Superman

This article is about the superhero. For other uses, see Superman (disambiguation).

Superman
File:SupermanRoss.png Art by Alex Ross
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Action Comics #1 (June 1938)
Created by	Jerry Siegel Joe Shuster
In-story information
Alter ego	Clark Kent
Species	Kryptonian
Place of origin	Krypton
Team affiliations	Justice League Legion of Super-Heroes
Partnerships	Supergirl Superboy (Kon-El) Batman Wonder Woman
Abilities	Superhuman strength, speed, stamina, intelligence, senses and longevity Flight Heat vision Freezing breath Extrasensory and visual powers, including X-ray vision Invulnerability

Superman is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster and first appeared in Action Comics #1 (cover-dated June 1938) and subsequently appeared in various radio serials, newspaper strips, television programs, films, and video games. With this success, Superman helped to create the superhero genre and establish its primacy within the American comic book.

Superman's appearance is distinctive and iconic; he usually wears a blue costume, red cape, and stylized red-and-yellow "S" shield on his chest. This shield is used in a myriad of media to symbolize the character. The origin story of Superman relates that he was born Kal-El on the planet Krypton, before being rocketed to Earth as an infant by his scientist father Jor-El, moments before Krypton's destruction. Discovered and adopted by a Kansas farmer and his wife, the child is raised as Clark Kent and imbued with a strong moral compass. Very early on he started to display various superhuman abilities, which, upon reaching maturity, he resolved to use for the benefit of humanity through a secret "Superman" identity. Superman resides and operates in the fictional American city of Metropolis. As Clark Kent, he is a journalist for the Daily Planet, a Metropolis newspaper. Superman's love interest is generally Lois Lane, and his archenemy is supervillain Lex Luthor. He is typically a member of the Justice League and close ally of Batman and Wonder Woman. Like other characters in the DC Universe, several alternate versions of Superman have been produced.

Superman is widely considered an American cultural icon. He has fascinated scholars, with cultural theorists, commentators, and critics alike exploring the character's impact and role in the United States and worldwide. The character's ownership has often been the subject of dispute, with Siegel and Shuster twice suing for the return of rights. The character has been adapted extensively into other forms of media as well, including films, television series, and video games. Actors George Reeves, Christopher Reeve, Brandon Routh, and Henry Cavill have portrayed Superman in major motion pictures.

Publication history

Creation and conception

"The Reign of the Superman" from Siegel's fanzine (January 1933)

In early 1933, while still in high school, Jerry Siegel wrote a short story, illustrated by his friend and classmate Joe Shuster, titled "The Reign of the Superman", which Siegel self-published in his fanzine, Science Fiction #3. The titular character is a vagrant who gains vast psychic powers from an experimental drug and uses them maliciously for profit and amusement, only to lose them and become a vagrant again, ashamed that he will be remembered only as a villain.

In June 1933, Siegel developed a new character, also named Superman, but now a heroic character, which Siegel felt would be more marketable. This was a journalist named Clark Kent who pretended to be meek and mild-mannered but was secretly the mighty Superman. He was enamored with Lois Lane, but she scorned Clark Kent and was attracted to Superman, not knowing that Kent and Superman were the same person. This early prototype of Superman was merely a strong human who had no superpowers, nor his familiar costume.

Siegel shared his idea with Shuster and they hastily put together a comic story titled "The Superman" and submitted it to Humor Publishing in Chicago, which released three proto-comic books in 1933. Although the duo received an encouraging letter, Humor published no further comics.

A rejected 1933 proposal by Siegel and Shuster

Siegel, believing publishers kept rejecting them because he and Shuster were young and unknown, looked for an established artist to replace Shuster. When Siegel told Shuster what he was doing, Shuster reacted by burning their rejected Superman comic, sparing only the cover.

Siegel solicited multiple artists and in 1934 Russell Keaton, who worked on the Buck Rogers comic strip, responded. In nine sample strips Keaton produced based on Siegel's treatment, the Superman character further evolves: In the distant future, when Earth is on the verge of exploding due to "giant cataclysms", the last surviving man sends his child back in time to the year 1935, where he is adopted by Sam and Molly Kent. The boy exhibits superhuman strength and bulletproof skin, and the Kents teach him to use his powers for good. However, the newspaper syndicates rejected their work and Keaton abandoned the project.

Siegel and Shuster reconciled and continued developing Superman. The character became an alien from the planet Krypton with the now-familiar costume: tight-fitting clothes with an "S" on the chest, over-shorts, and a cape.

Siegel and Shuster entered the comics field professionally in 1935, producing detective and adventure stories for the New York-based comic-book publisher National Allied Publications. Although National expressed interest in Superman, Siegel and Shuster wanted to sell Superman as a syndicated comic strip, believing syndication would give them more lucrative and stable work, but the newspaper syndicates all turned them down. Max Gaines, who worked at McClure Newspaper Syndicate, suggested they show their work to Detective Comics (which had recently bought out National Allied). Siegel recalled,

I resubmitted 'Superman' to him, together with other proposed comics. In early December, I visited Detective Comics, Inc. in New York and was invited to submit strips to be considered for their proposed new comic book, Action Comics. Soon after, I submitted 5 strips for consideration. Detective's publishers knew Gaines, and asked him to send to them strips, which McClure had decided against using itself, for possible inclusion in Action Comics. Gaines wrote and asked me for permission to send 'Superman' and other strips ... to Detective Comics, Inc. ... I consented. ...Vin Sullivan, editor of Detective Comics, Inc., wrote to me on January 10, 1938: "I have on hand now several features you sent.... The one feature I liked best, and the one that seems to fit into the proposed schedule, is that 'Superman'....

In March 1938, Siegel and Shuster sold all rights to the character to Detective Comics, Inc. for $130 (the equivalent of $2,800 when adjusted for inflation).

Publication

See also: Publication history of Superman, Superman (comic strip), List of Superman comics, and Superman (franchise)

Action Comics #1 (June 1938), the debut of Superman; cover art by Joe Shuster

Superman debuted as the cover feature of the anthology Action Comics #1 (cover-dated June 1938, published April 18, 1938). The series was an immediate success, and reader feedback showed that Superman was responsible. In June 1939, Detective Comics began a sister series, Superman, dedicated exclusively to the character. Action Comics eventually became dedicated to Superman stories, and both it and Superman have been published without interruption since 1938 (ignoring changes to the titles and numbering). A large number of other series and miniseries have been published as well. Sales of Action Comics and Superman declined steadily from the 1950s onward, but rose again starting in 1987, peaking in 1992 with the storyline "The Death of Superman". Superman has also appeared as a regular or semi-regular character in a number of superhero team series, such as Justice League of America and World's Finest Comics, and in spin-off series such as Supergirl.

Beginning in January 1939, a Superman daily comic strip appeared in newspapers, syndicated through the McClure Syndicate. A color Sunday version was added that November. The Sunday strips had a narrative continuity separate from the daily strips, possibly because Siegel had to delegate the Sunday strips to ghostwriters. Shuster drew the early strips, then passed the job to Wayne Boring. From 1949 to 1956, the newspaper strips were drawn by Win Mortimer. The strip ended in May 1966, but was revived from 1977 to 1983 to coincide with a series of movies released by Warner Bros.

Siegel wrote most of the comic-book and daily newspaper stories until he was conscripted in 1943. Shuster drew most of the art at first, but as his eyesight deteriorated, he outsourced the work to ghost-artists. While Siegel was serving in Hawaii, Detective Comics introduced a child version of Superman called "Superboy", based on a concept Siegel had submitted several years before. Siegel was furious because Detective did this without having bought the character. After Siegel's discharge from the Army, he and Shuster sued Detective (by then known as National Comics Publications) for the rights to Superman and Superboy. After settling out-of-court for the rights to both characters, National fired the two creators. Siegel was re-hired in 1957 but dismissed again in 1969 after he and Shuster filed a second lawsuit. In 1975, following a public outcry against poor treatment of comic creators, Warner Communications, which had bought National, agreed to insert the byline "Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster" into every Superman publication and production. In 2001, National, now known as DC Comics, agreed to add the line "By Special Arrangement with the Jerry Siegel Family" as part of a deal with the late Siegel's heirs to retain the rights to Superman.

In other media

From 1940 to 1951, Superman appeared in a radio serial, with Bud Collyer voicing Superman. At its peak, the radio serial had 4.5 million listeners. Superman first appeared in cinemas in 1941 in a series of animated shorts produced by Fleischer Studios, with Bud Collyer voicing Superman. Two live-action serials followed in 1948 and 1950, and 1951 saw the first full-length movie, Superman and the Mole Men, starring George Reeves. The 1978 movie starring Christopher Reeve is to this date the most commercially successful Superman movie when one adjusts for inflation. Superman first appeared on television in a live-action series starring George Reeves, which aired from 1952 to 1958. A second live-action series starring Dean Cain aired in the 1990s, and two series featuring Superboy were produced. Superman has more frequently appeared in a number of animated shows, the first one airing in 1966. The first video game adaptation of Superman was released in 1978 for the Atari 2600.

Influences

Like Superman, John Carter of Mars is a stranger from another world who is stronger than the natives of his adopted home.

Siegel and Shuster were avid readers of pulp science-fiction and adventure magazines, and many stories featured characters with extraordinary powers such as telepathy, clairvoyance, and superhuman strength. A major influence was Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars, a human who was displaced to Mars, where he is stronger and more agile than the native Martians due to Mars' lower gravity. While it is widely assumed that the 1930 Philip Wylie novel Gladiator, featuring a protagonist, Hugo Danner, with similar powers, was an inspiration for Superman, Siegel denied this.

Siegel and Shuster were also avid moviegoers. Shuster based Superman's stance on that of Douglas Fairbanks, who starred in adventure films such as The Mark of Zorro and Robin Hood. The name of Superman's home city, Metropolis, was taken from the 1927 film of the same name. Popeye cartoons were also an influence.

The pair collected comic strips in their youth, with a favorite being Winsor McCay's fantastical Little Nemo. Shuster remarked on the artists which played an important part in the development of his own style: "Alex Raymond and Burne Hogarth were my idols – also Milt Caniff, Hal Foster, and Roy Crane." Shuster taught himself to draw by tracing over the art in the strips and magazines they collected.

As a boy, Shuster was obsessed with fitness culture and a fan of strongmen such as Siegmund Breitbart and Joseph Greenstein. He collected fitness magazines and manuals and used their photographs as visual references for his art.

The visual design of Superman came from multiple influences. The tight-fitting suit and shorts were inspired by the costumes of wrestlers, boxers, and strongmen. Shuster first gave Superman laced sandals like those of strongmen and classical heroes. The emblem on his chest may have been inspired by the uniforms of athletic teams. Many pulp action heroes such as swashbucklers wore capes. Superman's face was based on Johnny Weissmuller's.

The word "superman" was commonly used in the 1920s and 1930s to describe men of great ability, most often athletes and politicians. It is unclear whether Siegel and Shuster were influenced by Nietzsche's concept of the Übermensch; they never acknowledged as much.

Copyright and ownership issues

Main article: Superman ownership disputes

In 1947, Siegel and Shuster sued Detective Comics for the rights to Superman and Superboy. The judge ruled that the March 1938 sale of Superman was binding, but that Superboy was a separate entity that rightfully belonged to Siegel because Detective published Siegel's Superboy script without having made a deal. Siegel and Shuster settled out-of-court with Detective, which paid the pair $94,000 ($1,190,000 when adjusted for inflation) in exchange for the full rights to both Superman and Superboy.

In 1969, Siegel and Shuster attempted to regain rights to Superman using the renewal option in the Copyright Act of 1909, but the court ruled Siegel and Shuster had transferred the renewal rights to Detective Comics in 1938. Siegel and Shuster appealed, but the appeals court upheld this decision.

In 1975, Siegel and a number of other comic book writers and artists launched a campaign for better compensation and treatment of comic creators. Warner Brothers agreed to give Siegel and Shuster a yearly stipend, full medical benefits, and credit their names in all future Superman stories in exchange for never contesting ownership of Superman. Siegel and Shuster upheld this bargain.

Shuster died in 1992. DC Comics offered Shuster's heirs a stipend in exchange for never challenging ownership of Superman, which they accepted for some years.

Siegel died in 1996. His heirs attempted to take the rights to Superman using the termination provision of the Copyright Act of 1976. DC Comics negotiated an agreement wherein it would pay the Siegel heirs several million dollars and a yearly stipend of $500,000 in exchange for permanently granting DC the rights to Superman. The Siegels accepted DC's offer in an October 2001 letter.

Copyright lawyer and movie producer Marc Toberoff then struck a deal with the heirs of both Siegel and Shuster to help them get the rights to Superman in exchange for signing the rights over to his production company, Pacific Pictures. Both groups accepted. The Siegel heirs called off their deal with DC Comics and in 2004 sued DC for the rights to Superman and Superboy. In 2008, the judge ruled in favor of the Siegels. DC Comics appealed the decision, and the appeals court ruled in favored of DC, arguing that the October 2001 letter was binding. In 2003, the Shuster heirs served a termination notice for Shuster's grant of his half of the copyright to Superman. DC Comics sued the Shuster heirs in 2010, and the court ruled in DC's favor on the grounds that the 1992 agreement with the Shuster heirs barred them from terminating the grant.

Superman is due to enter the public domain in 2033.

Copyright infringement lawsuits

Shortly after Superman became a profitable item, imitations began to appear in competing comic strips and unauthorized character merchandise. Among the many Superman litigations have been Superman v. Wonderman, Superman v. Captain Marvel, and Superman v. The Greatest American Hero.

In 1979, proprietors of the Superman copyright prevented a discount chain from using a television commercial that parodied well-known lines associated with Superman—"Look! ... Up in the sky! ... It's a bird! ... It's a plane ... It's ... Crazy Eddie!"—and showed a cape-wearing figure in tights flying through the sky.

Fictional character biography

See also: Superman (Earth-Two) and Superman (Earth-One)

Given the serial nature of comic-book publishing and the length of Superman's existence, the details of the character's origin, relationships, and abilities have changed significantly throug the years. DC Comics editors have explained many of these differences by establishing that there different versions of Superman existing in parallel universes. The first Superman of the 1930s-1940s Golden Age of Comic Books is not the same entity as the second Superman publishing later; these incarnations exist on alternate versions of Earth, called Earth-Two and Earth-One, respectively. The Superman of mid-2010s continuity exists in the main DC Universe, referred to as "New-Earth" in the comics.

Many biographical details remain similar. In Action Comics #1 (June 1938), Superman is born on an alien world to a technologically advanced species that resembles humans. When his world is on the verge of destruction, his father, a scientist, places the infant alone in a spaceship that takes him to Earth. The earliest newspaper strips name the planet "Krypton", with baby Superman "Kal-L", and his biological parents "Jor-L" and "Lora"; Their names become "Jor-el", and "Lara" in a 1942 spinoff novel by George Lowther. The ship lands in the American countryside, where the baby is adopted by the Kents. In the original stories, they adopt him from an orphanage, whereas in later stories they lift him straight from his spaceship. The Kents name the boy Clark and raise him in a farming community. A 1947 episode of the radio serial places the then-unnamed community in Iowa, and it is named Smallville in Superboy #2 (June 1949). While New Adventures of Superboy #22 (Oct. 1981) places it in Maryland, most fictional sources, including both the 1978 Superman movie and 2013's Man of Steel place it in Kansas.

The Kents teach Clark he must conceal his otherworldly origins and use his fantastic powers to do good. Clark creates the costumed identity of Superman so as to protect his personal privacy and the safety of his loved ones. As Clark Kent, he wears eyeglasses to disguise his face and wears his Superman costume underneath his clothes so that he can change at a moment's notice. To complete this disguise, Clark avoids violent confrontation, preferring to slip away and change into Superman when danger arises, and in early stories suffered occasional ridicule for his apparent cowardice.

Writers developed Superman's powers gradually. Since the beginning, he has had superhuman strength and nigh-invulnerability. In the earliest comics, Superman travels by running and leaping; his power of flight was introduced in the 1940s animated serial produced by Fleischer Studios, after test footage of Superman leaping looked "silly". X-ray vision is introduced in Action Comics #11 (April 1939) and heat vision in Superman #59 (Aug. 1949).

Siegel understood that Superman's invulnerability diminished his excitement as an action hero, and so wrote a story introducing "K-metal", whose radiation harms Superman. This draft was never published, but the writers of the radio serial took inspiration and introduced the green mineral kryptonite in a 1943 episode. Additionally, DC editor Dorothy Woolfolk recalled that in the 1940s she had found Superman's invulnerability dull, and that the character might be more interesting with an Achilles' heel such as adverse reactions to a fragment of his home planet. It first appeared in comics in the story "Superman Returns To Krypton!", credited to writer Bill Finger, in Superman #61 (Dec. 1949).

Clark works as a newspaper journalist. In the earliest stories, he is employed by The Daily Star, but in Action Comics #23 (April 1940), this is changed to the Daily Planet. Action Comics #1 introduced Clark's colleague Lois Lane. Clark is romantically attracted to her, but she rejects the mild-mannered Clark and is infatuated with the bold and mighty Superman. This love triangle has existed since the character's inception in 1933 and is present in most Superman stories. Jerry Siegel objected to any proposal that Lois discover that Clark is Superman because he felt that, as implausible as Clark's disguise is, the love triangle was too important to the book's appeal. For decades in comic stories, Lois suspects Clark is Superman and tries to prove it, but Superman always outwits her; the first such story was Superman #17 (August 1942).

The 1980s saw revisions to Superman's biography when DC Comics, in a bid to simplify its line, rewrote many of its characters' backstories. In the six-issue miniseries The Man of Steel (Oct.-Dec. 1986), writer-artist John Byrne removed many established conventions and characters from the Superman canon, including Supergirl as well as Krypto the super dog. He also reestablished Superman's adoptive parents, the Kents, who in the previous continuity had died early in Clark's life, at about the time he graduated high school. This new version

established that Superman’s powers hadn’t materialized until adulthood, which eliminated his years as Superboy from continuity, thereby removing both a silly element of the Superman mythos and avoiding the continuity questions it had long raised. It was a streamlined, back-to-basics approach, which worked well as a way of reintroducing the character to new readers. … [During Bryne's] time, characters from Superman’s past continued to be reintroduced in new forms, alongside new characters, some of whom survived to become important for many years, while others did not.

Superman, Byrne explained in 1995, "had become trapped by the ridiculously high level of his own power. It was hard to imagine ever being truly impressed by anything Superman did, since he could push planets around. (What twigged me to this, by the way, was the scene in the [1978] movie in which he rips off the car door to get to Lois; after seeing him push over mountains, the audience cheered at that, because it was comprehensible.)"

In Action Comics #662 (Feb. 1991), in a story by writer Roger Stern and artist Bob McLeod, Lois definitively learns of Clark's dual identity, a status quo that would exist for two decades and was reflected in a 1995 episode of the TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Both in that series and in a 1996 comic-book story, Clark and Lois marry.

While writers through the years had visited the concept of Superman dying, the most far-reaching such story arc was the 1990s "The Death of Superman" company-wide crossover, in which Superman was presumably killed by the villain Doomsday in Superman #75 (Jan. 1993). Although the character was resurrected in Superman #82 (Oct. 1993) — following stories in several DC publications focusing on the funeral and mourning, and the arrival of four Superman substitutes — the death became national news, and the comic itself, including reprint editions, sold what historian Les Daniels calls "an astonishing six million copies." As Superman's editor at the time, Mike Carlin, recalled, "We were stunned. I can't believe people went for it as hard as they did. It must have been the way Orson Welles felt when his War of the Worlds actually went over. ... There is no way anybody could have planned what happened. All we could do was try to keep up with it."

In 2011, DC Comics relaunched its entire line of comic books under the rubric The New 52. In the new continuity, Clark is no longer married to Lois, nor does she know his secret identity, and his parents are deceased. In Superman vol. 2, #42 (Sept. 2015), Lois again learns of Clark's dual identity, and exposes it to the world.

Age and birthday

Superman's age has varied through his history in comics. His age was originally left undefined, with real-time references to specific years sometimes given to past events in Golden Age and early Silver Age comics. In comics published between the early 1970s and early 1990s, his age was usually cited as 29 years old. However, during "The Death of Superman" storyline, Clark's age was given as 34 years old (in a fictional promotional newspaper published), while 1994's "Zero Hour" timeline established his age as 35.

Action Comics #149 (Oct. 1950) gives October as Superman's birthdate. Comics of the 1960s through 1980s describe Superman's birthday as February 29. Clark Kent, meanwhile, would celebrate his birthday on June 18, the date the Kents first found Clark; June 18 is also the birthdate of Superman voice actor Bud Collyer. Following the 1980s editorial-revamp DC called Crisis on Infinite Earths, Kent's birthday is given as February 29. Superman: Secret Origin #1 (Nov. 2009) depicts Kent celebrating his birthday on December 1.

Personality

In the original Siegel and Shuster stories, Superman's personality is rough and aggressive. The character often attacks and terrorizes wife beaters, profiteers, lynch mobs, and gangsters in a rough manner and with a looser moral code than audiences today might be used to. Although not as ruthless as the early Batman, Superman in the comics of the 1930s is unconcerned about the harm his strength may cause. He tosses villainous characters in such a manner that fatalities would presumably occur, although these are seldom shown explicitly on the page. This came to an end in late 1940 when new editor Whitney Ellsworth instituted a code of conduct for his characters to follow, banning Superman from ever killing. The character was softened and given a sense of humanitarianism. Ellsworth's code, however, is not to be confused with "the Comics Code", which was created in 1954 by the Comics Code Authority and ultimately abandoned by every major comic book publisher by the early 21st century.

In his first appearances, Superman was considered a vigilante by the authorities, being fired upon by the National Guard as he razed a slum so that the government would create better housing conditions for the poor. By 1942, however, Superman was working side-by-side with the police. Today, Superman is commonly seen as a brave and kind-hearted hero with a strong sense of justice, morality, and righteousness. He adheres to an unwavering moral code instilled in him by his adoptive parents. His commitment to operating within the law has been an example to many citizens and other heroes but has stirred resentment and criticism among others, who refer to him as the "big blue boy scout." Superman can be rather rigid in this trait, causing tensions in the superhero community. This was most notable with Wonder Woman, one of his closest friends, after she killed Maxwell Lord. Booster Gold had an initial icy relationship with the Man of Steel but grew to respect him.

Having lost his home world of Krypton, Superman is very protective of Earth, and especially of Clark Kent's family and friends. This same loss, combined with the pressure of using his powers responsibly, has caused Superman to feel lonely on Earth, despite having his friends and parents. Previous encounters with people he thought to be fellow Kryptonians, Power Girl (who is, in fact from the Krypton of the Earth-Two universe) and Mon-El, have led to disappointment. The arrival of Supergirl, who has been confirmed to be not only from Krypton but also his cousin, has relieved this loneliness somewhat. Superman's Fortress of Solitude acts as a place of solace for him in times of loneliness and despair.

In Superman/Batman #3 (Dec. 2003), Batman, under writer Jeph Loeb, observes, "It is a remarkable dichotomy. In many ways, Clark is the most human of us all. Then ... he shoots fire from the skies, and it is difficult not to think of him as a god. And how fortunate we all are that it does not occur to 'him'." In writer Geoff Johns' Infinite Crisis #1 (Dec. 2005), part of the 2005–2006 "Infinite Crisis" crossover storyline, Batman admonishes him for identifying with humanity too much and failing to provide the strong leadership that superhumans need.

Other versions

Main article: Alternative versions of Superman

Both the multiverse established by the publishers in the 1960s and the Elseworlds line of comics established in 1989 have allowed writers to introduce variations on Superman. These have included differences in the nationality, race and morality of the character. Alongside such reimaginings, a number of characters have assumed the title of Superman, especially in the wake of "The Death of Superman" storyline, wherein four newly introduced characters are seen to claim the mantle. In addition to these, the Bizarro character created in 1958 is a weird, imperfect duplicate of Superman. Other members of Superman's family of characters have borne the Super- prefix, including Supergirl, Krypto the Superdog, and Superwoman. Outside comics published by DC, the notoriety of the Superman or "Übermensch" archetype makes the character a popular figure to be represented through an analogue in entirely unrelated continuities. For example, Roy Thomas based rival publisher Marvel Comics' Hyperion character on Superman.

Powers and abilities

Main article: Powers and abilities of Superman

As an influential archetype of the superhero genre, Superman possesses extraordinary powers, with the character traditionally described as "Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound ... It's Superman!", a phrase coined by Jay Morton and first used in the Superman radio serials and Max Fleischer animated shorts of the 1940s as well as the TV series of the 1950s. For most of his existence, Superman's famous arsenal of powers has included flight, super-strength, invulnerability to non-magical attacks, super-speed, vision powers (including x-ray, heat-emitting, telescopic, infra-red, and microscopic vision), super-hearing, super-intelligence, and super-breath, which enables him to blow out air at freezing temperatures, as well as exert the propulsive force of high-speed winds.

As originally conceived and presented in his early stories, Superman's powers were relatively limited, consisting of superhuman strength that allowed him to lift a car over his head, run at amazing speeds and leap one-eighth of a mile, as well as an incredibly dense body structure that could be pierced by nothing less than an exploding artillery shell. Siegel and Shuster compared his strength and leaping abilities to an ant and a grasshopper. When making the Superman cartoons in the early 1940s, the Fleischer Brothers found it difficult to keep animating him leaping and requested to DC to change his ability to flying; this was an especially convenient concept for short films, which would have otherwise had to waste precious running time moving earthbound Clark Kent from place to place. Writers gradually increased his powers to larger extents during the Silver Age, in which Superman could fly to other worlds and galaxies and even across universes with relative ease. He would often fly across the solar system to stop meteors from hitting the Earth or sometimes just to clear his head. Writers found it increasingly difficult to write Superman stories in which the character was believably challenged, so DC made a series of attempts to rein the character in. The most significant attempt, John Byrne's 1986 rewrite, established several hard limits on his abilities: He barely survives a nuclear blast, and his space flights are limited by how long he can hold his breath. Superman's power levels have again increased since then, with Superman eventually possessing enough strength to hurl mountains, withstand nuclear blasts with ease, fly into the sun unharmed, and survive in the vacuum of outer space without oxygen.

The source of Superman's powers has changed subtly over the course of his history. It was originally stated that Superman's abilities derived from his Kryptonian heritage, which made him eons more evolved than humans. This was soon amended, with the source for the powers now based upon the establishment of Krypton's gravity as having been stronger than that of the Earth. This situation mirrors that of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter. As Superman's powers increased, the implication that all Kryptonians had possessed the same abilities became problematic for writers, making it doubtful that a race of such beings could have been wiped out by something as trifling as an exploding planet. In part to counter this, the Superman writers established that Kryptonians, whose native star Rao had been red, possessed superpowers only under the light of a yellow sun.

Superman is most vulnerable to green Kryptonite, mineral debris from Krypton transformed into radioactive material by the forces that destroyed the planet. Exposure to green Kryptonite radiation nullifies Superman's powers and immobilizes him with pain and nausea; prolonged exposure will eventually kill him. The only substance on Earth that can protect him from Kryptonite is lead, which blocks the radiation. Lead is also the only known substance that Superman cannot see through with his x-ray vision. Kryptonite was introduced in 1943 as a plot device to allow the radio-serial voice actor, Bud Collyer, to take some time off. Although green Kryptonite is the most commonly seen form, writers have introduced other forms over the years: such as red, gold, blue, white, and black, each with its own effect.

Supporting characters

See also: Superman character and cast and List of Superman supporting characters

Clark Kent, Superman's secret identity, was based partly on Harold Lloyd and named after Clark Gable and Kent Taylor. Creators have discussed the idea of whether Superman pretends to be Clark Kent or vice versa, and at differing times in the publication either approach has been adopted. Although typically a newspaper reporter, during the 1970s the character left the Daily Planet for a time to work for television, whilst the 1980s revamp by John Byrne saw the character become somewhat more aggressive. This aggressiveness has since faded with subsequent creators restoring the mild mannerisms traditional to the character.

Superman's large cast of supporting characters includes Lois Lane, perhaps the character most commonly associated with Superman, being portrayed at different times as his colleague, competitor, love interest and wife. Other main supporting characters include Daily Planet coworkers such as photographer Jimmy Olsen and editor Perry White, Clark Kent's adoptive parents Jonathan and Martha Kent, childhood sweetheart Lana Lang and best friend Pete Ross, associates like Professor Hamilton and John Henry Irons who often provide scientific advice and tech support, and former college love interest Lori Lemaris (a mermaid). Stories making reference to the possibility of Superman siring children have been featured both in and out of mainstream continuity.

Incarnations of Supergirl, Krypto the Superdog, and Superboy have also been major characters in the mythos, as well as the Justice League of America (of which Superman is usually a member and often its leader). A feature shared by several supporting characters is alliterative names, especially with the initials "LL", including Lex Luthor, Lois Lane, Linda Lee, Lana Lang, Lori Lemaris, and Lucy Lane, alliteration being common in early comics.

Team-ups with fellow comics icon Batman are common, inspiring many stories over the years. When paired, they are often referred to as the "World's Finest" in a nod to the name of the comic book series that features many team-up stories. In 2003, DC began to publish a new series featuring the two characters titled Superman/Batman or Batman/Superman. In continuity following the DC Comic's The New 52 line-wide relaunch, Superman has also established a romantic relationship as well as a working partnership with Wonder Woman. An ongoing comic book series titled Superman/Wonder Woman debuted in 2013, which explores their relationship and shared adventures.

Enemies

Main article: List of Superman enemies

The villains Superman faced in the earliest stories were ordinary humans, such as gangsters, corrupt politicians, and violent husbands, but they soon grew more outlandish. The mad scientist Ultra-Humanite, introduced in Action Comics #13 (June 1939), was Superman's first recurring villain. The hero's best-known nemesis, Lex Luthor, was introduced in Action Comics #23 (April 1940) and has been envisioned over the years as both a recluse with advanced weaponry to a power-mad billionaire. In 1944, the magical imp Mister Mxyzptlk, Superman's first recurring super-powered adversary, was introduced. Superman's first alien villain, Brainiac, debuted in Action Comics #242 (July 1958). The monstrous Doomsday, introduced in Superman: The Man of Steel #17-18 (Nov.-Dec. 1992), was the first villain to evidently kill Superman in physical combat. Other adversaries include the reverse Superman known as Bizarro, and the Kryptonian criminal General Zod.

Cultural impact

Superman has come to be seen as both an American cultural icon and the first comic book superhero. His adventures and popularity have established the character as an inspiring force within the public eye, with the character serving as inspiration for musicians, comedians and writers alike. Kryptonite, Brainiac and Bizarro have become synonymous in popular vernacular with Achilles' heel, extreme intelligence and reversed logic respectively. Similarly, the phrase "I'm not Superman" or "you're not Superman" is an idiom used to suggest a lack of omnipotence.

Inspiring a market

The character's initial success led to similar characters being created. Batman was the first to follow, Bob Kane commenting to Vin Sullivan that given the "kind of money [Siegel and Shuster were earning with their superhero] you'll have one on Monday". Victor Fox, an accountant for DC, also noticed the revenue such comics generated and commissioned Will Eisner to create a deliberately similar character to Superman. Wonder Man was published in May 1939, and although DC successfully sued, claiming plagiarism, Fox had decided to cease publishing the character. Fox later had more success with the Blue Beetle. Fawcett Comics' Captain Marvel, launched in 1940, was Superman's main rival for popularity throughout the 1940s and was again the subject of a lawsuit, which Fawcett eventually settled in 1953 by cessation of the publication of Captain Marvel-related works. Superhero comics are now established as the dominant genre in American comic book publishing, with many thousands of characters in the tradition having been created in the years since Superman's creation.

Merchandising

The "S" symbol became iconic.

Superman became popular very quickly, with an additional title, Superman Quarterly, rapidly added. In 1940 the character was represented in the annual Macy's parade for the first time. In fact Superman had become popular to the extent that in 1942, with sales of the character's three titles standing at a combined total of over 1.5 million, Time was reporting that "the Navy Department (had) ruled that Superman comic books should be included among essential supplies destined for the Marine garrison at Midway Islands." The character was soon licensed by companies keen to cash in on this success through merchandising. The earliest paraphernalia appeared in 1939, a button proclaiming membership in the Supermen of America club. By 1940 the amount of merchandise available increased dramatically, with jigsaw puzzles, paper dolls, bubble gum and trading cards available, as well as wooden or metal figures. The popularity of such merchandise increased when Superman was licensed to appear in other media, and Les Daniels has written that this represents "the start of the process that media moguls of later decades would describe as 'synergy.'" By the release of Superman Returns, Warner Bros. had arranged a cross promotion with Burger King, and licensed many other products for sale.

Superman's appeal to licensees rests upon the character's continuing popularity, cross market appeal and the status of the "S" shield, the stylized magenta and gold "S" emblem Superman wears on his chest, as a fashion symbol. The "S" shield by itself is often used in media to symbolize the Superman character.

Musical references, parodies, and homages

See also: Superman in popular music

Superman has also featured as an inspiration for musicians, with songs by numerous artists from several generations celebrating the character. Donovan's Billboard Hot 100 topping single "Sunshine Superman" utilized the character in both the title and the lyric, declaring "Superman and Green Lantern ain't got nothing on me." Folk singer/songwriter Jim Croce sung about the character in a list of warnings in the chorus of his song "You Don't Mess Around with Jim", introducing the phrase "you don't tug on Superman's cape" into popular lexicon. Other tracks to reference the character include Genesis' "Land of Confusion", the video to which featured a Spitting Image puppet of Ronald Reagan dressed as Superman, "(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman" by The Kinks on their 1979 album Low Budget and "Superman" by The Clique, a track later covered by R.E.M. on its 1986 album Lifes Rich Pageant. This cover is referenced by Grant Morrison in Animal Man, in which Superman meets the character, and the track comes on Animal Man's Walkman immediately after. Crash Test Dummies' "Superman's Song", from the 1991 album The Ghosts That Haunt Me explores the isolation and commitment inherent in Superman's life. Five for Fighting released "Superman (It's Not Easy)" in 2000, which is from Superman's point of view, although Superman is never mentioned by name. From 1988 to 1993, American composer Michael Daugherty composed "Metropolis Symphony", a five-movement orchestral work inspired by Superman comics.

Superman depicted as stricken by AIDS, in an awareness campaign

Parodies of Superman did not take long to appear, with Mighty Mouse introduced in "The Mouse of Tomorrow" animated short in 1942. While the character swiftly took on a life of its own, moving beyond parody, other animated characters soon took their turn to parody the character. In 1943, Bugs Bunny was featured in a short, Super-Rabbit, which sees the character gaining powers through eating fortified carrots. This short ends with Bugs stepping into a phone booth to change into a real "Superman" and emerging as a U.S. Marine. In 1956 Daffy Duck assumes the mantle of "Cluck Trent" in the short "Stupor Duck", a role later reprised in various issues of the Looney Tunes comic book. In the United Kingdom Monty Python created the character Bicycle Repairman, who fixes bicycles on a world full of Supermen, for a sketch in series of their BBC show. Also on the BBC was the sitcom My Hero, which presented Thermoman as a slightly dense Superman pastiche, attempting to save the world and pursue romantic aspirations. In the United States, Saturday Night Live has often parodied the figure, with Margot Kidder reprising her role as Lois Lane in a 1979 episode. The manga and anime series Dr. Slump featured the character Suppaman; a short, fat, pompous man who changes into a thinly veiled Superman-like alter-ego by eating a sour-tasting umeboshi. Jerry Seinfeld, a noted Superman fan, filled his series Seinfeld with references to the character and in 1997 asked for Superman to co-star with him in a commercial for American Express. The commercial aired during the 1998 NFL Playoffs and Super Bowl, Superman animated in the style of artist Curt Swan, again at the request of Seinfeld. In January 2013, Superman was featured in ScrewAttack's web series Death Battle, where he fought a hypothetical battle with the character Son Goku and won. A rematch was staged in July 2015, with Superman winning again. Superman was voiced during the battle simulations by the voice actor ItsJustSomeRandomGuy.

Superman has also been used as reference point for writers, with Steven T. Seagle's graphic novel Superman: It's a Bird exploring Seagle's feelings on his own mortality as he struggles to develop a story for a Superman tale. Brad Fraser used the character as a reference point for his play Poor Super Man, with The Independent noting the central character, a gay man who has lost many friends to AIDS as someone who "identifies all the more keenly with Superman's alien-amid-deceptive-lookalikes status." Superman's image was also used in an AIDS awareness campaign by French organization AIDES. Superman was depicted as emaciated and breathing from an oxygen tank, demonstrating that no-one is beyond the reach of the disease, and it can destroy the lives of everyone.

Superman is also mentioned in several films, including Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin, in which Batman states, "That's why Superman works alone ..." in reference to the many troubles caused by his partner Robin, and also in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man, in which Aunt May gives her nephew Peter Parker a word of advice not to strain himself too much because, "You're not Superman, you know", among many others.

Literary analysis

Superman has been interpreted and discussed in many forms in the years since his debut. The character's status as the first costumed superhero has allowed him to be used in many studies discussing the genre, Umberto Eco noting that "he can be seen as the representative of all his similars". Writing in Time in 1971, Gerald Clarke stated: "Superman's enormous popularity might be looked upon as signalling the beginning of the end for the Horatio Alger myth of the self-made man." Clarke viewed the comics characters as having to continuously update in order to maintain relevance, and thus representing the mood of the nation. He regarded Superman's character in the early seventies as a comment on the modern world, which he saw as a place in which "only the man with superpowers can survive and prosper." Andrew Arnold, writing in the early 21st century, has noted Superman's partial role in exploring assimilation, the character's alien status allowing the reader to explore attempts to fit in on a somewhat superficial level.

Clark Kent yelling "Good Grief!"

Clark Kent, argued by Jules Feiffer to be the most innovative feature of Superman

A.C. Grayling, writing in The Spectator, traces Superman's stances through the decades, from his 1930s campaign against crime being relevant to a nation under the influence of Al Capone, through the 1940s and World War II, a period in which Superman helped sell war bonds, and into the 1950s, where Superman explored the new technological threats. Grayling notes the period after the Cold War as being one where "matters become merely personal: the task of pitting his brawn against the brains of Lex Luthor and Brainiac appeared to be independent of bigger questions", and discusses events post 9/11, stating that as a nation "caught between the terrifying George W. Bush and the terrorist Osama bin Laden, America is in earnest need of a Saviour for everything from the minor inconveniences to the major horrors of world catastrophe. And here he is, the down-home clean-cut boy in the blue tights and red cape".

An influence on early Superman stories is the context of the Great Depression. The left-leaning perspective of creators Shuster and Siegel is reflected in early storylines. Superman took on the role of social activist, fighting crooked businessmen and politicians and demolishing run-down tenements. Comics scholar Roger Sabin sees this as a reflection of "the liberal idealism of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal", with Shuster and Siegel initially portraying Superman as champion to a variety of social causes. In later Superman radio programs the character continued to take on such issues, tackling a version of the Ku Klux Klan in a 1946 broadcast, as well as combating anti-semitism and veteran discrimination.

Scott Bukatman has discussed Superman, and the superhero in general, noting the ways in which they humanize large urban areas through their use of the space, especially in Superman's ability to soar over the large skyscrapers of Metropolis. He writes that the character "represented, in 1938, a kind of Corbusierian ideal. Superman has X-ray vision: walls become permeable, transparent. Through his benign, controlled authority, Superman renders the city open, modernist and democratic; he furthers a sense that Le Corbusier described in 1925, namely, that 'Everything is known to us'."

Jules Feiffer has argued that Superman's real innovation lay in the creation of the Clark Kent persona, noting that what "made Superman extraordinary was his point of origin: Clark Kent." Feiffer develops the theme to establish Superman's popularity in simple wish fulfillment, a point Siegel and Shuster themselves supported, Siegel commenting that "If you're interested in what made Superman what it is, here's one of the keys to what made it universally acceptable. Joe and I had certain inhibitions ... which led to wish-fulfillment which we expressed through our interest in science fiction and our comic strip. That's where the dual-identity concept came from" and Shuster supporting that as being "why so many people could relate to it".

Ian Gordon suggests that the many incarnations of Superman across media use nostalgia to link the character to an ideology of the American Way. He defines this ideology as a means of associating individualism, consumerism, and democracy and as something that took shape around WWII and underpinned the war effort. Superman he notes was very much part of that effort.

Superman's immigrant status is a key aspect of his appeal. Aldo Regalado saw the character as pushing the boundaries of acceptance in America. The extraterrestrial origin was seen by Regalado as challenging the notion that Anglo-Saxon ancestry was the source of all might. Gary Engle saw the "myth of Superman [asserting] with total confidence and a childlike innocence the value of the immigrant in American culture." He argues that Superman allowed the superhero genre to take over from the Western as the expression of immigrant sensibilities. Through the use of a dual identity, Superman allowed immigrants to identify with both their cultures. Clark Kent represents the assimilated individual, allowing Superman to express the immigrants cultural heritage for the greater good. David Jenemann has offered a contrasting view. He argues that Superman's early stories portray a threat: "the possibility that the exile would overwhelm the country." David Rooney, a theater critic for The New York Times, in his evaluation of the play, Year Zero, considers Superman to be the "quintessential immigrant story ... (b)orn on an alien planet, he grows stronger on Earth but maintains a secret identity tied to a homeland that continues to exert a powerful hold on him even as his every contact with those origins does him harm."

Some see Judaic themes in Superman. Simcha Weinstein notes that Superman's story has some parallels to that of Moses. For example, Moses as a baby was sent away by his parents in a reed basket to escape death and adopted by a foreign culture. Weinstein also posits that Superman's Kryptonian name, "Kal-El", resembles the Hebrew words קל-אל, which can be taken to mean "voice of God". Larry Tye suggests that this "Voice of God" is an allusion to Moses' role as a prophet. The suffix "el", meaning "(of) God", is also found in the name of angels (e.g. Gabriel, Ariel), who are airborne humanoid agents of good with superhuman powers. The Nazis also thought Superman was a Jew and in 1940 Joseph Goebbels publicly denounced Superman and his creator Siegel.

Superman stories have occasionally exhibited Christian themes as well. Screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz consciously made Superman an allegory for Christ in the 1978 movie starring Christopher Reeve: baby Kal-El's ship resembles the Star of Bethlehem, and Jor-El's gives his son a messianic mission.

Critical reception and popularity

The character Superman and his various comic series have received various awards over the years. Superman placed first on IGN's Top 100 Comic Book Heroes.

• Empire magazine named him the greatest comic book character.
• The Reign of the Supermen is one of many storylines or works to have received a Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award, winning the Favorite Comic Book Story category in 1993.
• Superman came in at number 2 in VH1's Top Pop Culture Icons 2004.
• Also in 2004, British moviegoers voted Superman the greatest superhero.
• Works featuring the character have also garnered six Eisner Awards, and three Harvey Awards, either for the works themselves or the creators of the works.
• The Superman films have received a number of nominations and awards, with Christopher Reeve winning a BAFTA for his performance in Superman (1978).
• The Smallville television series has garnered Emmys for crew members and various other awards.

See also

• List of DC animated universe characters
• List of DC Comics characters

Bibliography

• Andrae, Thomas (August 1983). "Superman Through the Ages: The Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster Interview". No. 2. Nemo. pp. 6–19. Archived from the original on September 24, 2003. {{cite news}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
• Daniels, Les (1995). DC Comics: Sixty Years of the World's Favourite Comic Book Heroes (First ed.). Virgin Books. ISBN 1-85227-546-4. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Daniels, Les (1998). Superman: The Complete History (1st ed.). Titan Books. ISBN 1-85286-988-7. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Dean, Michael (October 14, 2004). "An Extraordinarily Marketable Man: The Ongoing Struggle for Ownership of Superman and Superboy". The Comics Journal (263): 13–17. Archived from the original on December 1, 2006. Retrieved December 22, 2006. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
• Eury, Michael; Adams, Neal; Swan, Curt; Anderson, Murphy (2006). The Krypton Companion. Raleigh, NC: TwoMorrows Publishing. ISBN 978-1-893905-61-0.
• Jones, Gerard (2004). Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book. Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-03656-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Ricca, Brad (2014). Super Boys: The Amazing Adventures of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster - the Creators of Superman. St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 978-1250049681. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Sergi, Joe (2015). The Law for Comic Book Creators: Essential Concepts and Applications. McFarland. ISBN 978-0786473601. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Steranko, Jim (1970). The Steranko History of Comics vol. 1. Supergraphics. ISBN 9780517501887. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Tye, Larry (2012). Superman: The High-Flying History of America's Most Enduring Hero. Random House New York. ISBN 978-1-58836-918-5. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Weldon, Glen (2013). Superman the Unauthorized Biography. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 978-1-118-34184-1. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

Further reading

• De Haven, Tom (2009). Our Hero: Superman on Earth. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-11817-9. OCLC 320132317.
• Hayde, Michael J. (2009). Flights of Fantasy: The Unauthorized but True Story of Radio & TV's Adventures of Superman. Albany, GA: BearManor Media. ISBN 978-1-59393-344-9. OCLC 429466149.

External links

• Official Superman website
• Golden Age, Silver Age and Modern Age Superman at the Comic book database
• Template:Dmoz
• Superman on DC Database, a DC Comics wiki
• Template:IMDb character