To make him relevant, without completely re-inventing the character, all you need to do is address all the things that make him irrelevant.
Sounds simple enough right?
So let's start at the beginning...
The origin
This could do with a bit more scientific authenticity, but otherwise is fairly solid in general terms.
I'd have Krypton's sun originally be yellow - so every Kryptonian for most of their history has also been "super."
Perhaps they did this by programmed evolution - genetically engineered as a species to be almost godlike under a yellow sun - a more scientific explanation for why Kryptonians are this way than just by random evolutionary accident that doesn't really make sense. Creatures don't evolve genetic advantages for an environment they're not native to, so why would beings living under a red sun develop genetic advantages for a yellow one? Being genetically engineered for their own sun - a YELLOW one - is the only way it makes sense.
Then when their sun suddenly turns red (through some event perhaps - yellow suns don't generally become red giants without some advance warning), they become powerless and are screwed, and because they aren't used to relying on "machines" except for menial tasks, they are unable to save themselves or their planet in time.
(Also would make for a very harrowing dramatic moment - Kryptonians dropping out of the sky as the sun turns red...)
Jor-el is the exception of course, and precisely why he sends Kal to Earth doesn't really need to be changed much. I'm not so sure about the "grand destiny" thing though - too mystical - I'd prefer it if it was just a safe environment for his son, rather than some "fortune telling" pre-destiny thing.
There is a logic disconnect with the "pre-destiny" idea too - if Jor-el can predict the future of his son on a planet light years away, why couldn't he have predicted the death of Krypton and planned a more comprehensive escape?
Keep it simple. He may be very smart, but clearly he isn't godlike in his omniscience or his son wouldn't be the last survivor of his planet.
Maybe we are even distant relatives of Kryptonians - part of a 'seeding' program for human-like beings - developing at different times and at different rates, but otherwise very similar - this could also be why Jor-el sends him to Earth and why he would have an "investment" in our future - because we are, in fact, related. He may be the last son of Krypton, but the universe is full of distant "relatives" - so he does have
something to fight for, without grasping for esoteric, contrived reasons for why he should.
Nerdy science note: We can already program genes - see
Craig Venter's work - it's only a matter of time before we start engineering "better" humans - and not just individually, but at the genetic level, species wide (longer life, stronger bones, hearts, tendons and muscles, greater brain capacity, super senses, etc.) - and sunlight is one of the most plentiful "free" energy sources available to us, so it makes sense for us to utilise photosynthesis as a way of supplying energy for these "upgrades", so it isn't too far fetched to envisage his powers as being possible for us when we advance sufficiently.
The Kents
The hardest part of this to swallow is the lack of government spooks tracking Kal's pod and being all over the Kents the moment it lands. In Marvel's Squadron Supreme, they dealt with this in their Hyperion parallel by having the "Kents" be part of a government controlled environment program for the alien child, although I know that would be a tough sell for Superman fans, but how else to explain the lack of MIB all over it?
If you can overcome that bit of illogic somehow (the Kents get there first, take the baby, but leave the pod? They'd leave tracks... the spooks would thoroughly search the entire area, house by house, for miles around if they thought there was an "occupant" missing...), then his upbringing doesn't need changing at all otherwise really.
The simplest explanation for the lack of spooks would be some kind of stealth technology on the pod of course (thanks to MassExecutions1 for that one). I'm not for the idea that the Kents were deliberately targeted as "suitable" parents, because we're stepping into omniscience and fortune telling territory again and that; me no likey. Again, keep it simple, keep the contrivances to a minimum and there'll be fewer logical traps to fall into.
Smallville
I liked the idea of Smallville when it first came out (and they seem to have understood Luthor better than any other filmmakers have), but it soon showed up the "holes" in the Superman mythos. It should have lasted for 3 seasons max. then Clark should have left to see the world.
Clark needs to stop hanging on to his momma's skirts! He needs to go see the world, learn a bit about the species on the planet he calls home now, because although I'm no expert on Kansas, I'm fairly sure that if you stay there your whole life, your experience of humanity as a whole will be fairly limited. If Smallville is anything to go by, it's NOTHING like the world I live in, put it that way.
The above is one of my biggest problems with Smallville now, before we even get to the poor quality of the program itself. How old is he now? 29? 30? He can't be Superman, a leader and an inspiration to men everywhere, a beacon of light and hope, a paragon of truth, justice and liberty IF HE HASN'T EVEN LIVED.
Take it from someone over 40 - I couldn't take advice or inspiration from a guy who's only ever lived with his mamma and hasn't seen the world outside his bloody village and the nearest city!
Superman needs to be a man of the world - a man who's seen every aspect of humanity, its bright side, its dark side, the affluent, the poor, the downtrodden, the repressed - so he knows what the [frick] he's talking about.
And that brings us to:
Rescuing cats from trees
Make him respond to real problems in the world - wars, poverty, corruption, corporate greed, even politics and religion (although I know they'll never let him go there) - the things people care about. As TM07 said, as per Dr Manhattan, a figure like him would undoubtedly have a huge impact on the world and it just isn't "realistic" not to address that.
Yes, have the main focus of any movie being the "unusual" - your Doomsdays, Darkseids, Braniacs, etc. - but it should be clear that Superman's "everyday" life does involve dealing with these more mundane perhaps, but still huge problems. If you do ignore them, then Superman is absolutely irrelevant for sure - because clearly he doesn't live in a world where what matters to us matters to him.
Not wanting to get involved in "politics" is simply not an option. He is political simply by existing. Even if he makes a conscious decision not to get involved in any wars, for example, then by his inaction he's making a conscious decision to let hundreds, thousands, maybe millions suffer and die for his "neutrality." This IS the difference between him and us. Individually we CAN'T stop wars, but would if we could (I would). He CAN, but won't. I can't get behind that.
The ridiculous
They also need to address some of the more unbelievable aspects of the character - no, not the flying and heat vision, which, thanks to genetic engineering is more than believable these days, but things like Lois not being able to recognise him when he wears glasses.
To those who say "but in the comics they just can't", I say "do you want to buy a bridge?" YOU might be able to accept that as an explanation, but for those of us who want a modicum of logic and sense with our fantasy, it just won't wash.
My solution - she can. He tries the glasses and dork hairstyle, but Lois isn't fooled for a moment; "So Clark Kent is Superman. Seriously, that's your disguise? Do we really appear that stupid to you?"
Just why does he need to keep his identity secret from Lois? We all know she finds out sooner or later, so why go through the farce of pretending that she can't recognise him immediately?
To hold on to this "because in the comics it is so and so it must remain" is just ridiculous frankly when to do so relegates them to "childish nonsense" and prevents them from ever elevating to something a broader audience can accept without giggling.
I can understand him keeping it secret from the general public - so he would have to make sure there are NEVER any photographs of Clark in the paper, on the news, etc. for anyone else to analyse - but it's unlikely he can completely prevent that unless he never goes out - and even then the whole secret identity thing is extremely fragile for someone who doesn't wear a mask, so, for me, the whole Clark Kent thing is a time bomb just waiting to explode in his face.
Let it, I say, because the longer it remains in place the more ridiculous it seems. Let his "outing" be part of his story - run with it - adapt to it. Just please don't wipe anyone's memory ever again. I'm not buying that, not for a dollar, not for a cent. Line in the sand. Secret identity - deal with it!
I'd even consider doing away with "Clark" or reducing him to moments of necessity only, because, as I mentioned in an
earlier article on CBM.com, to spend much of his time as Clark Kent means he is neglecting his "duties" as Superman - wilfully letting people die/suffer when he could do something about it if only he was bothered (sure, everyone needs SOME time off, but Superman never gets tired or needs rest, so to spend upwards of 8 or more hours per day as Clark is just negligent frankly and borderline sociopathic if you wanted to look at it closely enough - "screw that kid drowning, I'm having a coffee with Lois").
To make him relevant you have to make his situation believable. We have to empathise with him. He's like the ultimate fireman/policeman/paramedic/coastguard - always on call, always ready to leap into action, often under appreciated except when needed, but never complaining, always reliable and helpful...
But privately, we might see the strain it exacts, the toll it takes on his emotions, the stress he endures every moment of his life (he must constantly have to prioritise which lives he saves, for example).
This is where Lois can really shine - and play a relevant, vital part of his life. Someone he can talk to (and thus talk to us) about his inner feelings. Their relationship would provide the grounding around which everything else rotates - pretty much as it always has - but adapting that relationship to the "realities" of the world around them, rather than having their relationship never evolving beyond what it has been for over half a century "because that's the way it's always been", even if it's no longer relevant or believable in a modern context.
EPIC
It's SUPERMAN!
Don't be shy. Don't think small. Put him in war zones, being punched through mountains (and buildings)- and give him a villain worthy of him - show what Superman can really do (apart from just lifting really heavy things and bouncing bullets off his eyes).
But - use his powers intelligently - he should NEVER be taken off guard like he was by Luthor in Returns. Use his telescopic and x-ray vision and his super hearing to "scout ahead", checking for traps, hidden weapons and the like. Just put yourself in his shoes and try to think like he would in any situation. No more cheese please.
I could go on, but these are a few things I'd change up about Superman to make him more relevant for today. Yes it would mean some fairly significant changes to some possibly "sacred" traditions, but really, do we need Clark and Lois to behave like they live in Pleasantville in order to remain in our hearts, or to make Superman continue to ignore the world around him in order for him not to be "dirtied" in our minds?
Perhaps, maybe, the legend can survive modernising - and dealing with the implications of such a being living on our planet - without "breaking" what made him a legend in the first place.
None of the above changes would break anything for me. Quite the opposite - they'd fix what's broken about him now...
Note: This was originally a post on another thread, but someone suggested it might make a good article - cheers ThaMessenger07 - so here it is...