Superman Isn't Boring

When I was a lad, my two moral benchmarks were Superman and Jesus. It may seem silly to put them on similar footing, but as examples to a young boy can you really say that Superman is any less qualified than a carpenter from Nazareth? And if I’m being honest, while sitting in church flipping through the Bible I was much more likely to land upon and reread the story of the strong-man Sampson than I was the story of Jesus, so I suppose even then my heart was leaning towards Superman.

As an adult, I’ve parted ways with Christianity, but my dedication to Kal-El has yet to waiver. Today marks the release of the new Superman movie, Man of Steel. I have yet to see it, but it does offer a good reason to discuss the   most common criticism I hear about the Superman character: That he’s boring, followed closely by the critique that he’s one-dimensional. For Superman's 75th birthday, Motherboard's Brian Merchant said that his boring qualities are a good thing, but I'd counter that while it's occasionally justified, calling Superman boring is misguided.

Boring is a pretty subjective word. I sometimes subject my friends to playing darts or dominoes when down at the local watering hole. They may find these games boring, but I don’t. I can accept differences of opinion, but here’s my refutation nonetheless. Superman, in his 75 years of existence, has become one of the most recognizable and iconic characters on the planet. I defy you to find someone who doesn’t recognize his crimson ‘S’.

However, he is also owned by a very large corporation, with a vested interest in keeping Supes vanilla to try and make him as relatable as possible to as many people as possible. While that does indeed lead to boring stories from time to time, that doesn’t make the character himself boring, just owned by sometimes-boring overlords. If you do think Superman is boring, I will submit you just haven’t been reading the right stories.

As for being one-dimensional, we’re talking about a man with three identities. He’s Clark Kent, farmboy from Kansas trying to make it in the big city as a reporter; he’s Superman, hero to all the earth; and he’s Kal-El, last son of a dead planet. That’s at least three dimensions. It’s just math.

One shocking oversight from the critique that old-man Supes is past his prime is that it ignores his origin. We all know the basics: a baby's born on a dying world, his parents put him in a rocket to save him, he lands on Earth and is raised by the kindest couple imaginable, giving him the moral fiber to become the greatest hero Earth has ever known (far more Moses than Jesus if you ask me). It is a timeless tale, but there is some deeper context to be had.

Kal-El is an immigrant to our world, which is a metaphor that I can only assume was not lost to Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, both sons of immigrants themselves. The immigrant tale is a powerful American icon, especially in the context of the Great Depression. Here were two poor boys creating stories about a man who grew up during harsh times in a foreign land, but instead of becoming embittered, he decided to use his abilities to help. To me, that's America. We are a land of people who came here because they wanted something better. Superman embodies the ultimate ideal of actually achieving that goal, and then giving back to his adopted home in the best way that he can.

Beyond the practical help he provides, Superman shows us that it’s worth trying to help. That it’s worth trying to make this world a better place for us all. That as both man and Superman we can change things for the better. And that maybe, just maybe, our frailties are false, and our meekness is simply hiding a much deeper strength. Superman cannot solve all the world’s problems, and neither can we, but he reminds me that it’s a noble deed to do my best.

It’s like the words from the new movie that Jor-El speaks to his infant son:

You will give the people an ideal to strive towards.
They will race behind you. They will stumble, they will fall.
But in time, they will join you in the sun.
In time, you will help them accomplish wonders.

I love that. He’s not just here to save us, he’s here to show us the way. It makes a lot of sense. The best plan for Superman not to feel alone isn’t to sink to our level, but to help us rise up to his. He can change the course of a mighty river to help us out, but in the end it’s about us also stepping up to be super too.

I kind of expect that to be the major theme of the new movie: am I Clark Kent or am I Kal-El? I don’t think there’s a right answer, and plenty have offered their own interpretation—even Quentin Tarantino through the mouth of Bill—but it’s a fun question to keep exploring.

To bring it back down to Earth a little bit, I honestly get where Superman is coming from. I was raised to do the right thing, I consistently feel like I’m letting everyone down by not being everywhere all at once, I sometimes feel lonely even surrounded by people I know love me, and I often feel like I’m pretending to be who people around me expect me to be. Don’t we all?

No matter how powerful we may be, these feelings persist. And in spite of all that, Superman shows that, even when we hide our true selves, and feel scared and alone and that nothing we ever do will be enough, we can still stand tall against injustice, and try mightily to help someone else. So is Superman boring? Absolutely not, because I refuse to believe that good can't be exciting.