Justice League No. 1 and the New Superman

[GreyLord]

I'm not certain where people get the idea that Supes was never dangerous.

His reputation alone was dangerous. After his much hyped death in the 90s and the rise of the Supermen...Cyber Superman was deadly (admittedly, he wasn't Supes himself), then you have Bizzaro...and you can't forget the dark side of Superman.

If you watched Legion of Superheroes, you had Superman from Alien DNA...who was quite dark if you wanted dark.

However, you don't need dark and dangerous to be Superman...I think that would stand the chance of making Superman more a villain than hero perhaps.

 

[Walking Dad]

I agree and I don't want him to be. But let's face it, with all of the cities he's trashed with fighting super-villains over the years, and all the super-villains he's let escape to return and kill yet again, he's far more dangerous by being naive about evil than just by finishing it off.

But I wouldn't have him dangerous to the innocent. Just the evil.

Already done that:
"What's So Funny About Truth, Justice & the American Way?"

and the follow ups:
Superman: Ending Battle (reprints 2002's Superman (1986 series) #186-87, Adventures Of Superman #608-09, Superman: Man Of Steel #130-31, and Action Comics #795-96, tpb, 192 pages, 2009, DC, ISBN 1-4012-2259-5)

Me too. I really wish he'd lose the fear of fire though. Scared of, maybe. Incapacitated by, silly to me when I think of an advanced alien. Especially one with his amazing intellect.

They 'explained' it here:
"Trial By Fire," JLA #84 (Early October 2003) - #89 (Late December 2003)

Blame the Guardians.

But his vulnerability has decreased in later comics and the Flashpoint version became immune because of overexposure.

---

At least he isn't to afraid to fight and fly between burning, skullshaped meteors:

 

[Morrus]

And that is NOT Superman, that is Batman or Wolverine. I am sure people will be saying Badass Superman is cool, everyone likes the bad boy but that is not what the Man of Steel is about.

I agree. If you want an edgy, dangerous anti-hero - well, there are thousands of them. They're so common that they're boring. Superman interests me because he's not an edgy antihero like everyone else in film, TV, and comics.

 

[Walking Dad]

I like the new Stormwatch Martian Manhunter.

The interior style of the new costume looks better than the cover.
He was a member of the JLA. (Will he make his appearance in the 5-years-before books?)
He got shapeshifting and uses it for combat (not just disguise).

And it is shown he can be beaten without fire. What is good to prevent overuse of it by all enemies to beat him.

Wonder if he also still has all his other powers.

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Superman is no edgy anti-hero, but if an enemy can stand the punishment he should be willing to deliver... and that may look scary to normal folk.

 

[Jack7]

Maybe my real point about Superman was being misunderstood. Or I wasn't stating or defining it well.

As for me I'm not talking about making Superman an anti-hero. Or dangerous (as in he will attack and harm you) to innocents, or even necessarily towards the good guys. I'm talking about making him truly dangerous to evil characters.

Someone evil characters would actually fear because he is for once actually dangerous to them. I wouldn't mind at all seeing him kill some mass murderers, terrorists, and unreformable supervillains who constantly endanger and slaughter the public. And I'd like to see him do this without wrecking an entire city or even a building to accomplish his end.

But to other villains I'd like to see him considered dangerous as well.

You can be dangerous you know and your word still be good. You can be dangerous without scaring everyone (you just scare the hell out of the people who need to be scared of you). You can be dangerous and still operate right out in the open.

A good soldier is very dangerous to the enemy, but to anyone he protects, he's a guardian. A good cop is dangerous to criminals, but defends the public. But neither are anti-heroes. They're just dangerous. Bad guys don't screw with them unless they come prepared to lose their own lives.

That was my point. That if a criminal harms someone or goes after Superman himself they don't say to themselves, "oh well, if this all goes wrong it's okay, what's the worst Superman will do, save me too and throw me in jail? He's safe enough."

And generally speaking that's always been true.

Safe and dangerous are very different things, but good and dangerous are not necessarily different things.

Defending the weak, the innocent, the helpless and the like is good.

Treating everyone the same way and of equal value, be they good or evil, be they children or mass murders, or child molesters or serial killers, as being of equal value or of deserving of the same number of chances is not good in my opinion because it allows the evil to prey upon the good without fear of real consequences.

Because when good has no teeth of any kind evil flourishes on the flesh of the innocent.

I want Superman to have teeth. The kind of teeth that a German Shepherd has (or a Grizzly Bear has) that makes a wolf say, "Wait just a second, is this really worth my life or a crippling lifelong injury? Is this the (Super) Man I really wanna pick a fight with?"

And I'm hopeful that's what Superman will become. Not an anti-hero.

But a dangerous one.

He got shapeshifting and uses it for combat (not just disguise).

I hope a lot of the DC characters will use their abilities in new and creative ways. Batman has often been the innovator, out of necessity, but I hope many of the characters now will start innovating heavily.

 

[Walking Dad]

I'm not ok with Superman (or Batman) killing anyone. But Action Comics 1 shows that i he is more fond on intimidation...

Because when good has no teeth of any kind evil flourishes on the flesh of the innocent.

The teeth are Stormwatch

I hope a lot of the DC characters will use their abilities in new and creative ways. Batman has often been the innovator, out of necessity, but I hope many of the characters now will start innovating heavily.

Same here, but the best uses of his shapeshifting were shown in his solo. Including giant growth m(lending mass from the surroundings) to battle a Giant Robot in Japan.

Or forming an airtight shape around an enemy protected by a forcefield but still needing to breath.

I didn't like his DCH (RPG by Green Ronin) stats, because it says using shapeshift is a powerstunt and not a regular tactic.

 

[Jack7]

You know WD, "intimidating" is also a very good term.

It will be very interesting to see who will be more intimidating to evil, Batman or Superman, and in exactly what ways they will either balance each other out, or compete in this regard.

 

[Bullgrit]

Penny Arcade - Krypto-Fascism

Bullgrit

 

[Jack7]

You know if Green Lantern ever got uppity with his ring then Superman could just throw the sun into him...