• merc@sh.itjust.works
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    2 days ago

    The funniest thing is that the superhero they have a problem with is Superman.

    If it were Batman, that would be different. Batman isn’t a pure-hearted hero, he’s a more complex character. If it had been someone in the X-Men, or pretty much any Avenger other than Captain America, there would be room for a discussion.

    But, Superman is such a good, kind-hearted hero that it’s basically impossible to be a good person and be anti-Superman.

    • mad_lentil@lemmy.ca
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      21 hours ago

      But, Superman is such a good, kind-hearted hero that it’s basically impossible to be a good person and be anti-Superman.

      Right, the main complaint is that he’s so perfect it’s boring.

      And also that he has a pretty Western/USA centric sense of morality, which you think Western chauvinists like conservatives would eat right up.

      • MrFinnbean@lemmy.world
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        9 hours ago

        Personally i like stories where he strugless more with how yo use his powers without becoming a despot.

        Its so intresting tought experiment how much some one who is basically a god should intervine before it is too much.

        At what point enforcing law becomes tyranny.

    • madcaesar@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Absolutely.

      I know people can call superman boring, but to me what makes him even more amazing is that he has enough power to basically dominate everyone… But he doesn’t, he always chooses to do the right thing and tries to give people a second chance.

      It’s part of the reason Zach Schneider’s Superman sucked balls, because they tried to make him some dark edge lord that literally kills in the first fucking movie.

      Supes is the last hero that remains as some sort of beacon of hope and fairness, which naturally goes against the fascist mindset.

      A red hatter cannot comprehend having power and not using it to subjugate or enforce your will. It simply does not compute in their lead infested brains.

      • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
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        16 hours ago

        they would like viltrumites from the invicible universe then, they are just a nazi version of superman, but without sun enhancements or weakness to kyrptonite.

      • merc@sh.itjust.works
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        1 day ago

        I think it’s a challenge to make superman interesting because he’s both so powerful and so good. That’s why, when I read / watch DC stuff, I like it when he’s a side character, not the main character. I think Captain America is the Marvel universe’s equivalent of Superman in terms of personality / attitude. But, he doesn’t have anywhere near Superman’s power, which is why it’s easier to write interesting stories with him.

        You’re completely right that that’s the mindblowing part of Superman – that he has all this power, but he doesn’t use it to reshape the world. Instead, he saves people from dying, whenever he can. And, he stops people from hurting other people.

        I think a lot of the conservative mindset is that there are people who are supposed to be at the top, and people who are supposed to be at the bottom. If you’re at the top, it’s because you deserve to be there. If you deserve to be there, you have the right to impose your will on the people below you. Superman is undeniably at the top in terms of power, but he refuses to wield his power. That doesn’t make sense if your world view is that might is right.

        • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
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          16 hours ago

          they would want superman to be like, DARKSEID, which is undoublty stronger than he is , or any of the other new GODs, or even trigon.

    • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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      1 day ago

      The biggest super hero fan I know said that he doesn’t like Superman. Confused by this I asked him why, and he had a pretty good point.

      His reason was that, Superman generally isn’t physically challenged. In most cases the only issue he faces is trying to figure out what is going on. After that, Superman wins every time. The only exception is with kryptonite. His literal only weakness.

      So all plot lines boil down to a mystery, followed by some flashy scenes of Superman going Superman stuff, the end; with the only real exception being “bad guys have kryptonite”. It’s boring.

      And you know what? He makes a good point.

      None of this goes against anything you say, it’s just one person’s opinion (not even mine). The only reason I’m posting this is to say, it’s possible to dislike Superman content, but that doesn’t and shouldn’t imply someone is anti-Superman.

      Food for thought.

      • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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        1 day ago

        It’s probably the main reason that there are games about pretty much every superhero going, but Superman always gets skipped. Superman 64 is the classic example, due to how dire it was. There’s been a few attempts since then, but nothing popular and the last was about 20 years ago.

        The only real threat to Superman is to attack the things he cares about.

        I kind of like the subversion of Superman type characters, like Dr Manhattan (what if Superman was indifferent?) or Homelander (what if Superman was a cunt?)

        • Englishgrinn@lemmy.ca
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          1 day ago

          I forget the title but there was a Superman game on original Xbox that gave Metropolis a health bar, Not Superman.

          Beating up bad guys, stopping disasters and completing missions helped the city survive. Getting hit meant a few seconds where you were inactive and the city might take more damage.

          It was a pretty inspired idea honestly. I don’t think the game was excellent but good design choice.

          • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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            1 day ago

            Theater was the Superman Returns movie tie-in. The game wasn’t good, but the health system for the city was a neat idea, and the flying was AMAZING.

            There’s never been a bad game with an element I enjoyed so much as Superman Returns and the flying.

        • Katana314@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          Maybe a decent Superman game could emphasize the D in DC comics; and have you mostly play as Clark Kent trying to solve a mystery, occasionally using X-Ray vision or Super Speed to gather facts. A common challenge might be trying to get past a security desk to find answers without triggering any alarms or causing the guard harm.

          • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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            22 hours ago

            Or they could do something like the One Punch Man game, where you can select Saitama and he will destroy anyone else without effort (unless it’s a mirror match, in which case it’s a normal fight). But, because it’s Saitama, he’s always running late.

            So you pick teams of 3 and if Saitama is on yout team, you have to survive with just 2 until he gets there.

            So a game where you play as someone else but superman can show up and stomp everything before going off to do something else could work. You’ve gotta survive until he gets there and maybe do things to get his attention or help resolve some other issue he’s dealing with.

      • nutbutter@discuss.tchncs.de
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        1 day ago

        Death of Superman, Reign of Supermen, Superman Allstar. There are many film/scenarios, where superman has to fight someone actually stronger than he is. Even in Justice League Dark Apokolips, he is captured first, and then injected with Kryptonite.

        Your friend needs to watch/read more DC content.

        Some more examples with spoilers below.

        Tap for spoiler

        He even got mind controlled by Poison Ivy once. Hell, in the new game, Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League, he is mind controlled by Brainiac, and Wonder Woman having Kryptonite didn’t protect her from Superman.

        Superman has also done questionable things, even without being mind controlled, like in Batman The Dark Knight Returns Part 2, it is implied that he ripped out one arm of Oliver Queen, aka, Green Arrow, who was also member of Justice League, because the government of USA wanted to stop vigilantes. Then he also almost killed Batman, after being almost killed by Batman.

        • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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          1 day ago

          I get what you’re saying. The person in question knew more about the original source material than I ever have, and I’m just relaying their opinion.

          I’m usually entertained by Superman stories, personally. They might be boring, they might be woke, they might be a million things, but as long as I find them entertaining, then I’ll keep watching.

        • Katana314@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          I think power on that scale gets harder to parse, a little bit like Dragonball Z fights. Many of Goku’s adversaries are capable of destroying whole planets, which makes anything else that happens in a season feel insignificant.

    • Lucky_777@lemmy.world
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      21 hours ago

      I was anti-superman for a long ass time. Currently, I’ve grown more found of the character but not because of some “woke” or some bullshit MAGA male ego.

      Superman is all powerful. Too powerful, IMO. When they finally killed Superman off with Doomsday, as I a kid…I rejoiced! Told my YMCA camp counselors it was a great day.

      Sadly, when they brought his ass back from the dead, like some DC Jesus. I was highly disappointed. Even though everyone else was so excited to see his return.

      I like the character more now and enjoyed the movie quite a bit. Just some childhood hate still stirs. Would love to see some Marvel characters go toe to toe with him on screen.

    • Mangoholic@lemmy.ml
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      1 day ago

      Batman is just a rich guy playing edgy superhero. In batman the villians are the stars.

      • leftzero@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        22 hours ago

        Batman is a lunatic occasionally playing rich playboy to finance his crusade against crime, born from untreated trauma.

        And most of his villains are just as insane as him.

        Gotham is basically a vicious circle of maniacs driving each other further insane.

      • Lucky_777@lemmy.world
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        21 hours ago

        Peak human and “the greatest detective” of all time. Also with prep, basically unbeatable. Rich guy comes in with the gadgets and cave.