

I Choose Superman - filament
http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/2013/04/21/i_choose_superman.html

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Xcelerate
My family has an obsession with Superman too. Basically for the same reason
that the author states; he always does the right thing. Unrealistic, but then
again I've always had a problem with people shouting "unrealistic".

When I was in high school, we used to read these miserable, loathful stories
about people having affairs (The Awakening), or committing suicide (Ethan
Frome), or murdering each other for fun (The Most Dangerous Game), or a
variety of other unpleasant topics, and I would get sick of these books and
ask the instructor why we couldn't read a happy book once in a while. "That's
not how real life works," she quipped. Yeah, but real life isn't that freaking
depressing either. And occasionally in real-life, amazingly happy things _do_
happen and I want to hear about them. Why would I want to read a book that
captures the mundane, the ordinary, the boring plight of a human life that I
can easily experience myself? I would much prefer to read about the
extraordinary.

I have high hopes for this Man of Steel movie this summer. So far I've liked
every Christopher Nolan film I've seen. On the other hand, I thought Superman
Returns was an absolute disaster. Clark was a flat, nonchalant character
without much of a moral direction. The script didn't even follow the comics
very well. Lex Luthor came across as a buffoon. The citizens of Metropolis
were generic and forgettable. And Lois was rather whiny in my opinion and had
a child with Clark before they even got married. I don't remember that
happening in the comics.

~~~
eli_gottlieb
Regarding people shouting "unrealistic": "The solution, obviously, was to
hurry up and become God."

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ishansharma
I choose Batman.

While Superman is a good superhero, I think he just got the powers handed to
him on a silver platter.

Batman on the other hand was a normal human who got his powers with hard work.

With Batman, it is exciting to see him fight crime because if he gets shot, he
is dead! Superman doesn't have much to fear, you can shoot a bullet in his eye
and you'll end up breaking the bullet only.

Batman has also been portrayed as more intelligent most of the times and that
is another quality I like!

So yes, Superman is fine. But I choose Batman.

~~~
ClayM
The reason more people choose Batman is he's more identifiable with. You can
look at him and say:

"If only I really applied myself, I could make some money, learn Kung Fu, set
up a base, invent some cool toys, do a lot of planning and do what Batman
does."

Superman, on the other hand goes something like this:

"If only I was an alien... Aww screw it. Nevermind."

~~~
NSAID
"Until a man is twenty-five, he still thinks, every so often, that under the
right circumstances he could be the baddest motherfucker in the world. If I
moved to a martial-arts monastery in China and studied real hard for ten
years. If my family was wiped out by Colombian drug dealers and I swore myself
to revenge. If I got a fatal disease, had one year to live, and devoted it to
wiping out street crime. If I just dropped out and devoted my life to being
bad." -Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson

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_cbdev
I don't think this should be on the front page of Hacker News.

Then again, some other people thought otherwise.

~~~
jmj42
I'm not sure why you think that. Michael Lopp (Rands) is a noted software
engineering and management commentator. His thoughts on hope in the face if
tragedy are interesting and relevant.

~~~
_cbdev
Well, it might have just been too deep a meaning for me - but even if the
author is a "noted person", that would not automatically make anything he
says/writes/publishes interesting or relevant - at least not to everyone.

But seeing as being relevant to everyone there is is pretty much an impossible
feat, I'll just leave it at saying that I just couldn't make much sense out of
that article.

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skmurphy
Seth Godin had a great blog post last year about "Superman, Batman, and
worldviews" at [http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2012/07/superman-
bat...](http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2012/07/superman-batman-and-
worldviews.html) here is the core of his analysis:

    
    
       Consider two common worldviews: Superman's and Batman's.
    
       Batman comes to the world angry. His origin story is filled 
       with vengeance and revenge, and in his iconic (non Adam West) 
       backstory, he is the merciless enforcer of right and wrong. 
       Batman-types see the world as a zero sum game, and battles 
       are either won or lost.
    
       Superman, on the other hand, comes to our world with his gifts 
       and sees his life as an opportunity and an obligation, one that 
       he embraces. Superman could easily kill all the bad guys in a 
       heartbeat, but he never does. For him, every challenge is an 
       opportunity for healing. He believes in redemption and finds 
       pleasure in using his gifts to help others.

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vor_
I always liked Batman because he was obsessed with perfecting himself, while I
liked Superman because he was like a universal punishment of evil and an
example of morality, someone given amazing powers who chooses to be selfless,
never lie, etc.

Superman can become boring if not written well, unfortunately. But there are
some cool moments from the comics, like when he talks a suicidal girl off a
ledge, or when he discovers Captain Marvel is a kid and angrily confronts the
wizard Shazam about burdening a child with that kind of responsibility. I like
him because he's a big boy scout, but he needs well-written situations for it
to work.

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runn1ng
While we're at it.

If you want to read some great, inspirational, and easy-to-get-into story
about Superman, read All Star Superman by Grant Morrison.

[http://www.comixology.com/All-Star-Superman/comics-
series/16...](http://www.comixology.com/All-Star-Superman/comics-series/163)

I also loved Superman-Batman by Jeph Loeb. But it's way more... action comic-
bookey.

<http://www.comixology.com/Superman-Batman/comics-series/378>

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leeoniya
obligatory: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWTJIBGNId0>

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eli_gottlieb
_Perhaps the biggest critique you can make of Superman is that because he
makes it look so easy with the flying and the invulnerability that doing the
impossible is somehow easy or even achievable. It’s big. It’s over the top.
It’s unrealistic and no one human can ever complete the feats of a single
Superman. But it’s not the individual feats of Superman we care about, it’s
that we, as a group of humans, working together, can do anything, even though
it’s never easy._

While I entirely agree with the commenter regarding Superman being an unpaid
cop for the capitalist class, I do wish to note that _Tengen Toppa Gurren
Lagann_ , at least, manages to be properly revolutionary with many of the same
themes ;-).

