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[puzzle-bug]

Superman is the unironic best. You heard me. I said it.

Im dying on this hill, I will fight on this hill, and I will not climb down from it unless you hit me with a 16 wheeler truck and even then I’ll still be yapping about how great Superman is as the air leaves my lungs.

I have no room for the “he’s boring” argument. He has some of the most interesting internal conflict of all time, and there isn’t a single copy of his character who can do what he does, BE who he is, (excluding maybe Omni man)

His holding back is what makes him interesting. He is, effectively, a god of sorts. Able to move at the speed of light, able to skip over buildings like it’s nothing, execute every tyrant, literally destroy the planet with a glance; But DOESN’T. There are so many ways to write around that.

My interpretation is that he doesn’t do it because he knows he SHOULDN’T, for the sake of human history. If he paints an image that killing everyone who does something wrong is the best way to peace, he risks creating someone who does the same thing but to the wrong people. That’s why he uses the phantom zone for people humans can’t control or contain, and turns in everyone else to human justice so that other HUMANS can decide how to handle it.

Even then, he’s forced to act. By that previous logic he shouldn’t help anybody, let humans handle it themselves and hope for the best. But instead, he helps. Why? Because how could he not?????

When you think about it Many of the threats on earth that cause problems followed him from krypton, such as the doomsday bio weapon, or parasyte. Imagine that, you’re the last survivor of (if you’re using the “braniac helped destroy krypton” idea) what is essentially a genocide. Now, the mistakes of your dead race are following you to earth, and it’s costing people their lives.

Keep in mind, there aren’t any other strong heroes yet. In most other iterations by the time Superman starts being active, Wonder Woman hasn’t come back from themyscira since the war, Batman doesn’t have experience with anyone stronger than bane, Hal isn’t a lantern, and the meta-human crisis hasn’t happened yet either so no flash, cyborg, or any other superhero with strength that can combat these threats.

On top of that, humans don’t know what Zod or braniac or parasite or any of these other villains even ARE. To them, they’re just pure monsters. The lanterns aren’t here yet, Abin sur is doing fuck all; the justice league isn’t here yet, half their heroes aren’t even ACTIVE yet; and realistically what is Batman or the U.S. government going to do? NOTHING, Batman can’t make countermeasures to something he’s never seen.

Keep in mind that if he were to give over kryptonian tech from the fortress, who knows what humans would do with it? They aren’t ready for that kind of power, just look at what happened the moment we got nukes. We dropped a sun on a city the moment it was done, and then did that AGAIN. He’d just cause another war.

In other words, he has all this power, and his inaction means death, so you think he’s gonna do nothing Clark Kent? The son of Jor-el? The adopted son of JOE AND MARTHA KENT? Not in a million years would anybody like him let these people just… DIE when your whole race is dead. Not a single chance. He’s gonna try his best. Because he’s fucking Superman.

So you’re left with this balancing act. If he goes too far one way he’s injustice Superman: a despot. Go too far the other, and humanity gets cooked by tech and monsters they can’t handle yet. In the middle? A man who is, effectively, in a world made of glass. Lose control for an instant and the world could literally explode, hold yourself back against a monster on your level (like most of Superman’s villains) and you’re dead and with you goes half the city at the hands of a monster. That is so insanely interesting.

Then add Lex luthor; a perfect antithesis. He wants Clark to take the lazy route, lest he go down the injustice road. An alien Boy Scout shouldn’t be left unattended.

On top of that, Lex luthor is an evil billionaire genius with so much money and power that the system Superman likes to have punish people (as opposed to the poor guy just BEING the system) is corrupt and under the thumb of one guys money. That’d be a pain in the ass, and it’s up to Clark to keep him under control, and he has to do it without breaking the rules otherwise he becomes exactly who luthor says he is. He can’t just punch capitalism, but he tries his best to walk the line anyways. That balance is what makes Superman awesome.

Also he’s just a nice guy and we need more of that in the world.