Exactly. Superman made relatable with nothing but his grunts of pain and frustration. James Gunn knows how to get people to care about characters better than most directors, it's impressive how good his track record is in that regard. Every superhero movie of his is full of fan favourites rather than one standout character.
This is something so many Superman adaptations miss. Everyone treats Superman like a god pretending to be a man. But Superman is a god who thinks he is a man. He was raised on earth, this is his home. Humans are his people. He's got a dog, a job, and watches Kansas basketball.
Yes. It's why that panel that goes around every so often of batman, superman, and wonder woman sharing their real names is so crushing. Superman IS clark kent, but Bruce Wayne IS batman.
The best description I heard was Superman is Clark Kents customer service voice.
This why I love the DCAU Superman. Aside from his "World of cardboard" speech, one of my favorite lines comes from the Christmas episode of Justice League.
Pa Kent > "This little guy was crazy for Christmas. We used to wrap his presents in lead foil so he couldn't peak."
Beat of Clark looking concerned.
Clark > "You mean Santa wrapped them."
Ma Kent > "Oh, of course dear".
Clark Kent, the man who can fly, catch and deflect bullets, fought literal gods and monsters still believes in Santa Claus. But maybe because of what he knows he can that belief isn't misplaced.
But Supes in the DCAU is really just a guy, sure they could have made his Clark be a bit more bumbling but the heart of character is still somebody raised on a farm in Kansas.
I think its a great nature vs nurture example. Superman isn't good because he was born that way. He was raised that way, instilled with good values by this sweet couple. Whenever there are stories of Superman being raised by someone else, he is almost always an asshole.
They’re lucky in this case that it wasn’t in Superman’s nature to be “evil”. I haven’t watched it yet, but I know that the movie Brightburn covers this, where even with loving parents, this kid was just evil.
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u/Reptarxking 2d ago
Superman in agony while Krypto just plays around and hops on him lmaoo