As much as I love the music that accompanies Superman properties, and as much as I enjoyed the animated series growing up, I cannot bring myself to like Superman as a character, and it’s not just because he’s overpowered.

To me, Superman is an excellent example of a character created to solve a problem, and one held back by its creation.  Superman was created to instill a sense of hope, goodness, and to a point patriotism in a population facing the Great Depression, and then World War II.  He was meant to be ideal, and insurmountable, and he has remained that way but while it is good that his goals have been met and maintained, it is perhaps worrying that he has been unable to change as a character in his tenure.  

Superman’s the boyscout who will do no wrong, or he’s the dictator who prevents all things he sees as wrong.  Unlike other heroes with a ‘tragic’ backstory, Superman has little to motivate him into going down the right path besides ‘it’s the right thing to do’, and this isn’t bad, but it is bland.  On the occasions that his beliefs are pushed, most often in Otherworld timelines, his ‘right thing’ mentality supersedes reason and right to make him a controlling force in the world, rather than a protecting one.  This is clearly shown in the recent Injustice line, but also in earlier storylines in comics and cartoons alike.

Superman is severely overpowered, and as you say he’s meant to be so.  This is great for an ideal character meant to inspire, or a Messianic character as Supes is often portrayed.  It’s not a particularly good trait for a character though, at least not one that is meant to mingle with the common folk, or who would need assistance which, depending on who’s writing the story and determining the limits of Supes’s powers, renders the JLA a rather moot point. 

Perhaps my greatest issue with Superman is that if he wasn’t one of DC’s big 3, or wasn’t such a long standing character, he probably wouldn’t be accepted by many fans today.  If taken out of the DC universe, or considered an OC Superman embodies most every aspect of a Mary Sue character that is close to being justified.  He’s a perfect character, and that’s not a good thing.  Perfection is unattractive, it is unattainable, and it is unrelatable.  

Superman, at least to me, stands as a great role model, but a terrible character because he’s the perfect ‘character’.  His flaws are self-imposed rather than being dynamic or organic.  His personality is generally one sided and tends to be either black or white with little moral grey area in between.  He’s a great character to introduce kids to, and to idolize but a poor one in many other regards.

As always, everyone’s entitled to their own opinions, and to support them as Nathan has done, but every opinion is open to debate and counterpoints.

This has been a random rant.