Originally published at: Grant Morrison: Evil Superman is "ridiculous" | Boing Boing
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Not ridiculous at all.
“I think the idea that Superman would react to the death of Lois Lane by becoming a tyrant is ridiculous; my mum and dad died and I didn’t become a tyrant. If I can handle it, Superman can handle it.”
You mean like how we handled 9/11?
This is a reflection of society’s fears that the benevolent government, which is supposed to protect its citizens, is on a path towards authoritarianism.
Though for a truly self serving, evil version of Superman, look at Homelander in The Boys.
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America was nowhere near as noble and uncorrupted pre-9/11 as Superman is generally portrayed as being.
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But does he have a cave of interesting toys?
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The movie Brightburn was underrated.
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Superman is the ideals of America personified, from back in a time when American’s could fool themselves they were mostly meeting those ideals. Being fiction, he can actually achieve those ideals.
2021 we understand America has never been those ideals and values it claims to hold, and we fear sliding further away from them. Thus that fear creeps into media. If the bastion of democracy for the world fails, what hope does humanity have?
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Morrison is non-binary and they use They/Them pronounce. Would you please correct your post.
Thanks 
<3
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‘I’ve had enough of you. You’ve been messing up too long and are really going to hurt yourselves if I don’t do something.’
Can’t argue with that.
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I for one look forward to God Emperor Kal El if it leads to general improvement of the species.
I too am tired of every stupid f-ing human constantly f-ing everything up for the species (not to mention all the other species on the planet).
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America has never been that, except to Americans.
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I disagree. Many people from other countries at different points in history held America in that high of esteem. Whether that is true or not, that is the perception by many. Given some of the comments of sadness I saw after Jan 6 from overseas, there are many people who still feel that way.
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Dammit, I wish they’d kept The Authority outside the main continuity. Apollo was literally a parody of Superman, and now Superman’s leading the team? Urgh.
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There are already a lot of “what if there was a Superman but he was a grade-A asshole” stories out there that simply use a stand-in for the character. Superion Homelander of The Boys being one obvious example.
(ETA: couldn’t keep my Superman stand-ins straight)
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Oh yes, I agree. Many people have thought America was a bastion of democracy.
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Surely stories of Superman being more than adequately evil were by no means a common an uncommon occurrence over the decades? I miss the classic Superdickery archives, but this will do:
https://superdickery.com/tag/superman-is-a-dick/
“But that’s not, like, really evil!” is the obvious rejoinder. To which one may reply, if Superman was “really good”, the comics would be pretty boring.
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Pretty sure Good Superman is “ridiculous”. Evil Superman would be the norm:
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But what if Spartacus had a Piper Cub?
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Uberman: “Untruth, Injustice, and the Nazi way!”
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