What is the comic book accurate character of Superman? Closer to a demigod, or a nice guy? What would you prefer for a movie?

>>149450476 (OP)
>comic book accurate Superman
oxymoron. No character that has been around for nearly 100 years now with dozens of different writers will have one "accurate" version.
>prefer for a movie
Nice guy, obviously. When you play him as a stoic demigod he's at best boring, at worst terrifying.

>>149450476 (OP)
>a demigod
That's just his powerlevel. That's not his personality. He's a humble farm boy who was raised with love by his Ma and Pa.
> a nice guy
The most concise description of Superman's personality. The whole point of the edgy Supermen clones is that they're based on a more nihilistic view of humanity. A guy with Supes' powers would BEHAVE like a demigod as opposes to some dude who wants to do the right thing.

>>149450524
But how do you keep nice guy Superman from being lame? And it's hard to make him relatable, no? He's no Peter Parker who teens can actually relate to. He's not a young, nerdy guy who has to deal with real life problems.

>What would you prefer for a movie?
I just want a Superman that kids should look up to. No necksnapping. No letting himself be arrested while people need help. No letting the government operate illegal assassination squads of enslaved supers implanted with bombs. No violating all forms of journalistic ethics by writing about Superman while concealing his connection.

>>149450476 (OP)
This isn't complicated

>>149450584
same way the movie did, just make him a grown up farmboy

>>149450584
>But how do you keep nice guy Superman from being lame?
Superman being lame is how he hides he's Superman from people.
>And it's hard to make him relatable, no?
I blame this on writers being afraid to write angry Superman.

>>149450612
Actually, you know what? Fuck it. We need this Superman film, but the dream Superman gets trapped in is him as a normal human farm boy in a world being protected by an entirely separate Superman.

>>149450476 (OP)
They already did the best Superman in 1978.

>>149450689
Not sure it would really work. The entire point of that story is Superman realizing his longing for "muh Krypton" is dumb, and Krypton might not have turned out so great even if it survived and he should stop being hung up about it.

Which is more or less what he learned in this movie.

>>149450703
How is it we can pull this off in the 70s but everyone goes out of the way to mess up it afterwards

>>149450609
Eh… Don't get me wrong but I don't know how to make this cool. Wholesome, yes, but not "cool". Not trying to stir shit up, just saying
>>149450612
I just feel like, say, you have Peter Parker being an errand boy for JJJ and not making it to MJs performance in Spidey 2. It's cheesy but it's so relatable. You can tell that he's struggling.
But imagine Superman in this same situation… It's just hard to see him struggle with any of that. Struggling to get news for Daily Planet? Really? Missing a bus also is hardly a setback for a demigod.

>>149450584
I'm okay with Superman being a little lame.

>>149450766
Ironic, isn't it. The most famous, strongest superhero also needs to be a little lame.
Then again, I guess it's similar to Goku being a dork, or Tom Hanks being ridiculously successful and overshadowing any "badass" actor, with basically something similar to "nice guy / farm boy" appeal

>>149450753
If you want to give Superman personal struggles, they should either be struggling to get Lois to take him seriously as a romantic interest and/or as a reporter, struggling to get useable evidence in his work as a reporter since he needs people to go on the record with him or evidence to be obtained legally, or struggling to get people to treat him as "just a guy" in his Superman persona.

You obviously can't do "struggling to balance work and Superman" since he has the fortress of solitude as a fallback in case he loses his job and he eats sunlight.

>>149451203
Honestly that's really his problem, his most compelling stories are gonna center more around Clark Kent than Superman. Superman doesn't really have deep personal ties to any of his notable villains like Spider-Man or Batman so they're hard to integrate into his personal life.

I wonder if you could have Superman with a public identity still trying to hold down a part time job at the Daily Planet and a relationship with Lois so you could at least get a little more pressure from one life on the other? The alternative is just having Lois constantly be in danger which is just gonna come across as either contrived or as making her the main character.

>>149451203
I guess romantic aspect is probably the most doable, though to be honest—who would read Superman for that? He's somewhat old, and what would you more interesting and relatable, him and Lois or Peter Parker and MJ?
And frankly, the whole Clark/Superman thing has always been a bit cheesy, like yeah no one can recognize you without your glasses, and I can totally relate to him """working""" a job which is a bit of a joke.
>>149451274
Good observation about Batman too. I think there's maybe a bit more moral aspect to him, like not killing Joker, Joker's motivations and all. And of course the whole connection to Gotham as a whole, with its own story.
Kind of funny maybe, but I think the most memorable Supes villain to me (a guy not terribly familiar with Superman) is Darkseid… who's basically a demigod himself.

>>149450853
I wouldn't call it lame as much as maybe as I would call it "sincerity mixed with a slice of cheese." It's the same for Cap.

>>149450606
It's a little complicated

Serious and willing to impose his will without asking anyone. Later on he developed the whole boyscout thing and even further later the demigod complex.
To answer you neither or all of the above.

>>149450734
Because film making peaked in the 1970s. No shade towards the new Superman film, because it's great, but there's a reason why many of the films of the 70s still populate the top of "greatest films of all time" lists even to this day. Superman 1978 is the template for all comic movies, and it's still the best.

>>149453633
With modern special effects, 78 would undeniably be considered the best.

>>149451674
Superman comics can at least explore multiple genres like sci-fi, space horror, farm boy adventures, etc. What the fuck are Captain America comics even about? How are they different from each other?

>>149450524
>one "accurate" version.
There's an agreed-upon consensus. The New 52 Superman was a bit different from the JMS Superman in the Grounded arc, and both were slightly different from the per-marriage Superman of the triangle era and each was comparably slightly different from the current, 2025 mainline canon Superman.

Yet all share certain traits, for example: (1) You help out -
American Alien showed this, All Star Superman showed this, Birthright showed this, For All Seasons showed this, Secret Origin showed this, Rebirth showed this - including having Clark teach this specifically to Jonathan Samuel, and most every other instance. It certainly permeates the GA and even the SA.
(2) the help isn't a solo effort -
it means assisting the first responders, it means criminals go to the police, it means there's a process that is followed that has nothing to do with Superman, or super-heroics, etc.
Again, you see this certainly in the GA and SA but it's consistent throughout even with New 52 Superbro or an AU version like Red Son Superman or the JMS Earth One triology. Superman doesn't have his own prison, doesn't set himself up as judge and jury, doesn't dictate terms or decide, for example, on his own to reconstruct a destroyed office tower or a destroyed apartment tower, etc.

There's more but my point stands: there's an agreed upon framework. Everything else is just window-dressing and a writer wanting to put their own stamp on Clark Kent and/or Superman.

>>149455435
>What the fuck are Captain America comics even about?

Well you can WW2 stuff, you can do crazy sci fi, he's fought monsters, he's fought aliens, he's been in noir detective and spy stories. So yeah. Cap can do a lot.

>>149450584
Relatability is a meme. Beyond some very simple common traits nobody relates to superheroes on any meaningful level it's just shit insecure nerds say to justify liking something. The stories are entertaining regardless

>>149450476 (OP)
Stoic guy raised in a small town in kansas that goes to big city and starts being superman, he always tries his best, he is always kind but not dull, STOIC, USA old values, small town values, journalist, loyal to his friends.

>>149455456
yeah but those are just plots, I'm asking about themes and character development. Superman is a pivotal figure who largely remains the same but is Captain America the same? how do you develop his personality and traits if every other plot is just another uber conspiracy by Hydra or whatever?

>>149456053
See, that's why I think comic books got gradually overshadowed by manga.
You think superheroes can't be relatable, because most of them aren't. In fact, a lot of people seem to think they SHOULDN'T be relatable. Because it all started with paper thin characters that were supposed to wow children with their superpowers, and maybe teach them about good and bad, but not much more.
Manga and anime get a lot of shit, which they deserve. But there's a reason they have a high school setting with a protagonist who is easy to self insert as, a perverted baka with social anxiety, who has friends, a girl he drools over, a nemesis, his own problems and a dark backstory. There's only so much you can relate to heroes saving millions, billions, trillions etc..
And before you tell me I'm wrong, let me remind you that Spidey started and ended probably the most successful superhero movie franchise, also getting different heroes (which none of other movies have pulled off, unless you count questionable Cap 4). Let me remind you that all these years later, Joker from Dark Knight is still iconic, and way more so than Batman from these movies, because for once they didn't do a flat comic book villain whose sole motivation is doing bad things. Turns out, when you don't make paper thin characters, people actually like it.

>>149450476 (OP)
>a nice guy
This easy. Superman is an act, Clark Kent is who he really is. In this way he is the opposite of Batman who is just putting on an act when he's Bruce Wayne.