Angelus said:
Ya I get where you're coming from. Personally I'm just not that into the sort of classic Superman character. I mean, I did enjoy the Lois and Clark TV show as a kid, which has more of that kind of classic charm that I suppose Superman is supposed to have in many people's eyes, but I enjoyed that show more due to the chemistry that the leads had with each other on screen (ironic, considering they supposedly couldn't stand each other irl), than I did for the character of Superman. There's a very weird dichotomy between Clark and Superman in that Clark is this very human character, with insecurities, struggles, etc, and Superman is just....well, perfect basically. It has it's moments, depending on the exact story, where it works well for me, but most of the time I'm just not buying it. I much prefer a Clark/Superman that is consistent within himself, preferably as a more 'real' person, who wants to do the right thing like you said, but does fail - or lose sight of it - sometimes, be it due to emotion, inexperience in a certain situation, making a bad call, not seeing the bigger picture, or whatever.
I found the approach in Man of Steel quite interesting, with his parents - specifically his dad - raising him to basically think of himself first, rather than go out of his way to help anyone and everyone he could, at the risk of being found out. It's a very believable, human way of thinking. Likewise, I didn't mind at all seeing him smash up that one jerks truck. Obviously, it was mainly used for a quick laugh with the audience (which seemed to work for the most part), but I also liked seeing him actually be very visibly frustrated with the jackass who gets all up in him, and then act out, rather than just being Mr. Perfect above it all. I mean if you really wanna take him to that point somewhere in his character's journey through several movies or so.....ok, I personally would find him less interesting for it, but at least we could have a believable process of him becoming this faultless guy who saves everyone all the time, without ever losing his cool or anything. A Superman just coming into his own should struggle with why he isn't above all these assholes running around, and why he shouldn't just leave certain people to their own devices, and so on and so forth. He should be a good person, but good people can still do wrong from time to time, and with Superman, if you don't give him that.....what does he have going for his stories? His power level is beyond absurd, to the point that you can throw little more than cheap plot devices at him for tension in physical conflict, and the if his character is so unimpeachable as many Superman fans seem to want, then what suspense are you ever left with? Will he do the right thing always? Of course. Will he win the day in combat? Obviously. Does he get the girl? Duh, he's so charming.
All that said, I can't say I'm well versed in Superman comics (or any comics really for that matter), so in the end, if those comic fans wanna tell me I'm wrong, and there's all these amazing stories that Hollywood is just missing the boat on, etc, etc.....fine. I'll take your word for it I guess. All I know is that the Christopher Reeve Superman does nothing for me.
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