![]() They only lack the light to show the way. As Marlo Brando, as Superman’s father Jor-El, says to his son in Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie, “They can be a great people, Kal-El. This might not sound like a big deal, but Superman over the years has morphed into an ideal for fans to aspire to as a symbol of hope, he’s held to a higher standard. Superman lives more by the Old Testament code of an “eye for an eye” rather than the “turn the other cheek” philosophy of Jesus’ Biblical sequel. In another story, a villain threatens to shoot Superman, who responds by threatening to shoot him in return. She shoots at him and as he grabs her gun, crushes it in his hand, and threatens to do the same to her-something the “newer” Superman wouldn’t dream of doing. In the first issue of Action Comics, for example, Superman faces off against a female criminal wielding a gun. This Superman was far from the godlike hero and the epitome of morality he’s frequently portrayed as. The whole strip had the metallic odor of the early Depression.” In his book Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book, Gerard Jones describes the early Superman in this way, “This was a grim, almost cruel Superman. In the beginning, Shuster and Siegel’s Superman was very much grounded in the real-world problems facing many Americans: poverty, inadequate housing conditions, mobster violence, and corporate and political corruption. He rallied against the social injustices created by the corporate and political greed that led to the Great Depression. When the comic book was still a nascent medium in the late 1930s and early 40s, Superman was more of an enforcer on behalf of the poor and disenfranchised. ![]() ![]() The revised character had enough strength to lift a car and the ability to jump great distances, exactly one-eighth of a mile. Siegel, however, had second thoughts about Superman as a villain and reimagined him as a hero- some speculate that the inspiration for the change was the murder of his father at the hands of a robber. Instead of physical superpowers, though, Superman had the power to read and control people’s minds, all in an effort to take over the world. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster first published the character in a 1933 illustrated short story called Reign of the Superman as a bald supervillain not unlike Lex Luthor. The People Using Role-Play to Prepare for the Future Kathryn Hymesĭespite what many believe, Superman’s first appearance wasn’t in Action Comics No. ![]()
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