History EarlyInstallmentWeirdness / Superman

* Superman wasn't always the lawful, pacifist hero he is known as today. In fact, he arguably caused more harm than good in his earlier comics, since he was actually kind of nuts. Examples are [[ComicBook/TheBlakelyMineDisaster deliberately trapping a party of rich people in a mine to demonstrate the mine's safety problems]], and drugging a football player and taking his place on the team, so that an opposing coach, who is guilty of cheating, won't win. He also once tackled teenage delinquency by demolishing their slummy neighborhood, making sure that the residents had evacuated with their possessions, upon learning that the government would be obligated to rebuild the neighborhood. Then then was that time he started to smash up cars to force the government to put in more stricter traffic laws. A good example of how much his characterisation has shifted is how both Film/SupermanReturns and Series/SupermanAndLois [[AdaptationalContextChange changes the famous scene of him lifting up a car]] to have him saving an out-of control driver. In the original image, he was about to use it to [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill club a criminal to death]].

* Initially, it was said that Superman's fantastic abilities were inherent to all indigenous Kryptonians.[[note]]One of the first stories, if not the first, to explore the exact events that led to Superman/Kal-El being sent to Earth, had Kryptonians dismissing Earthlings as being 'hundreds of generations behind them' and that 'they didn't even possess X-ray vision!'[[/note]] Subsequent re-tellings would establish that this was not the case, with Superman's powers instead being explained as the product of Earth's yellow sun and weaker gravity - although they still apply to other Kryptonians.

** Prince Adam shows up for the first time, and his secret identity is depicted as a boisterous, loud braggart who cannot take anything seriously, rather than an unrealiable, foppish princeling. His He-Man identity is armed with one axe instead of the Power Sword, and he doesn't transform into He-Man by screaming his iconic catchphrase "By the Power of Grayskull!"

* Likewise, in his early appearances, ComicBook/{{Brainiac}} was just an alien scientist who collected cities in bottles. It wasn't for six years that it was established that he was a super-computer, a characterization that has stuck ever since. It wasn't some time after that that we saw ''full use'' of the fact that he was an AI. At first, he and Lex (in his own original mad scientist persona) were basically the same character, and they teamed up a lot. When the makers of an educational computer/toy by the same name complained, he was retconned into being a computer, with an ad for the aforementioned computers thrown in. It was a ''long'' road to the current understanding of him as an AI spread over multiple bodies and computer systems, Skynet to the DCU. Additionally, in his first appearance, he had a white alien monkey that served as a sort of RightHandCat for him; Koko has rarely ever appeared since, and often in an unrecognizable form.

** Related to the above, the "mild mannered" personality of Clark Kent used to completely be an act, with Clark deliberately acting like a coward in all aspects of his life to throw people off the idea he could be the heroic Superman. Most modern stories instead portray Clark as an IntrepidReporter, with him being genuinely awkward and unsure of himself when he's not not in costume.

!Franchise/{{Superman}}
EarlyInstallmentWeirdness in this series.

* Superman originally had much less of an attachment to his [[SecretIdentity Clark Kent persona]], with some of the early radio serials even saying it was completely made up, and he would complain that he wished he could be to be Superman all the time. This was later retconned with the introduction of "Ma and Pa" Kent, and his identity as Clark Kent evolved to become as important to him as that of Superman, culminating in a 1945 story had him say he needed to be both to feel whole.
** Related to the above, the "mild mannered" personality of Clark Kent used to completely be act, with Clark deliberately acting like a coward in all aspects of his life to throw people off the idea he could be the heroic Superman. Most modern stories instead portray Clark as an IntrepidReporter, with him being genuinely awkward and unsure of himself when he's not not in costume.
* ComicBook/LoisLane originally had a very negative impression of Clark Kent, who she regularly criticized for being a coward and unmanly. She would constantly [[LovesMyAlterEgo compare him unfavorably]] with Superman, much to Superman/Clark Kent's chagrin. With the modern modern Clark Kent usually being more heroic, or at least less of a deliberate coward, Lois is often implied to have a crush on him long before she figures out he's Superman.
* Clark Kent and ComicBook/LoisLane didn't originally work for the ''Daily Planet'' in the fictional Metropolis. Instead, they worked for a newspaper company whose exact name was often ambiguous, at one point even being the ''Evening News'' in Cleveland (Jerry and Joe's hometown). Usually, though, when it was named it was called the ''Daily Star'', before switching to the ''Planet'' more or less for good in 1940.

* Superman wasn't always the lawful, pacifist hero he is known as today. In fact, he arguably caused more harm than good in his earlier comics, since he was actually kind of nuts. Examples are deliberately trapping a party of rich people in a mine to demonstrate the mine's safety problems, and drugging a football player and taking his place on the team, so that an opposing coach, who is guilty of cheating, won't win. He also once tackled teenage delinquency by demolishing their slummy neighborhood, making sure that the residents had evacuated with their possessions, upon learning that the government would be obligated to rebuild the neighborhood. Then then was that time he started to smash up cars to force the government to put in more stricter traffic laws. A good example of how much his characterisation has shifted is how both Film/SupermanReturns and Series/SupermanAndLois [[AdaptationalContextChange changes the famous scene of him lifting up a car]] to have him saving an out-of control driver. In the original image, he was about to use it to [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill club a criminal to death]].

* Superman wasn't always the lawful, pacifist hero he is known as today. In fact, he arguably caused more harm than good in his earlier comics, since he was actually kind of nuts. Examples are deliberately trapping a party of rich people in a mine to demonstrate the mine's safety problems, and drugging a football player and taking his place on the team, so that an opposing coach, who is guilty of cheating, won't win. He also once tackled teenage delinquency by demolishing their slummy neighborhood, making sure that the residents had evacuated with their possessions, upon learning that the government would be obligated to rebuild the neighborhood. Then then was that time he started to smash up cars to force the government to put in more stricter traffic laws. A good example of how much his characterisation has shifted is how both Film/SupermanReturns and Series/SupermanAndLois [[AdaptationContextChange changes the famous scene of him lifting up a car]] to have him saving an out-of control driver. In the original image, he was about to use it to [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill club a criminal to death]].

* Superman wasn't always the lawful, pacifist hero he is known as today. In fact, he arguably caused more harm than good in his earlier comics, since he was actually kind of nuts. Examples are deliberately trapping a party of rich people in a mine to demonstrate the mine's safety problems, and drugging a football player and taking his place on the team, so that an opposing coach, who is guilty of cheating, won't win. He also once tackled teenage delinquency by demolishing their slummy neighborhood, making sure that the residents had evacuated with their possessions, upon learning that the government would be obligated to rebuild the neighborhood. Then then was that time he started to smash up cars to force the government to put in more stricter traffic laws.

* Superman wasn't always the lawful, pacifist hero he is known as today. In fact, he arguably caused more harm than good in his earlier comics, since he was actually kind of nuts. Examples are deliberately trapping a party of rich people in a mine to demonstrate the mine's safety problems, and drugging a football player and taking his place on the team, so that an opposing coach, who is guilty of cheating, won't win. He also once tackled teenage delinquency by demolishing their slummy neighborhood, making sure that the residents had evacuated with their possessions, upon learning that the government would be obligated to rebuild the neighborhood.

* Likewise, in his early appearances, ComicBook/{{Brainiac}} was just an alien scientist who collected cities in bottles. It wasn't for six years that it was established that he was a super-computer, a characterization that has stuck ever since. It wasn't some time after that that we saw ''full use'' of the fact that he was an AI. At first, he and Lex (in his own original mad scientist persona) were basically the same character, and they teamed up a lot. When the makers of an educational computer/toy by the same name complained, he was retconned into being a computer, with an ad for the aforementioned computers thrown in. It was a ''long'' road to the current understanding of him as an AI spread over multiple bodies and computer systems, Skynet to the DCU.

!![[Comicbook/{{Superman}} Comic Books]]

!!Franchise/{{Superman}}

* In his earliest appearances, ComicBook/LexLuthor was a war profiteer whose [[MadScientist scientific genius was considered "mad"]] [[MadScientist specifically because he used it to invent horrific weaponry to sell to the highest bidder]]. Later, he became a MadScientist who uses his skills to commit crimes. It wasn't until the Iron Age that Lex Luthor became a CorruptCorporateExecutive who moonlights as a supervillain. During the Silver Age, his motivation for battling Superman was actually more complex: In ''ComicBook/HowLuthorMetSuperboy'', Kal and Lex became friends. In gratitude for setting up a lab, Lex discovered a cure for Kryptonite, but he accidentally started a fire. In order to save him, ComicBook/{{Superboy}} used his super breath to blow out the fire, accidentally killing Lex's experiment (and causing Lex's baldness). Lex accused him from intentionally destroying his experiment -an artificial lifeform- out of jealousy, decided to get even with the "backstabbing" alien, and the rest is history. Before that, his Silver Age relationship with Superman boiled down to a simple villain-who-gets-foiled-by-the-hero dynamic.

* In part this is because Superman, Batman, and some of the others listed here were introduced before the genre was codified as they ''were'' the codifiers of many of its tropes. Their early adventures were the EarlyInstallmentWeirdness of the entire genre. Another major reason is UsefulNotes/TheComicsCode, which was later introduced: For a significant length of time, comics simply ''couldn't'' have their main characters kill people, so writers gave them TechnicalPacifist leanings (and made them more like TheCape in general) as a way of satisfying MoralGuardians. These characterizations were used long enough to stick after the Comics Code fell.

** In their ''[[ComicBook/TheLegionOfSuperHeroes first story]]'', the Legionnaires wear their names written on their uniforms, and Cosmic Boy has a "Super Hero Club" yellow emblem sewn on his shoulder. They fly around by using jet packs, no Flight Belts or Rings. And they will wear completely different suits in their next appearance (''Adventure Comics'' #267).
** Cosmic Boy's eyes shoot magnetic beams, and his powers were given by a super serum. Later it would be retconned that magnetism control is his race's innate power.
** Garth Ranzz's codename is Lightning Boy. Right afterwards "Boy" would be changed to "Lad". He also needs to clap his hands together to hurl lightning bolts.
** Saturn Girl is a redhead. From her second appearance on, she would be blonde.
** The Legion HQ is located in Smallville. The next stories will quietly move it to Metropolis.
** The Legion hails from the 25th century. Later, it would be retconned the team was formed in the 30th century.
** ''ComicBook/SupergirlsThreeSuperGirlfriends'': In his first appearance, Sun Boy's power is not control upon fire, light and heat. It is "super radiance". In other words, he shines a lot.

** Initially, it was said that Superman's fantastic abilities were inherent to all indigenous Kryptonians.[[note]]One of the first stories, if not the first, to explore the exact events that led to Superman/Kal-El being sent to Earth, had Kryptonians dismissing Earthlings as being 'hundreds of generations behind them' and that 'they didn't even possess X-ray vision!'[[/note]] Subsequent re-tellings would establish that this was not the case, with Superman's powers instead being explained as the product of Earth's yellow sun and weaker gravity - although they still apply to other Kryptonians.

* Superman wasn't always the lawful, pacifist hero he is known as today. In fact, he arguably caused more harm than good in his earlier comics, [[http://www.cracked.com/article_20069_5-classic-superman-comics-that-prove-he-used-to-be-dick.html since he was actually kind of nuts]]. Examples are deliberately trapping a party of rich people in a mine to demonstrate the mine's safety problems, and drugging a football player and taking his place on the team, so that an opposing coach, who is guilty of cheating, won't win. He also once tackled teenage delinquency by demolishing their slummy neighborhood, making sure that the residents had evacuated with their possessions, upon learning that the government would be obligated to rebuild the neighborhood.

* In his earliest appearances, ComicBook/LexLuthor was a war profiteer whose [[MadScientist scientific genius was considered "mad"]] [[MadScientist specifically because he used it to invent horrific weaponry to sell to the highest bidder]]. Later, this war profiteer motivation was {{flanderiz|ation}}ed to the standard MadScientist who uses his skills to commit crimes. It wasn't until the Iron Age that Lex Luthor became a CorruptCorporateExecutive who moonlights as a supervillain (in some ways a modernization of his Golden Age war profiteer characterization). During the Silver Age, his motivation for battling Superman was also a lot less complex and more petty, essentially amounting to "I'm bald because of you! SCREW YOU!". [[note]]This origin was from the [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]], where Lex and Superboy were friends. In gratitude for setting up a lab, Lex discovered a cure for Kryptonite and created an artificial lifeform, but Clark (Superboy) set off a fire because he wanted to punish Lex for treading in God's domain. Without realizing Lex was trapped inside, Clark used his super breath to blow out the fire, causing chemical fumes that made Lex bald, killed the lifeform, and drove him insane.[[/note]] And that was a Silver Age retcon; before that, his Silver Age relationship with Superman boiled down to a simple villain-who-gets-foiled-by-the-hero dynamic.
* Even Lex's modern incarnation presented Early Installment Weirdnesses. Originally, Lex had little interest in keeping his clean view in the public eye; in fact, he wanted everyone to know how rotten he was, as him eluding arrest had little to do with him being a VillainWithGoodPublicity, and more with the fact he basically owned Metropolis, and could force authorities to turn a blind eye to his illegal activities. Oh, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking he still had hair.]]

* ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'': When Kara Zor-El was brought back in 2004, the first years of [[ComicBook/Supergirl2005 her book]] were plagued with weirdness due to editorial carelessness and a poor understanding of the character: Kara was turned into a mood-swinger angst-filled and jerkass Anti-Hero, her personality changed every story, her backstory was constantly retconned and she displayed a ridiculous power of sprouting crystals from her body. After issue #20, she was given a heroic, likable personality and a definite backstory, and the early characterization and weird powers were retconned out and ignored.

** Initially, it was said that Superman's fantastic abilities were inherent to all indigenous Kryptonians.[[note]]One of the first stories, if not the first, to explore the exact events that led to Superman/Kal-El being sent to Earth, had Kryptonians dismissing Earthlings as being 'hundreds of generations behind them' and that 'they didn't even possess X-ray vision!'[[/note]] Subsequent re-tellings would establish that this was not the case, with Superman's powers instead being explained as the product of Earth's yellow sun and weaker gravity.

* Clark Kent and ComicBook/LoisLane didn't originally work for the ''Daily Planet'' in the fictional Metropolis. Instead, they worked for a newspaper company whose exact name was often ambiguous, at one point even being the ''Evening News'' in Cleveland. Usually, though, when it was named it was called the ''Daily Star'', before switching to the ''Planet'' more or less for good in 1940.