Why Clark Kent Being The Real Persona Is Better

I agree with your article! NO MORE BUMBLING REPORTER CRAP. Give us a cool/ suave/ CONFIDENT Clark Kent.

And yeah, Clark Kent being the real persona would be nice, very Dean Cain-esque!

STAS (Superman the Animated Series) and L&C New Adventures of Superman (Dean Cain series) proved this formula works great! I just don't understand why the movies never picked up on this before. 5 films in and not ONE of them used this formula. Stupid movies.

These are the only two Clark Kents that actually made me take the guy seriously




Instead all we ever get is THIS bumbling mess-


And please no more of the crappy, land-grabber Lex-



Aside from the hair, I thought Shea's version was very dead-on with the corrupt-CEO angle, plus he was suave and sophisticated and the hair was implied for him to come off as being very good-looking yet underneath the handsome exterior was a calculated evil mastermind. Clancy Brown's was the GREATEST of course- And of course Rosenbaum's ;D







For some reason, this picture really makes me wanna warp inside and beat the crap out of these 3 jerk-wads...

@JM4Superman- Yep, Singer ruined Superman's image and brand. Now the franchise is seen as cinematic kryptonite because of the mess he created.

btw- I edited my above comment with bigger text, lol so it is easier to read!

Again- GREAT article buddy! Keep up the great work!

I agree on the Clark Kent angle, I really hope they make him a normal guy and not a idiot. That picture above ticks me off, those 3 assholes ruined my favorite character.

Thank God there are other people in the world who are sick and tired of the bumbling idiot version of Clark Kent. Seriously, CK would have NEVER made it as a professional journalist with a major, world-wide publication acting like that. I fail to understand how anyone can subscribe to the theory that CK can grow up on a farm (no place for bumbling idiots) with the foster parents he had and end up as the greatest superhero the world has ever seen and go from day to day as a buffoon. Superman is stoic, determined, and resolute as well as a persona created so that he can do what he does and still lead a somewhat normal life. Clark Kent is who he always was since childhood. A good man with a good career in journalism who can relax, loosen up the tie and even has a fun side to him.

I've taken a lot of heat on this site for defending Dean Cain's performance as both Clark Kent and Superman, but I stand firm in my opinion. For everything the writer's of L&C didn't do well, that is one thing they did very right.

@ Knightstalker I felt people needed to know

@JM4Superman

Preach on, man, preach on!

That's what I want to see. Clark wasn't always so bumbling. Bring me a Clark Kent who's "down to Earth". Not the mild-mannered, reckless, pouring coffee on himself mess that some people are stuck under. Dean Cain was a great interpretation of Clark in the city, and hopefully we'll see a Clark with Cain and Welling's traits as well as his own new quirks in the new film.

@teabag, mastarockafella, TheLight and Sturmpionier- RIGHT ON GUYS!!!!

Seems like all of us want the same thing- A COOL/CONFIDENT Clark Kent.

Reeve version is a thing of the past ;D

Yeah i wish the comics would go back to the Byrne/Cain version that was my favorite.

@BIGBMH
What exactly do you disagree with?

@LP4 Exactly

Well I didn't want to turn it into an argument of how Clark should be portrayed, but since people are asking for an explanation, here I go.

Let me preface this whole thing with IMO because that's all any of this character discussion ever is.

IMO... The statement “Superman is what I can do, Clark Kent is who I am” just doesn't feel right. What is this, your 9 to 5? Don't get me wrong. I love Dean Cain's portrayal of Clark and Superman, but let's be honest. There's very little difference between them. Their voices sound the same, they're both strong, bold characters. Superman is just more formal. By making Clark Kent the real personality you take away some of the purpose of being Superman. The colors, the symbol, it's all an expression of his heritage. This is a person who has had to keep what he can do to himself for most of his life. While he's Superman, he saying "This is me. This is what I represent." If Superman isn't who he is, the self-esxpression and self-fulfilment of being Superman are gone. The other way around, it's not just something he does, it's who he is. This is what his life is about and what gives it meaning.

Now you can take that argument or leave it. I would probably make it better in a full article, but I've already written a lot about my portayal of Clark. Anyway, since I've made my case for that, let's move on to the disguise part. Superman wears no mask beacuse he wants to trusted as he's presenting his true self. Therefore, since he is making little effort to disguise himself as a hero, he must disguise his other half. He doesn't need glasses, but he wears them anyway, a trait inherent to the character that indicates that Clark Kent is a disguise and that while he is like this he is pretendng to be something he is not. However, glasses are not the whole disguise. It's an entire persona. (@LP4 I never said anything about going back to the Reeve version) While he doesn't necesarilly have to be nerdy, there has to be a strong distinction. (Again, if Superman is "what he does" that indicates that Superman's personality really isn't that different than Clark's. The statement is not "Superman is who I am when I'm out there" it's "Superman is the activity of me, Clark Kent, saving people while wearing tights.") Mild-mannered doesn't mean bumbling and nerdy. It means he's toning down his personality to keep a low profile. He could just be the unassuming guy from a small town, which is really the way he started in STAS. Whatever the Clark Kent personality, it should be something that makes it so that no one would ever even consider the possibility that he's Superman, something that I believe the Dean Cain approach does not accomplish.

@LP4, I get what your saying and I think Clark Kent can be the disguise with being overtly geeky.

Superman should be stripped back to his timeless essential elements.

1). Superman was created in 1938 with no known physical weakness. It should never be a question of who is the strongest hero.

He should eat Kryptonite for breakfast. It wasn't until 1949 (Superman #61) that Kryptonite was introduced.

Fan Boys shouldn't assume that Thor, Silver Surfer, Hulk, Squirrel Girl can take out Superman. They do this because the Post-crisis Superman is a wimp (even Lex Luthor in a battle suit can knock him out).

The real Superman would wake up in the morning punch holes through Galactus, stick Silver Surfer's board up his chrome a$$, knock out the Hulk with his pinky, and beat Thor with his own hammer before sitting down in the morning to eat a bowl of crispy crunchy Kryptonite.

The real Superman laughs at Magic. At most, it tickles. So, I won't go there.

The original concept of Superman can do what any superhero can do, but he can do it better (because he was the first). He is the ultimate hero. In all of the comic-verses combined there is the singular God [the one you worship on Sunday], and #2 is Superman.

2). Clark Kent is a cover. The bumbling works if it is done correctly. He bumbles in order to shove people out of harms way and save their lives. He acts as a coward in order to turn into Superman without drawing any attention to himself.

The contrast between Clark and Superman should be so severe that no one associates Superman with Clark Kent. The glasses alone aren't enough of a cover.

Superman should be everything Clark isn't; Superman is dashing, elegant, has great posture, is brave, easy going, isn't nervous, strong, isn't sloppy, isn't soft spoken, and is a natural leader. All those things, are things that no one associates with Clark Kent.

3). "All-Star Superman" by Grant Morrison was one of the few Superman Comics of the last 30 years to understand this [only 12 issues]. The comic won the Eisner for “Best New Series” in 2006, and “Best Continuing Series” in 2007 and 2009.

3.5). Superman's personality according to Grant Morrison, “Superman would be totally chilled. If nothing can hurt you, you can afford to be cool. A man like Superman would never have to tense against the cold; never have to flinch in the face of a blow. He would be completely laid back, un-tense.”

A complete overhaul of John Byrne's weakling Superman who struggle to lift an airplane without getting a herniated disk in his back.

@AlexanderLuthor...Sorry dude, I appreciate your point of view, but I just can't agree with it. You just can't spend your whole life on a farm in Kansas (even if you eventually realize you are an extremely powerful alien) and then disown everything that makes up who you are to be a superhero. Clark as the disguise is part of what makes Superman fail in the movies. People just can't relate to him. It's time to put the Donner/Lester version of Superman/Clark Kent/Kal-El to rest.