Superman General

ok but luthor was still in prison for trying to kill superman in this universe. he was let out for forever evil but even in this universe he had been trying to kill superman and pre-fp superman had seen all that. he saw lex go to jail and build a prison even he couldn't escape out of.

No more than there were innocent bystanders in smashed-up skyscrapers before MOS. Really, complaints about collateral damage regarding ole Skullchest typically rely on a double standard, no less jarring for when traditional capes get on a high horse regarding methodology.

In this situation, I find the difference to be abundantly clear - the Punisher kills criminals for the self-defined purpose of getting them off the streets permanently. Not exactly family-friendly, but consistent nonetheless. Modern Superman, on the other hand, tends to antagonize criminals just about everyone he disagrees with, with no real plan or rationale other than not liking the cut of their jibs. His actions in that regard don't make the suspects any less dangerous, let alone help with any investigation that might get them in prison for actual crimes. He just does it to beat one off, so to speak. Give Luthor a race lift and you'll see exactly the unfortunate implications that sort of attitude carries.

I actually was somewhat puzzled that Men of Steel didn't mention Luthor's imprisonment and pardon, instead working on the premise that Superman did act out of sheer paranoia. Then again, it did end on the explicit message of not judging people for what you fear they might be, so it was likely intentional. Too bad it didn't stick as a general writing direction.

New Superman was slated to end with Issue 18, but the fan support kept it going

Thus making him the most successful Chinese knock off of all time.

Such is one of the fundamental problems inherent when a character gets passed around among so many different writers. We've seen Superman portrayed as a guy who would never, ever trust Luthor ever, portrayed as a guy who would welcome an apparenetly reformed Luthor but be watchful of him, and portrayed as someone naively willing to forgive and forget if given the slightest excuse to do so. All depends on who's writing him. Ideally, there'd be some editorial oversight in the characterization, but DC editors seem to give their writers more leeway in that regard these days. The mandate seems to be "Superman is the good guy, and he doesn't kill people—interpret that however it's most relevant to you."

edited 24th Sep '17 2:07:14 PM by Robbery

Pretty much, yeah. I reckon under poor writers that advice is treated descriptively rather than prescriptively, in that Superman is "good" because everything he does is treated as good, and he doesn't kill people because every battle he gets involved in is magically devoid of innocent bystanders. Never mind every enemy he has to destroy being visibly inhuman and therefore fair game.

What actually gets me raising eyebrows is the way even the most blatant cases of moral myopia are given a free pass. I mean, in the latest issue, he verbally beats down a laid-off worker for assaulting his would-be replacements, people with no evidence of actual wrongdoing to their name (probable status as illegal immigrants notwithstanding). A couple of story-arcs back, however, and it was he who assaulted someone for assuming his uniform and place in society, his job so to speak, again with no evidence of actual wrongdoing. Never mind traditional superheroes, freakin` Deadpool has more consistent ethics.

Consequently, when prospective readers get hyped by all the editorials and assorted gushing about how Superman is a paragon for humanity and an example for all to follow, and this is the guy they actually encounter on-page, you can see why he struggles for relevance, while other media adaptations opt not to take inspiration from his current characterization.

Damn my boy Kenan making it big. He deserves it, New Super-Man is a pretty good series.

So what are the current apparent thoughts on the OZ reveal?

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."

Well, you're being a little disingenuous. The laid off worker to whom Superman delivered a verbal beat down was shooting at his replacements, with a machine gun. All Superman did to Luthor, aside from speaking harshly to him, was lay a hand on him (though that can, as you say, be viewed as assault). Both scenes are played ham-fistedly, but I don't think there's any moral parity there, and the way you bend over backwards to make the comparison and conveniently neglect to mention the shooting bit makes me think you know that too.

It's venturing a bit far afield, but it's been established that Superman does have a trademark on his emblem, and he licenses it to t-shirts and whatnot with his cut of the profits going to charity. I'm pretty sure under those circumstances Luthor was guilty of infringement. The confrontation was silly, out of character, and overdone, and Superman could have just accomplished the same thing by filing a cease and desist order. I expect that would have annoyed Luthor more, anyway.

Remember, Superman punted Luthor into the ground immediately after his own actions triggered the defense systems on the armor. Imagine if the armor itself had given out at that moment - I'd say Superman's bloody fist through Luthor's sternum could be considered equivalent to a shooting attempt.

As for the trademark, I'm not sure copyright laws transcend realities... as much as bigwig producers would want them to. This was an alternate universe Superman, while the local one had given his cape to the Daily Planet, which in turn was owned by Luthor - by and large, he has every legal right to that Superman's cape, which was what he was wearing.

Uh Superman Reborn shows that Nu 52 Supes & Old Supes are one in the same so he has a legal right to that cape & his Goddamn family crest. Supes would never do that, man has more self control then you give him credit for.

Also can we please stop talking about this? Its just gotten tedious.

edited 25th Sep '17 10:03:12 AM by slimcoder

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."

How is he even able to trademark anything without revealing his true name?

Also, didn't Luthor suggest going somewhere private to talk?

edited 25th Sep '17 10:10:52 AM by windleopard

Case in point for the tautological defense whenever Superman goes out of one's vision of how he's supposed to act. Meanwhile, his latest namesake comic is gearing him up to fight Deathstroke in the latter's capacity as a deadly assassin, even though Wilson's own book has him leading a hero team. You hence understand my skepticism regarding continuity at this point.

And yeah, the bit where anonymous vigilantes can apparently obtain various legal defenses gets somewhat murky after a while. Pre-Flashpoint there was even a Constitutional amendment allowing them to testify in court, full anonymity preserved.

For that matter, there was an incident where Nu!Supes was mouthing off Steve Trevor for using a Lasso of Truth knockoff, essentially a rope-shaped taser, as an interrogation device during a terrorist crisis. Never mind torture being Batman's standard method of operation, the lesson to learn there was apparently that using magic to rob people out of their own free will to speak is all fine and dandy, but simple physical force as available to mere mortals - that's a no-no. Again, it's these double standards that are not just unwholesome by themselves, but even more so coming from characters advertised as moral paragons and icons of virtue.

He used his real name. Kal-El.

My various fanfics.

Okay enough, we get it.

You don't like how he's written & shit. Can we move on?

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."

Yeah.

Let's talk about how awesome Kong Kenan is.

My various fanfics.

So Oz is the way he is due to a combination of Third world problems and A Clockwork Orange

What?

(Switches off Sarcasm mode): Doctor Manhattan took Jor-El away from Krypton and sent him to a third world country where he was looked after by a family, but a member of their community betrays them and the authorities force one of the family's own kids to shoot them dead. Jor-El wipes everyone out with his heat vision but is abducted by Manhattan again, strapped to a chair, and forced to watch every inhumane atrocity on a television monitor. Jor-El then asks Superman to come with him into space

edited 27th Sep '17 6:34:35 AM by Zarius

I found out something amusing. In the introductory story of Ultra Boy, Superboy says "My heat vision can't melt through lead." As you can imagine, I was confused. Turns out that his heat vision was originally an offshoot of his x-ray vision "I will use the heat of my x-ray vision." Apparently, the writers were using comic book logic here. His X-Ray vision can't see through lead? Well, since his heat vision derives from it, that means he can't melt lead either!

edited 27th Sep '17 7:07:22 AM by DS9guy

...You can't be serious.

If I told you Tim Drake is capable of bypassing Jor-El's security systems and was able to kick his ass, would you believe me there too?

'Cause that totally happened in 'Tec. Super Serial.

edited 27th Sep '17 9:37:38 AM by Zarius

That ain't Jor-El. It's Roz-Em.

And you know this for a fact because...

edited 27th Sep '17 11:03:41 AM by kkhohoho

Bleeding Kool-Aid.

That's not where I'm getting this from.