What makes Superman, Superman?

[kailus13]

In the recent thread about Michael B Jordan possibly playing The Human Torch [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.407821-So-a-black-actor-is-considering-role-of-Johnny-Storm-and-nerdrage-has-turned-racist-again?page=1], some people have said that no-one would make Superman black.

My question is, why is this so? Nothing about what he stands for: "Truth, Justice and The American Way" neccessitates him being white. Neither does his being "The Big Blue Boyscout".

Would making Superman black change much, and if so, how? How much could you change before he would no longer be Superman?

 

[Fappy]

Fundamentally, his "race" has never really mattered. I mean, it's a stretch to even imagine that an alien would look 100% like a human in the first place. If he were black I think they'd have to change Clark's backstory. When I think of a farming family in Kansas I don't picture them as being black, but that's just me.

EDIT: The Kents would have to be black too because the lie that he was their biological son is important to his origin.

EDITEDIT: Part of my problem with Heimdall being black in the Thor movie was that he's supposed to be Sif's brother, who was played by a white chick. HOWEVER, you could rationalize that Asgardians play by different rules.

 

[Queen Michael]

There was a black Superman in Final Crisis. He was from another dimension, see.

 

[Brendan Stepladder]

What makes Superman a Superman?

Rings, of course!

OT: I never thought about there being a black Supes. They should do that sometime.

 

[krazykidd]

I couldn't see superman being black . I also couldn't see him being black and the good guy . Maybe i'm just too used to seeing white superman.

 

[piinyouri]

Boring godmode.


Joking aside, I think anyone could be a Superman, as long as they were a paragon of protection and lawful justice, they would do fine.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

The suit of course. Nobody's gonna replace THAT.

 

[Random Argument Man]

Superman is supposed to be the symbol of ultimate good. He's supposed to represent not the hero we relate too, but the hero you want to be. It's the hero that comes in and saves the day with all the glory and shit.


Anyway, I can understand sometime the need to have a character stick to his original design, but being racist about it though is taking too far. Besides, if the actor brings something interesting to the character, I'm all for it.

 

[kalakashi]

This isn't about race, it is genuinely just about colour (though obviously with skin it is race.) Why not give him an orange and yellow suit, ginger hair etc.
Are yellow and orange worse than blue and red (obviously yes, but you get my point =p). It just isn't him. Having dark hair isn't what makes Superman Superman, but if I was a fan of the hero I'd join in the rants were he to be depicted as blond.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

So basically, it's more of a "Should there be a black Superman" thread.

My stance, as always, is that characters once established should not change race without a narrative reason. Ideally they wouldn't change appearance at all, but actors die or move on. Aging is a narrative reason, before anyone asks.

As for Superman, ignoring associations, Superman's colour has nothing to do with his identity, but they'd want to make his whole race black as well as his 'parents'. But taking nothing into account, and were he not already white, I'd have no problem with him being black or any other colour of human. But by making him black you automatically tap into associations people have with black people and fighting authorities, especially since Lex is white. Basically there's baggage that comes with a black character who does what Superman does. I'm not saying that's a reason to not have black characters, just that that's going to be going through some people's minds.

As for what makes Superman Superman, ridiculously broad-ranging powers, weakness to cryptonite, wears a cape and visible underpants, is meek and mild in his alternate identity, and acts like a boy scout.

 

[Sir Christopher McFarlane]

If they make Superman a multi-racial guy, he could still pretend to be the biological son of at least one of the Kents. Maybe in the new origin story, Mr Kent can be unable to have children. When they find the boy, they can fake Mrs Kent getting donation semen from a member of whatever other race Kal-el looks like then fake a pregnancy.

 

[Semudara]

If they make Superman a multi-racial guy, he could still pretend to be the biological son of at least one of the Kents. Maybe in the new origin story, Mr Kent can be unable to have children. When they find the boy, they can fake Mrs Kent getting donation semen from a member of whatever other race Kal-el looks like then fake a pregnancy.

Or they could say he's adopted and forge some adoption papers. I don't think it would make a huge difference for the character to be acknowledged as an adopted child. The fact that his real parents are ALIENS is enough of a shock as it is.

That said, I think it's unlikely we'll see a black Superman anytime soon, because the character's primary incarnation is so iconic. There's a reason he's always called Clark Kent, for example, that he always has the 'S', and he always flies. Those things are a major part of Superman's image, and since he's such an important and enduring character, it makes sense to stay true to those essential details instead of changing it up just because we can.

But when you get right down to it, I think the core of what makes Superman... well, Superman, is his purity of heart and his compassion.

He's pure of heart-- or at least, as pure of heart as any man can be. He has his demons and less-than-moral urges, but he never lets them get the better of him except under the influence of Black Kryptonite. No matter how high the stakes get, he never abandons his sense of morality. The same can be said for Batman, but Superman is even more so, to the point of practical naivete. It's one of his greatest strengths, but also possibly his greatest and most exploitable weakness. That said, he wouldn't be Superman without it.

And he's compassionate. He has empathy for all living beings and seeks to help out as much as he can. This abiding love is what drives him, no matter how difficult things become.

If it weren't for the powers, he might run a soup kitchen or something. He wouldn't necessarily be punching bad guys and trying to stop disasters. But the powers are just what compel him to be a superhero. It's his heart that makes him Superman.

 

[sXeth]

I always thought they did say he was adopted? Kind of hard to hide that you didn't have an all out birthing procedure in a small town that its usually depicted as.

Although comics wise, you have Martian Mahunter, who has basically all the same powers, and uses a black human as his common form to shapeshift into, as well as Steel, so why bother switching Supes instead of focusing on one of those?

 

[likalaruku]

People tend to whine when the actor picked to play a role isn't a dead ringer for the comic character. Better have the same suit & hair style or they just can't convince themselves that this person is the character they're portraying.

I think a good thing to do would be to ask the comic company to make an alternative universe miniseries & then say your movie is based on that, like the "What If" comics. Look at Batman Beyond; It got away with a half-asian Batman & no one complained, especially since the real Batman was still in it.

 

[Trek1701a]

When it comes to changing an already established character's looks, I think it ultimately comes down to how designed the look is. While there may not be any whitishness or blackishness to the actual character, the character's overall physical look is part of the character. One example that comes up where people haven't put up a stink in this regard is in the Man of Steel, you have Perry White being played by Lawrence Fishbourne. Perry White physicality as a character was never put front and center, his is more of a characterization, the cranky newspaper editor, so you can have really any qualified actor(s) take up the role. However, on the flip side, in the Spider Man universe, J Jonah Jameson's look is certainly part of his character and therefore much more difficult and would be met with much more resistance. This is before even looking at the other derivitive issues (relatives, origins, etc.). In the Fantastic Four issue, imo, they would have had far less resistance to a change of the human looking Ben Grimm.

I guess the best way to put it for me is, in the New 52 and the Man of Steel, they changed Superman's suit to the all blue thingy. While I know, for the most part, the characterization will be mostly the same (they did make some changes), but ultimately when I see him in that blue suit, it doesn't feel like Superman to me.

So for the people complaining about a race or other change(s) for established characters, to me it's quite understandable since such a change, even a minor one could make the character not seem like the character anymore and if that is the case, why not just create a new one instead.

 

[Ulquiorra4sama]

I always thought they did say he was adopted? Kind of hard to hide that you didn't have an all out birthing procedure in a small town that its usually depicted as.

A Small Ville, if you like >_>

OT: I dunno, i guess people just always think of Superman as that white-bread hero with dark hair. What really gives him character though has got to be his cape, no matter what Edna Mode says.

 

[wizzy555]

One way to completely sidestep the question of racial continuity is to make NEW superheroes, then you can make then whatever you want and no one can complain.

 

[Eleuthera]

I always thought they did say he was adopted? Kind of hard to hide that you didn't have an all out birthing procedure in a small town that its usually depicted as.

Although comics wise, you have Martian Mahunter, who has basically all the same powers, and uses a black human as his common form to shapeshift into, as well as Steel, so why bother switching Supes instead of focusing on one of those?

Comic book lore wise, the Kents found him at the end of November, just before a snowstorm hit forcing them to stay at the farm for weeks. They then claimed he was their natural born son, and they had kept the pregnancy hidden due to Martha having had a few miscarriages already, and they didn't want to get people's hope up (again). [/nerdmode]

 

[Daft Time]

Would making Superman black change much, and if so, how? How much could you change before he would no longer be Superman?

What makes Superman, Superman? Being an incredibly boring amalgamation of various common "hero" traits with a set of powers that mean he only runs into adversity in the most contrived circumstances. The reason people could never see Superman as black is because people are racist. Superman is an projection of some-form of American idealism that is filled with a rarely mentioned undercurrent of racism. Superman apparently doesn't meet these ideals if he isn't white.

That all said, my experience with Superman is pretty limited. I can only draw on what I've seen from a handful of appearances in various non-comic media. Maybe some Superman fan has a better grasp on his character with an answer more appealing than "racism!".