where they purchased a general store. During this time, both Clark and the Kents had discovered Clark's amazing powers, and, with the Kents realizing the good he could do with his powers, began training their adopted son to use his powers wisely. At the age of eight, Clark adopted the superhero identity Superboy, and began to fight crime, both in the present and in a far future time as a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes. After he graduated from high school and the Kents died, Clark moved to Metropolis to attend Metropolis University. During his junior year, Clark changed his superhero name to Superman. After graduating with a degree in journalism, Clark was hired by the Daily Planet.
In 1971, the Galaxy Broadcasting System and its president, Morgan Edge, purchased the Daily Planet, with Edge subsequently naming Clark Kent as the lead anchorman for its Metropolis television station, WGBS-TV. Later in the 1970s, Clark would be joined in his newscasts by childhood friend Lana Lang as a co-anchor.
This version of Superman was retired in 1986 after the continuity-altering miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths, given a sendoff in the noncanonical story Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?.
Man of Steel version
Image:Mansteel1.png In 1986, after the Crisis on Infinite Earths miniseries (usually referred to as simply "Crisis"), DC Comics hired writer/artist John Byrne to recreate the Superman character and retell the Superman mythos, reshaping the previous forty-eight years of stories by putting several new twists on the established mythos.
In this post-Crisis version, as seen in Byrne's miniseries The Man of Steel, Superman—like all post-Crisis Kryptonians— was created through in-vitro fertilization on Krypton. While a fetus, he escaped Krypton's destruction in a spacecraft (his "birthing matrix" with a rocket engine attached), and landed some fifty years later on Earth, just outside of Smallville, Kansas. Effectively this Superman was born on Earth, and was a son of Earth as much as of Krypton. As in the original version, he was found and adopted by the Kents, and raised like a normal human. In the retelling, Clark's powers developed gradually, beginning with his invulnerability, and he didn't fly until he was a teenager. After leaving Smallville, he traveled the world before settling in Metropolis, completing his education, and going to work at the Daily Planet. Clark did not become a superhero until just before starting work at the Daily Planet, when he prevented an experimental spacecraft from crashing in Metropolis. The Kents were kept alive during Clark's transition to Superman.
In the post-Crisis comics, Clark Kent is presented more as the "real" person, with Superman the secret identity that he presents to the world to prevent his enemies from harming his family or friends. Also post-Crisis, people do not suspect that Superman is hiding his real identity because he wears no mask. The concept that Clark is the real man, and the greater emphasis on his earthly upbringing, is a deliberate reversal of the earlier, pre-Crisis version. As in the original continuity, Lois Lane is Clark Kent/Superman's love interest. In the early 1990s, Lois and Clark fell in love. Clark soon told her he was Superman, which caused a brief strain in their relationship, but they eventually married, in the mid-1990s special Superman: The Wedding Album.
Birthright version
In 2004 DC published an updated version of Superman's origin in the 12-issue miniseries Birthright. Written by Mark Waid, the miniseries brings back some of the pre-Crisis elements eliminated by John Byrne, including an emphasis on alien heritage over human upbringing, and introducing elements of the Smallville television series.
Among the changes made, the "birthing matrix" explanation was replaced by the more well-known rocket ship explanation, with Kal-El sent from Krypton as an infant, not a fetus. There are two portrayal styles of Clark Kents--"Smallville Clark" and "Metropolis Clark." "Smallville Clark" is the real person (who is also Kal-El and Superman) while "Metropolis Clark" is the mild-mannered persona he uses to blend in with other people.
Unlike the previous Man of Steel origin story, this origin doesn't eliminate most of the previous post-Crisis Superman stories told, though what impact it will have on future stories (and some previous post-Crisis stories' status) remains to be seen.
Clark Kent
Clark Joseph Kent is the civilian secret identity of Superman[3]. (Note that some sources claim that his middle-name is in fact "Jerome," in honor of creator Jerry Siegel. The name Jerome was used in the "Seasons Greedings" episode of the television series Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. It was also featured in several episodes of the series "Smallville".) Though never receiving the same popular attention as the superheroic alter ego, the personality, idea, and name of Clark Kent have entered into popular culture in their own right, becoming synonymous with secret identities and fronts for ulterior motives and activities.
As first written in the earliest Superman comics, Clark Kent's primary purpose was to fulfill the basic dramatic concept that a costumed hero cannot operate as a costumed hero twenty-four hours a day, or throughout the entirety of a comic book series. As such, Kent acted as little more than a front for Superman's activities. Although his name and history were taken from his early life with his adoptive Earth parents, everything about Kent was staged for the benefit of his alternate identity — he acquired a job as a reporter for the Daily Planet for the convenience of receiving late-breaking news before the general public, providing an excuse for being present at crime scenes and having an occupation where his whereabouts do not have to be strictly accounted for as long as he makes his story deadlines. However, in order to draw attention away from the correlation between Kent and Superman, Clark Kent adopted a largely passive and introverted personality, applying conservative mannerisms, a higher-pitched voice, and a slight slouch. This personality is typically described as "mild-mannered," perhaps most famously by the opening narration of Max Fleischer's Superman animated theatrical shorts. These traits extended into Kent's wardrobe, typically consisting of a blue business suit, a red necktie, black-rimmed glasses, and combed-back hair.
Kent wears his Superman costume underneath his street clothes, which lends itself to easy transferrence between the two personalities. However, the purpose of this convention outside of fiction is largely dramatic, allowing Kent to rip open his shirt and reveal the familiar "S" insignia when called into action. When in action, Superman usually stores his Clark Kent clothing inside a secret pouch hidden inside of his cape, though some stories have shown him leaving his clothes in some covert location for later retrieval.
In the wake of John Byrne's The Man of Steel reboot of Superman continuity, many traditional aspects of Clark Kent were dropped in favor of giving him a more aggressive and extroverted personality, including such aspects as making Kent a top football player in high school, along with being a successful author. Recently, some aspects of this change have been dropped, in favor of bringing back elements of the earlier "mild-mannered" version of Kent.
In Metropolis, Superman (as Clark Kent) works as a reporter at the Planet, "a great metropolitan newspaper" which allows him to keep track of ongoing events where he might be of help. Largely working on his own, his identity is easily kept secret. Fellow reporter Lois Lane became the object of Clark's/Superman's romantic affection. Lois's affection for Superman and her rejection of Clark's clumsy advances have been a recurring theme in Superman comics, television, and movies.
Various reasons over the decades have been offered for why people haven't suspected Superman and Clark Kent of being one and the same. In the 1970s, one such suggestion was that the lenses of Clark Kent's glasses (made of Kryptonian materials) constantly amplified a low-level super-hypnosis power, thereby creating the illusion of others viewing Clark Kent as a weak and frailer being; however, this reason was abandoned almost as quickly as it was introduced, since it had various flaws (such as stories where Batman would disguise himself as Clark Kent, among others). [4].
Another reason given in the late 1980s was that Superman would vibrate his face slightly so that photographs would only show his features as a blur, thus preventing the danger of photographs of both identities being reliably compared. However, more recent stories showing Superman being photographed have tended to ignore this factor.
The main means by which Superman protects his secret identity is by accentuating the physical distinctions between Superman and Clark Kent: Clark Kent is usually shown as wearing conservative clothing, slightly slouching, and speaking in a higher-pitched voice, along with adopting more introverted mannerisms than his heroic alter-ego. Traditionally, Lois Lane and others would often suspect Superman of truly being Clark Kent (and vice-versa), though more recent comics often feature the general public assuming that Superman doesn't have a secret identity (since he doesn't wear a mask, the assumption is that he has nothing to hide); in Superman (2nd series) #2 (1987), for example, a super-computer constructed by Lex Luthor calculated Superman's true identity, but Lex dismissed the idea because he could not believe that someone so powerful would want another identity. Post-Crisis Lois Lane never suspected the dual identity (except for one time when she visited the Kent farm, where she was told that Superman was "brought up" alongside Clark like a brother).
Some fans have noted that in order for the disguise to be credible, Clark has to be at least as skilled an actor as Christopher Reeve. The actor's portrayal of Clark in the feature film series was praised for making the disguise's effectiveness credible to audiences. According to the Birthright version of Superman's origin, young Clark Kent studies Sanford Meisner so that he can seamlessly move between his Clark and Superman personas.
When crises arise, Clark quickly changes into Superman. In the Fleischer animated series of theatrical cartoons, he often ducked into a telephone booth to make the transformation. In the comic books he rarely does so, favoring the Daily Planet's storeroom. As a dramatic plot device, Clark often has to quickly improvise in order to find a way to change unnoticed. For example in the first Christopher Reeve Superman movie, Kent is comically unable to use a newer, open-kiosk pay phone, so he enters a revolving door and changes clothes while spinning within it at superspeed. Thus made invisible, he appeared to enter the building as Kent and exit seconds later as Superman.
Kent Family History
In the current Superman continuity, it was revealed that the Kent family in the 19th century were noted abolitionists who assisted the personnel of the Underground Railroad, like Harriet Tubman. The family moved to the territory of Kansas during the infamous Bleeding Kansas period to promote the cause of creating a free state by running a newspaper for the region.
Unfortunately, the family patriarch was murdered by Border Ruffians who wanted to silence him. Furthermore, the sons, Nathaniel and Jeb, argued and had a parting of the ways so deep about slavery that they found themselves on opposing sides of the American Civil War with Jeb fighting with the notorious Confederate guerrilla unit lead by William Quantrill. Nathaniel fought for the North and married a half-Native American woman who gave him a special traditional spiritual symbol that was apparently a forerunner and inspiration for Superman's chest symbol.
After the war, Nathaniel became a sheriff in Smallville, while Jeb became the leader of a group of bandits. Eventually, Jeb discovered he had a son out of wedlock years ago, and allowed him to join his gang. Unfortunately, his son turned out to be a murderous sociopath and Jeb approached his estranged brother to arrange a trap to stop him.
Regrettably, in springing the trap, the son mortally wounded his father before being killed himself and Jeb fully reconciled with Nate before dying. Nate remained in Smallville and there the Kents have stayed for generations, including Jonathan and Martha Kent, Superman's adoptive parents.
Personality and character
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}} Originally, Superman's personality could be rough and destructive. Although nowhere near as cold-blooded as the early Batman, the early Superman did not have a "no-kill" policy and evildoers would occasionally meet fatal ends when dealing with the hero. In one very early story in which the government would not help maintain low income areas unless a disaster occurred, Superman went on a rampage and created one. Superman is also nearly always portrayed as having had some hand in World War II, when the comics' timeline permits.
In the Silver Age, as superhero stories became more oriented toward young readers, the writers moved toward his better known "boy scout" persona. While the Golden Age Superman created a disaster to force the government to rebuild derelict housing, this Superman would both demolish and rebuild housing in areas that needed it. In fact, so far did the writers move from the grim and gritty original version, that he tended to be naive, even about his deadliest enemies. Also, while the original version was of apparent average intelligence, Superman now was genius level, and the intellectual equivalent of Lex Luthor. Even so, Superman's capacity for a violent anger is a key element to many of the most dramatic moments in his appearances, since it is this sort of telling snapshot into his psyche that allows readers and watchers to see that Superman's goodness is not inherent to his being, but learned, like it is with us.
Powers and abilities
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}} Superman possesses extraordinary powers which render him, as stated in the lead-in to the 1950s television series, "faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound". His powers were relatively limited in the early stories, but grew to become near-godlike by the 1980s. After Byrne's 1986 rewrite, Superman's powers were diminished, though have grown again since then, possessing enough strength to lift and hurl mountains.
Other characters
Supporting characters
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Lois Lane is perhaps most commonly associated with Superman, as his colleague, love interest, and later confidante of his dual identities, and more recently wife to Clark Kent.
Other supporting characters include Daily Planet photographer Jimmy Olsen and editor-in-chief Perry White, Clark Kent's childhood friends Lana Lang and Pete Ross, adopted parents Jonathan and Martha Kent, and former love interest Lori Lemaris. Incarnations of Supergirl and Superboy (pre-Crisis, Superman's teenage identity) have also played roles in the Superman mythos, as has Krypto The Superdog.
Bibbo and Professor Hamilton are key supporting figures as well. The professor as a supporting character and Bibbo as a crazed fan who also becomes Super Dood after Superman's death.
Superman is also supported by members of the The Justice League of America, of which he is usually a member.
Villains
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Superman also has a rogues gallery of supervillain enemies, including his most well-known enemy, Lex Luthor, who has been envisioned over the years in various forms as rogue scientific genius with a personal vendetta against Superman, a powerful but corrupt CEO of a conglomerate called LexCorp, and more recently as an astrobiologist, but always with an intense hatred of Superman. Actors portraying Lex have included Gene Hackman, John Shea, Clancy Brown, Michael Rosenbaum and Kevin Spacey.
Other major enemies of Superman include cruel alien Darkseid, imperfect Superman duplicate Bizarro, cyborg criminal Metallo, alien tyrant Mongul, fifth dimensional imp Mr. Mxyzptlk, and alien scientist Brainiac. Kryptonian criminal General Zod and other Kryptonians imprisoned in the Phantom Zone have also featured in various forms.
Other recurring villians have included The Parasite, The Prankster, Terra-Man, Toyman, and Gog. Doomsday, a mindless, impossibly powerful, raging monster, accomplish what other supervillains have not by killing Superman during the Death of Superman storyline.
Comics that regularly feature Superman
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Ongoing titles
- Superman (volume 2) - this title, launched in 1986 after John Byrne revamped the character, will be cancelled after issue #226 (print date April 2006).
- Action Comics
- Adventures of Superman - originally Superman (volume 1), this title will resume the name Superman as of issue #650 (print date May 2006).
- Superman/Batman
- All Star Superman
Additional reading
- Last Son of Krypton - a novel by Elliot S! Maggin: Superman's "life story" is told and he faces a mysterious alien ruler.
- Miracle Monday - a novel by Elliot S! Maggin: tells the story of Superman trying to stop an entity of pure evil from causing universal chaos.
- "It's Superman!" - A novel by Tom De Haven: A new interpretation of Superman's origins, taking place in 1935, and going more into Superman's motivations.
- "For the Man Who Has Everything" - written by Alan Moore, illustrated by Dave Gibbons: Batman, Robin, and Wonder Woman journey to Superman's Fortress of Solitude to celebrate his birthday only to find their friend rendered comatose by an alien parasite that grants its host the illusion of their heart's desire. Originally published in Superman Annual #11 and recently adapted for the animated series Justice League Unlimited by J.M. DeMatteis. Reprinted in Across the Universe: The DC Universe Stories of Alan Moore (ISBN 1401200877)
- Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? - written by Alan Moore, illustrated by Curt Swan and George Pérez: The final chapter on the pre-Crisis Silver/Bronze Age Superman. Originally published in Superman #423 and Action Comics #583.
- The Man of Steel - written and illustrated by John Byrne: The revamp of Superman's origins following the Crisis on Infinite Earths.
- The Death of Superman, World Without a Superman, and The Return of Superman - written by various artists, notably Dan Jurgens: the story of Superman's death, the world's (and his loved ones') reaction, and his eventual return. A novelization of the trilogy, entitled The Death and Life of Superman, was written by Roger Stern.
- Kingdom Come - written by Mark Waid, illustrated by Alex Ross: A painted epic, in which Superman has temporarily retired, giving way to a new breed of reckless, morally ambiguous superheroes. The story was novelized by Elliot S! Maggin.
- Superman For All Seasons - written by Jeph Loeb, illustrated by Tim Sale: Superman as a young man in a timeless, Rockwellian America, from confused lad to superpowered metropolite.
- "Letitia Lerner, Superman's Babysitter" - written and illustrated by Kyle Baker: Letitia babysits the superpowered baby Clark, who rampages around the Kent's farm and ends up in a microwave oven. The story won the Eisner Award for Best Short Story in 2000.
- Superman: Red Son - written by Mark Millar, illustrated by Dave Johnson: Elseworlds story asks "What if Superman had been raised in the Soviet Union?" Superman now stands for workers' rights and the struggle for global equality, and sets out to promote world communism.
- Superman: Birthright - a twelve issue maxiseries written by Mark Waid and illustrated by Leinil F. Yu: A "re-imagining" of Superman which brings back some old, pre-Crisis concepts and adds new modern ones.
- Superman: Secret Identity - written by Kurt Busiek, with watercolor illustrations by Stuart Immonen, this presents the story of a man in the real world named Clark Kent who discovers as a teenager that he possesses the powers of the fictional Man of Steel. This poignant story uses Superman as a metaphor for each major stage of human life (youth, adult, parent, old age).
Superman in other media
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In addition to comic books, Superman has made the transition to radio, television, movies, and video games each on multiple occasions. Among the actors who have played the role are Kirk Alyn, George Reeves, Christopher Reeve, Dean Cain, Tom Welling, and Brandon Routh. There have also been numerous animated cartoon series starring the Man of Steel.
Cultural influences
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}} Some people incorrectly believe that Superman is partly based on philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's Übermensch, which literally translates to "overman" but could also mean "superman." Nietzsche's Übermensch is any person who rejects unfounded thinking and concern for others, certainly not the case with the Man of Steel. Some people argue that Kryptonians' mental and physical superiority when compared to humans is meant to indicate that they are racially better, as eugenics would teach. Others say that Kryptonian super powers are merely a contrivance and the more advanced world of Krypton represents what the people of Earth can achieve in our future. This theory is bolstered by the fact that our own sun is getting older and will someday turn red, so if the universe with Superman's physics were to apply to reality then someday Earth would produce humans who, when energized by a yellow sun, would likely have the same powers as Superman.
Superman in popular music
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}} Superman has long been a popular subject for music, inspiring songs by artists ranging from The Kinks and Barbra Streisand of one generation through The Sugarhill Gang, Genesis, R.E.M., Crash Test Dummies, Goldfinger, and Spin Doctors to current performers like Eminem, Dream Theater , Laurie Anderson, Miguel Bosé, Three Doors Down, Our Lady Peace and Five For Fighting.
Superman parodies/references
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}} As an iconic character, Superman has often been parodied. He has also has characters modeled after him, in a form of homage.
Notes
- ^ Such as Moses, Gilgamesh or Krishna.
- ^ Narrator Bill Kennedy intoned at the start of each program: "Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Look! Up in the sky. It's a bird. It's a plane. It's Superman! Yes, it's Superman - strange visitor from another planet who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Superman - who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel with his bare hands, and who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a neverending battle for Truth, Justice, and the American Way."
- ^ The use of the name 'Clark' came from actor Clark Gable.
- ^ The prospect of Superman and Wonder Woman as a couple has been an ongoing debate among fans. In the John Byrne revamp of Superman, Superman felt a very strong attraction to Wonder Woman, even to the point of dreaming and fantasizing about her. While Superman initially thought romance would never be a part of his life due to his crime fighting, he thought for a time that his subconscious was telling him that Wonder Woman was the closest match he would ever find in a potential romantic partner. There have also been hints over the years that Wonder Woman herself is attracted to Superman.
- According to official DC facts, Superman stands 6 foot 3 inches, weighs 225 pounds and is approximately 33 years old in any given story unless stated otherwise within the story.
See also
External links
Comics
- DC Comics - Superman
- Gallery of Superman covers by Jim Lee
- "Heritage Minute" about the comic's Canadian roots
Movies
- Blue Tights – For the latest news about the Superman Returns movie coming in 2006.
- Brandon Routh – Superman in the 2006 movie.
Animated Cartoons
- Superman: The Animated Series on toonzone.net
- JLU's Superman profile on JLResource.com
- Freely downloadable Superman cartoons
Essays & Articles
- An Analysis of Superman, The Man of Steel
- Superman - The Man
- Theoretical Origin of Kryptonians
- IDENTITY CRISIS: The Many Faces of the Man of Steel Commentary on the origins of an American cultural phenomenon
- The Photonucleic Effect
- Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex an essay by Larry Niven about Superman's sexual and reproductive problems. (Note: This essay deals with adult subject matter and may be offensive to some people.)
- Superman's Shield and its History, studying the development of Superman's shield emblem in its various incarnations and reimaginings.
- How Jews Created the Comic Book Industry Part I: The Golden Age (1933 - 1955)
- Alan Kistler's Profile On: Superman – A three-part retrospective by comic book historian Alan Kistler on the entire history of Superman in the comics; from his original conception as a villain in 1934 all the way to his origin being retouched in "Birthright" in 2003, with explanations of editorial decisions that changed the character and his world overtime and a history of how the powers and the famous "S"-shield have changed over the decades. Also includes interviews with Superman creator Jerry Siegel, film maker Kevin Smith and DC Comics' Mike Carlin, as well as a detailed account of the attempted "Superman Reborn" movie in the 1990's and commentary by Superman writer Mark Waid.
- Alan Kistler's Interview With Mark Waid on SUPERMAN: Birthright
Fan Pages
- Superman Homepage – "Everything you ever wanted to know about the Man of Steel and more"; mainly dedicated to the post-Crisis version of Superman
- Superman Through the Ages – a website focusing mainly on the pre-Crisis versions of Superman
- Supermanica- another detailed article on Superman
- Superman Cinema – much in depth information about the movies
- Superman: The Last Son of Krypton – Recently Superman has returned to audio dramas, the first medium he appeared in outside of comic books. The audio dramas are produced by a full cast of over fifteen people with full sound effects and music score, and are available for free download in .mp3 format
- KryptonSite.com – Your source for Smallville news and information.
- Smallville IRC A Smallville forum based on the IRC channel on Quakenet
- The Kryptonian - Articles and message boards about Superman and Smallville
- Superdickery A satirical fansite that features Superman covers in an attempt to prove that "Superman is a dick"
- Superman TV Covers Superman TV shows from George Reeves to Smallville also movie sections and fan message board.
- Superman Fan Art Fans are encouraged to submit their computer images, paintings, and drawings of the super hero.
International Fan Pages
- Superman-V.nl – A fan-website about the upcoming superman movie - Superman Returns
- Superman-Returns.info – The first German Fan Page about the upcoming moviebs:Superman
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