Superman. Pretty much the poster child of what it means to be a superhero. Clad in colorful spandex, possessing abilities and skills beyond that of any human being, and trying to do what's right not just for his adopted home of Earth, but also the universe.
And DC has been having trouble with that concept over the last decade or so.
Its been something ongoing (or at the very least, popping up every once in awhile) where DC tries to make Superman more acceptable and relatable to the readers. After all, you have a better chance of relating to someone who isn't invulnerable, can fly and lift objects in the range of several hundred tons. Certainly explains a lot of the popularity for street level heroes like Batman, Green Arrow and Black Canary.
Still, there is that love of sci-fi adventure and such, so Superman should still have a strong hold of fans with interplanetary menaces and whatnot. Wasn't exactly stopping DC from doing bold things to the character.
Like changing him up during the 'New 52' launch.
The idea was to change him from an adopted alien, growing up in humble roots of Midwest Kansas that saw the best in a lot of people to someone who ended up more of a jerk who did whatever he wanted. Kind of over simplifying that bit, though it isn't surprising to to find the sales plummeting even faster once this rendition came to stores.
It certainly didn't help much with the 'Man of Steel' movie that was released in 2013. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was, but not really good either. Looking back on it now, a lot of the movie was plagued by bad script writing, some stale acting and muted cinematography (real life had more colors than this movie did). Among some decisions were to make Superman a bit more 'apathetic' at times, more mopey and uninterested. Hardly someone who would become an icon of superheroes. While this was set up to be his start as Superman, it feels like a long trip just to reach that point.
Trailers for the upcoming 'Batman V Superman' don't exactly help either. True, it is at least addressing some actions that happened in 'Man of Steel' like the destruction of Metropolis and the battle with General Zod. It doesn't really shake up the color palette that much, not to mention the scene where Superman's own mother says something along the lines of 'you can help these people, but you don't have to since they owe nothing to you.' Seriously, when I heard that they got people who did 'Argo' to write this, I thought it was turning out for the better, not the worse.
The whole premise of turning established characters 'darker and grittier' could lead to numerous results. Could work, could lead to 'narm charm', could lead to a break down of the original character that makes people ask, "Why did you do it in the first place?"
Superman's problem in this day and age has come from creators, writers and artists trying to fix something that wasn't broken. Certain ideas have stuck around to make the character better, sure, but others where throw out in the open to test the waters and ending up sinking to the bottom.
Right now, the core of the character needs to be remembered:
His kindness, his humanity, his dedication to helping his planet, and the realization that even with all his power, he is not a god.
He is Superman.
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