Who is Superman?
“Superman is what I can do. Clark is who I am.”
So with the caveat that any superhero is going to have drastically different interpretations over the years, and Superman seems more flexible than most, here is the take on the guy that I personally most respond to, and the take that feels the most well-rounded to me. I’ll include the portrayals that best reflect the Superman/Clark Kent in my head at the end of this.
Clark Kent is a friendly guy who enjoys lending a helping hand. That’s the core of his character, and you’ll never go wrong if you always keep that in mind. He’s not infallible. He’s not a saint. He’s not perfect, he’s just a dude who gets genuine joy out of being of use. The fantasy of the Superman story is the idea of—here’s a man who is given near limitless power, and the one thing he wants to do with it, the one thing he feels genuinely joyful about doing, is being generous.
It’s a reversal of the idea that absolute power corrupts absolutely, and emphasizes that good is not a thing you are; it’s a thing you do.
But you can’t talk about Clark Kent and what makes him great without talking about Lois Lane.
Lois and Clark are very different people, and their differences each come out of their backgrounds. Clark is trusting, because when you’re invincible, you can afford to be trusting. He is always going to look for the best in people, and hope for the best in people, because that’s his nature, and if he’s wrong, well, it’s not like you can stab him in the back. It’s privilege used the way that it should be, to use the protections embedded in it to lift others up.
Lois can’t afford to be trusting. It’s a dangerous world out there, and you have to protect yourself, and you have to protect others. She’s strong, hardened against the world, and, as an investigative reporter, has seen figure after figure after figure abuse their power.
Why would two people so different fall in love? Because they both have the same values. Truth. Justice. The American Way. Clark needs someone like Lois to gird him against being too trusting, too humane. Lois needs Clark to realize that there is a good side to people, and individuals can live up to lofty expectations if you trust them to. Lois loves Clark because here, finally, is one person who is not lying about their intentions. For the first time in her life, she meets someone with power with absolutely no intent on abusing it. Clark loves Lois because here is the first person he’s met who is as intent on helping make the world a better place as he is.
They love each other because they’re both dedicated to protecting people. Lois is going to get institutional change done through her reporting, while Clark is more likely to catch you if you fall. Both skills are needed, and they fill in each other’s gaps.
The other character you need to reflect Clark against is Lex Luthor. He’s a self-made man. Came up from nothing and built himself up to a success.
The story of Lex Luthor is a story of the American Dream. But for what? What does he do with his accomplishments? To him, power is amassed as a tool to amass more power. The reason Superman and Lex Luthor will always be arch-nemeses is that they truly cannot understand each other’s perspectives. Lex doesn’t believe Superman doesn’t have an ulterior motive, because when Lex helps people, there’s always a catch in it for himself.
And Clark, who grew up with a supportive, loving family, and a community, and eventually superpowers, can’t understand that his generosity and kindness blossomed from that supportive soil. It’s easy to be kind when kindness is all you’ve known. People say Superman doesn’t have any flaws, but it’s not true. Clark can’t understand the necessity of selfishness. The way that selfishness is needed to protect and grow when no one else is going to look out for you. The way that Lex had to harden to survive, and the way that hardness coalesces into a compulsion.
“What is the drama of someone who always does the right thing?” Well, Superman doesn’t always do the right thing. He’s always going to do the kind thing. There’s a difference. Is it wrong to save the life of someone who may go on to murder? If you give him the choice between saving an individual or stopping a catastrophe, Clark’s humanity will force him to choose the individual and trust that he’s capable of doing both. But he’s not omnipotent. He’s not all-powerful. There is so much drama built into the idea that the world’s most powerful man is still not powerful enough to do all of the good he wants to. How does Clark relax or sleep knowing that he could be out there saving lives? Can he justify his desire to live a normal life? Where the desire to do good rubs up against your capability to, there is infinite drama there.
There’s a reason Clark’s a journalist, and it’s not just so he can hear about what’s going on. It’s a job that emphasizes his empathy, allows him to listen to people and tell their stories. Clark’s a man who loves people. He has super senses so he hears what’s going on around him at all times, and it’s those little snippets of conversation, those glimpses at others, that connect him to his own humanity.
Try to ignore the portrayals of Superman where he gives paternalistic speeches and is always trying to present himself as something above or better than the common man. That’s not who my Clark is. My Clark is the guy who will help you move a sofa and then buy the pizza because he knows how expensive it is to move. My Clark is the guy who lets you go in front of him in the grocery line and then helps bag your groceries because your kid is crying. There’s no better feeling than doing a nice deed for others when it doesn’t put you out much, and Clark has the power to do a hell of a lot of nice deeds without being put out. It’s not a fantasy of having something to strive for. It’s the fantasy of having the energy and power to do all of the good that you want to see done in the world.
The Clark/Lois/Lex Luthor dynamic can all be boiled down to this.
Lex finds a man who is better than he is and devotes his life to taking him down a peg.
Clark meets a woman who is better at his job than he is, and falls in love.
Reading/Watch List
Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Superman: The Movie
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Superman: Exile
Superman The Triangle Era
Death and Return of Superman
Brian Michael Bendis’ Superman books (Man of Steel — ->Superman/Action Comics)
(Note: There are many other very good interesting portrayals of Superman that delve more into the idea of him as an immigrant, as a social justice rabble rouser, as a sci-fi god to look up to. But this is the take that’s always gonna speak most to me. That’s one of the things that’s great about the character. He’s flexible.)
