What if Superman Were Real?

Superman has been the subject of countless papers and books exploring what is so compelling about this alien super hero. Interestingly, as comics have become more sophisticated, it’s become harder and harder to write a good Superman story that encompasses all that makes him great. Oh, I’d argue it’s not much harder to write a compelling origin story. Mark Waid’s Superman: Birthright, which I wrote about here, is a pretty good indication of what Superman’s appearance in our world might look like. Grant Morrison’s run on Action Comics Vol 2 also gave us a good look at how Superman might work to use his working man convictions to do as Superman what the justice system was failing to do. But I think what makes Superman so hard to grow as a character is his ability to maintain his “blue boyscout” ethics in the face of all he deals with. It’s an accusation that would be easy to levy on Batman except that his writers have had a succession of boy (and girl) wonders in the Robin role to evolve Batman emotionally. (Even if it took until Batman and Robin Vol 2 for him to stop grieving his parents and start celebrating their legacy)

In a nutshell, there’s no reason why Superman’s time growing up in Smallville should make him perpetually maintain those values. There are tons of people who move from the countryside to the big city. Very few of them maintain their small town views. Everything is changed, even just a little. We often use platitudes like Superman seeing the best in humanity and, therefore, being above the pettiness, but I find no reason why this should be the case. So what might it be like if Superman actually existed in the real world? Well, two different authors have explored that in two very different ways.

In Watchmen, which I plan to look at more in depth in the future, Alan Moore uses Dr. Manhattan as the Superman analog. We often refer to the DC super heroes as gods, but Dr. Manhattan is almost literally a god. There are two main thesis put forth by Alan Moore about a Superman-like figure. First, Moore supposes that a being like Dr. Manhattan would eventually lose touch with humanity (in fact, it is a key plot point of the series). While Dr. Manhattan begins life as a man and Superman is always an alien, most modern Superman stories have him only slowly realizing that he isn’t human. The result this has on Superman as an adult is subject to authorial interpretation. Some, believe, as in Kill Bill’s monolog, that Clark Kent is the costume that Superman wears. Other authors, such as the ones that wrote the Man of Steel movie, have Clark Kent be the true identity with Superman being the costume. Either way, Superman is rarely written as losing touch of his upbringing and connection to humanity. He never grows to see humans as other. Dr. Manhattan, on the other hand, gradually loses as connection to humanity. This is most striking in the argument he has with The Comedian in Vietnam. When The Comedian is confronted by a woman he has impregnated during the war, he shoots her as Dr. Manhattan watches passively. When Dr. Manhattan tried to scold the The Comedian, he is easily rebuffed - why didn’t Dr. Manhattan turn the bullet into some harmless substance? Of course, the largest manifestation of the metaphor of his loss of humanity is when he leaves Earth for Mars. Why share a planet with those he shares nothing in common?

Just before the reboot, DC tried to have Superman deal with such an existential problem - why wasn’t he fixing everything in the world? Why did we not have free power and why was their suffering? In a way, it was an exploration of the Superman as god or Jesus metaphor; because one could ask the same of God.  Of course, DC’s stupid exploration is to have Superman just walk the Earth. He does not have a tantrum and leave Earth and he does not decide to prove whether or not he could fix the Earth and cure everything. After all, I think it would have been a powerful story arc to show that even if he tried his best, 24 hours a day, Superman STILL couldn’t do everything. It would lead to a moment of pathos and it would answer the question once and for all. Alternatively, he could have succeeded like the X-Men in Avengers vs X-Men or Superman in Superman: Red Son, but exacted too demanding a price - total obedience. It would be a Fall from Eden storyline, but it would also once again answer the question once and for all.

Of course, the other main point Alan Moore makes is that a super being would shift the world balance of power. Superman: Red Son explores this by looking at how the Soviet Union might have exploited their god against the atomic bomb and other things the US might do. It appears that Scott Snyder is exploring this idea with Superman Unchained and the super being that the army has, but I’m a few issues behind, so I’m unsure whether that’s the case. Either way, it’s something DC has dealt with by having Superman declare he’s a citizen of the world, but the fact remains that he lives and works in the USA. His family and friends are in the USA. If there were another World War would he truly sit on the sidelines? Would he stop war? How would he do that and what consequences would it lead to? Would the entire world turn against him because he was essentially dictating winners and losers? (Which goes against the human spirit) In Watchmen Dr. Manhattan leads to US dominance of the world, but it also leads to instability as the USSR worked harder than in the real world to try and come up with a counter to Dr Manhattan. This puts the world at greater danger and is one of the main plot points of Watchmen revolving around Ozymandias’ plans.

The other author who considered what it might be like if Superman were real was Mark Waid with Irredeemable. In all but origin, The Plutonian is exactly like Superman, only in a more realistic world. (The reason for this is essentially the ending of the entire series, but suffice to say that Mark Waid got the idea while talking to Grant Morrison when he was writing Superman) Just like Superman, he works at a media company. Just like Superman he falls in love with someone who only knows his civilian identity. And just like Superman, and unlike Dr. Manhattan, he is not the only super powered person in the world. The Plutonian doesn’t grow detached with humanity, he cracks - he goes crazy little by little until the final straw breaks. He ends up exacting revenge on everyone who ever wronged him, fails to see why what he’s doing is wrong, and goes on a path that is halfway between wanton destruction and a demand to be the world leader. In Irredeemable, the private citizens act more like real world citizens. People are constantly criticizing The Plutonian for doing a good job, but not an awesome job. Someone he saves complains about holes in his boat. (Think of the central plot point of The Incredibles) His super hearing exposes him to all the criticisms about him - including about his looks. And that’s what causes him to crack. This is something I don’t think anyone has seriously considered with Superman outside of a throwaway issue here and there. He may see the good in people, but wouldn’t the constant criticism wear him out? We see that play out with Spider-Man and it’s why he’s quit or retired a few times when he just couldn’t take it anymore. At different points in the story, The Plutonian decides to lobotomize or kill people in his way. At some point Superman should have atomized or incapacitated his rivals. Whether he should have made Lex Luthor an invalid depends on whether the current interpretation has any redeemable qualities (as was the case in Red Son), but enemies like Darkseid should be killed if they aren’t immortal. They don’t care about life and nothing but the moral high ground is to be gained by keeping them alive.

These are just a few ways that Superman might exist in the real world where people make mistakes and can’t stay cheery just because they were raised in small town America. What are some other ways you think Superman would be different in the real world? (Either speculation or other comics that have looked at similar issues)

Superman Unchained by Scott Snyder Irredeemable by Mark Waid Watchmen by Alan Moore