There is no denying that the DC Cinematic Universe looks to be darker than the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Fans have discussed and criticized both the latest Batman v Superman trailer, and Superman’s most recent outing, questioning everything from Superman’s morals to the color palette.
Yesterday, Charles Moss of “The Atlantic” released an essay that takes a closer look at Superman’s roots, his morals, and the criticism that fans have given Zack Snyder’s “Man of Steel”.
Moss wrote,
“But what many fans don’t realize is that Superman hasn’t always been the Big, Blue Boy Scout they’ve come to know and love. In fact, in the very early stages of the character’s development, he wasn’t a hero at all, but a villain. And even after Superman became an enforcer of good in his earlier years, his brand of justice was as gray, morally speaking, as the color palette Snyder’s films embrace. In other words, the newest incarnation of Superman isn’t so much a betrayal of the character’s origins as it is a perhaps unwitting return to them.”
Moss is talking about how Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster first published the character in a 1933 short story called
“Reign of the Superman”, thankfully, Siegel had second thoughts….
Moss stated that in this short, Superman was portrayed as
“A bald supervillain not unlike Lex Luthor. Instead of physical superpowers, though, Superman had the power to read and control people’s minds, all in an effort to take over the world. Siegel, however, had second thoughts about Superman as a villain and reimagined him as a hero—some speculate that the inspiration for the change was the murder of his father at the hands of a robber. The revised character had enough strength to lift a car and the ability to jump great distances, exactly one-eighth of a mile.”
Athough, now a hero, Siegel’s Superman was still seen as more of an enforcer….
“When the comic book was still a nascent medium in the late 1930s and early 40s, Superman was more of an enforcer on behalf of the poor and disenfranchised. He rallied against the social injustices created by the corporate and political greed that led to the Great Depression. In the beginning, Shuster and Siegel’s Superman was very much grounded in the real-world problems facing many Americans: poverty, inadequate housing conditions, mobster violence, and corporate and political corruption. In his book Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book, Gerard Jones describes the early Superman in this way, “This was a grim, almost cruel Superman. His feats had no flamboyance ... The whole strip had the metallic odor of the early Depression.”
In the early comics, dating back to the first issue of
Action Comics, Superman would do things that today’s Superman would never get away with, things that would make Snyder’s Superman look like a boy scout.
“In the first issue of Action Comics, Superman faces off against a female criminal wielding a gun. She shoots at him and as he grabs her gun, crushes it in his hand, and threatens to do the same to her, something the “newer” Superman wouldn’t dream of doing.
"In another story, a villain threatens to shoot Superman, who responds by threatening to shoot him in return. Superman lives more by the Old Testament code of an “eye for an eye” rather than the “turn the other cheek” philosophy of Jesus’ Biblical sequel. This might not sound like a big deal, but Superman over the years has morphed into an ideal for fans to aspire to; as a symbol of hope, he’s held to a higher standard. As Marlo Brando, as Superman’s father Jor-El, says to his son in Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie, “They can be a great people, Kal-El. They wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all—their capacity for good—I have sent them you, my only son.”
More importantly, in the early comics, Superman makes threats and delivers them, threatening not only Super Villains, but mere mortals….
“In one story, a madman with a container of poisonous gas drops it on the floor as Superman advances toward him. As the gas fills the air, choking the man, Superman watches him die saying, “You’re only getting a taste of the fate you planned to doom others to,” effectively being a murderer by purposely refusing to save him. (And it happens other timesthroughout the hero’s 77-year-history). In another scenario, Superman threatens to leave two criminals hanging underneath an airplane as it’s about to land. He tells them what to expect if they don’t give him answers: “When the plane lands, you won’t make a pretty sight. Confess, or I won’t release you.” Luckily for the thugs and for readers, they do.”
After “
The Adventures of Superman” began airing on the radio in 1940, this all changed, and Superman’s darker, more grounded approach was a thing of the past. There is a lot more to this thoughtful article and if you have a chance I encourage you to check it out, it’s a fun read and really dives into the history of Superman.
Superman's Dark Past by Charles Moss ...
Thanks for reading…. Are you looking forward to Batman v Superman? Is it too Dark? Sound off in the comments
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is an upcoming American
superhero film featuring the
DC Comicscharacters
Batman and
Superman. It is intended to be the second installment in the
DC Comics' cinematic universe films. The film is directed by
Zack Snyder, with a screenplay written by
Chris Terrio and
David S. Goyer. The cast includes
Ben Affleck,
Henry Cavill,
Amy Adams,
Jesse Eisenberg,
Diane Lane,
Laurence Fishburne,
Jeremy Irons,
Holly Hunter and
Gal Gadot.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will be the first live-action film to feature both Batman and Superman.
The film is scheduled to be released in the United States on March 25, 2016 in 2D, 3D, and IMAX 3D.