@modernww2fare: I hear that! I always had portrayed Clark like this in my head, that even if he is best known as Superman, he's still Clark, and he needs to be that since even if Krypton made him Superman, he is still human because of what he learned on Earth from being raised by Jonathan and Martha. Really, what Superman is to me is that he is a person who understands a strong sense of right and wrong, but isn't 100% infallible, since he still is human, in spite of what could be said. He knows he has these powers to protect people as well as inspire them because of his selfless acts of heroism, which has inspired a generation of superheroes in the DC Universe, as well as the fact he needs to still have some normalcy where he can just be himself and relax, which is why he is Clark, yet Superman is the mask he wears to help people, even if some people assume it's the other way around, like with Bruce and Batman.

Superman is NOT a super man but definitely a super God. Here's why: Batman or Captain America would be on the scale of a super human because they do not possess immense powers like flight, eye beams, x-Ray vision, absorb sunlight power, etc. Although they definitely are stronger and a little bit faster than the average man they don't have the power to stop planets with their hands AND blow up solar systems with a sneeze. Superman however does have these perks. Superman is definitely more powerful than Zeus who is a god and Kratos who is a god and even Thor who is a god. Not many gods prove to have the ability to crush Superman besides the Almighty of course. It's true Gods can't die but neither can Superman. The only thing that can defeat Superman is kryptonite which is nearly impossible to find anyways so in basic terms he's invincible. The only being that could give Superman a run for his money is Thanos since he has the infinite gauntlet. So a super human would be Simeon like Captain America.

@rideaspacecowboy: what do you mean be millers batman having a fovus on spiritual training. I don't think that batman is very contemplative or anything.

Super-human. Though some writers like to make the religious comparisons, they forget that Superman still holds himself to the same standards and laws of humans. He still holds himself accountable, because he does not believe himself to be above them. No he's not Kal-El, just Kal-El in name, as he was not raised to be "Kal-El", and he is not just Superman, as he was not raised to just be Superman. He was raised humbly as Clark Kent and everything else came later.

Superman is just an alien, not a god. He can be killed, he suffers pain and was already beaten even by Batman, a normal human.

Gods can't be seen only as someone very powerful who beats bad guys, but has to be seen as someone who have control of Earth and its nature.

Wait, so you define a god as one who can't be killed, does not suffer pain and can't be beat by humans? And to top that off they must have control of Earth and its nature?

No character in DC should have true immortality except The Presence. Most, if not all, godly characters have suffered pain in some fashion and sometimes due to being defeated by humans. You must think that magicians are gods since they've shown some control of nature. You need to rethink your definition of a god because it is very lacking.

Superman IS godly btw, physically and metaphorically.

@minaruto: In my comment I was thinking of the real world, not the DC one (my bad). But with this said: I still think that he is not a god, but a very powerful being. He is Clark Kent, but chose to help people instead of hide his powers. I can only call him a god if we talk about DC one million. Now that is a Super God.

@eternal19: Best comment I've read on this website so far. You deserve a cookie. :D

He may as well be a god He's followed like a religion by many

There's a few people commenting that Superman is just an alien, and I think we can all agree that in a literal sense, Superman is an alien. Nothing more.

But what he often represents is a God, a being that's more than just a man. Something bigger, and better than all of us.

There's also often Christ-like comparisons and hintings toward the character in just about everything, comics, movies etc, but they're nothing more than references to Superman's similarity with Christ's depiction in the Christian bible. Not a statement in itself, simply pointing at a connection between the characters, be the latter real or fictional, that part is irrelevant.

Well it would be awesome to find out that the house of El is decended from the gods of Krypton.

So that house would be part gods from the krypton pantheon.

So he would be stronger then the already strong race , smarter then the already smart race etc. etc. etc.

This was a good read, sorry so many people missed the actual point of your article.

Man of steel was great. Henry civil portrayal of superman as a lost,lonely man was very endearing.

@sandman_: thank you soo much ... finally somebody understands.

Kals mother dies soon after his birth (mother krypton also)

So does Buddhas mum and a host of other mythic heroes.

Kal is thrown in the pod just like Sargon or Moses.

In Man of Steel we see him on a fishing boat just like Jesus.

The basket and boat being a symbol of the embryo in the womb. Showing the idea of being taken from one womb (mother krypton) and being put in another (Mother Earth) Balarama was taken from his goddess mothers womb and put into the womb of an earthly princess.

In the movie we see him lying in the water in crucifixion pose. Emerson in water being a symbol of death and burial.

There are too many to mention.

@sandman_: no. He will just ressurect and live again. As supermans story goes about

he's a hero who ascends to be worthy of the gods

Superman is worthy of the Mjolnir.

Neither he is Super-Alien.

@starofelyon: My brain just exploded

I noticed a few days ago that this post is being spotlighted on the front page of the site. It's certainly a huge honor!

These past few days have been busy, but I finally have some time to reply to some of the comments in this thread.

As a general note, I'm realizing now that the title was far too misleading. Much of the discussion has revolved around Superman's power level and similar issues on the textual level. In that sense, on the textual level, he is not a god, he's an alien. However, I had intended for the question to be read on the literary level. In what ways and towards what ends have writers employed literary devices such as allusions to tropes (specifically the Christ-figure and the Messianic Archetype) throughout Superman's history as a character?

Now for some specific responses...

@mezame Regardless of whether Transformers should be depicted fighting in front of American flags, when they are, it certainly gives us occasion to critique the film and ask what message the film-makers where trying to convey through such imagery. It is a similar case here.

@starofelyon The reason that I didn't mention Jerry Seigel and Joe Shuster creating the last name "El" was that the characters' names were originally "Jor-L" and "Kal-L" throughout the Golden Age. It was meant to have a science-fiction vibe; the later Hebrew connotation was purely coincidental.

@fallingcliffs I'll try to find the interview, but I know I read at one point one of the show-runners or writers of Smallville actually saying that they had "crucified" Clark in the pilot, that the allusion was intentional.

@mcdavid Check out my follow up essay "Super-American or Super-Alien?"

@superadam Great catch on all of those Man of Steel references. This was the kind of discussion I was hoping for on this thread.

Finally, can anyone tell me what's going on in this panel?

@rideaspacecowboy: There's a DVD I have called Look up in the sky, the amazing story of superman. They mention it that there are some similarities but not exactly. They also cover a lot of the conspiracy people who looked a little too much into it. Even Superman in Smallville, past comics and current comics have said "I do what I can do help, but I'm no God" I actually think the current storyline with the Kryptonian God Rao has more similarities to Jesus than Superman, since Rao even has prophets healing people all over the world currently.

Smallville the way they put him on the wood was similar as far as looks but they didn't torture him or nail his arms, legs into it like they did with Jesus.

The way I look at it is pretty much no more than Goku's backstory being a little similar to Superman's with the home planet being blown up, being sent to another world to be it's savior etc.

personally

Superman gives better teaching the Bible and 'god'.

That both inpiran yes, but never really to any fanboy of killing Superman in the comic-con.

What makes one a "god" in comics?

It is an overrated title imo.

Yesterday I posted a follow up essay entitled "The Secret of Superman's Identity." Follow the link to read it.

I think some people take comics and characters waaayyy too seriously.

Superman can save people from dying but can't raise the dead, a point he makes very strongly when Jonathan Kent dies....God like yes, in terms of power, but not a God. Just a powerful alien with a very strong moral compass!

remember when the joker had hair

@kbroskywalker: Yes, I preferred the idea of Lois and Superman being a joke above actually being a relationship for 15 years, a lot of which was abusive and demeaning for Superman to deal with, that or just boring.

Well, after the Darkseid War, I would assume that he is an actual god...

Please stop with the blasphemy. Comparing a comic book character to our Lord Jesus Christ is hugely disrespectful...and stupid. Superman is not real. He's a comic book character...and a very poorly-conceived one at that. Could he be fixed? Yes, easily, but it will won't happen as long as Time Warner "owns" the character. (Copyright law was only designed to last 15 years by the Founding Fathers, so they don't, but that's another story.) DC Comics, like Marvel Comics, refuse to write anything that doesn't go to either one ultra-extreme or the other with all their characters. DC's characters are not allowed to fail and Marvel's characters are not allowed to succeed. Both are sadistic, and intentional by the management. The warped Lady Gaga once said at a concert to her fans that they have to suffer for their entertainment if they want it. DC and Marvel's thug bosses do the same thing to their readers. Cognitive dissonance, Hegelian Dialectic, demoralization, cruelty, stupidity. The destined worthless legacy of the soon-to-collapse "Big Two" of comics.

But as for Superman...almost 100 years and people still can't define a single aspect of his personality. Why? Because he doesn't have one. Funny? Nope. Hobbies? Nope. We know he wants to hang around women, but we're not really sure why, as he had pretty much no desire to get married for decades...until Time Warner told him to so they could make a buck on merchandising. Why did he never have children? Is he jealous of anyone but himself getting attention? Is he impotent? Does he even give a crap? Who knows? What's his favorite color? Gray? Does he like fishing? Does he like eating for that matter? Does he dream about how cool it would be to be Batman or Spider-Man? Almost a century and nothing. Why do red flashlights take away his powers? His father is a scientist...so why doesn't he ever question it when he stands on his head and the sand under his fingers lifts the planet Earth without moving? How could anyone lift a planet when an exploding planet killed billions of others just like him in a split-second? How do you shoot x-rays out of your eyes without drying your eyes to the point they fall out of your face? Why does he stop to curl his hair before he saves Lois Lane from getting hit by a truck? Why would any sane person build a "Fortress of Solitude" at the North Pole? Super-hearing? Nope, because obviously he can turn it on and off or his brains would turn to jello every time he hit something with his super-strength...and Kryptonian tech probably included decent earplugs for that matter, anyways. Why would he leave an entire city from Krypton in a freaking bottle for 50 years? Why doesn't he clean up the atmosphere from all the aerosol spraying and other pollution while he's flying around? Too much hassle? Too busy thinking about punching Lex Luthor again? Does he ever think about anything BUT fighting? CAN he?

The answer is simple to fix Superman: people all need to make their own versions of Superman that 1) scale his phony "powers" back to the point that they could actually work and not be redundant and pointless...super-breath? force field? super-ventriloquism? super-recall? NO. 2) give him likes and dislikes and a basic personality 3) give him huge challenges and let him fail sometimes and 4) make him good and heroic.

That's it. DC will never change completely, but they'll start to change the character to imitate yours to a degree, "fixing" him as much as possible for the immediate future, and in the meantime you'll have created tons of supermen that are really interesting. - James Dysart (CEO of White Spider Comics)

Agreed. There is multiple of ways to killing him. And I have seen men much powerful than Superman. Those should be considered as Gods.

I agree- Superman is an ALIEN and NOT a deity- leave the GOD stuff to his Marvel counterparts such as Hercules, Thor and Valkyrie!

Terry

superman isn't a human so i think this is obvious lol.

but then again didn't his powers get revoked and he's now at his regular ones?

@sabracadabra

^ Compared to us he is but humans on the canon DC Earth see heroes like him (on the news or fighting down town) on a regular basis.

The God side of his stories is only really used in movies where very few heroes exist (or only him.)

DC comics has so many incredibly powerful heroes I don't think humans on that Earth would see Superman any differently than any other heroes.

Remember when Superman was an alien, Batman was a detective, and Wonder Woman was an Amazon?

Pepperidge Farm remembers.

@rideaspacecowboy

I'm guessing that was a flaming cross (an anti-racist / anti-KKK type storyline.)

I don't think the God aspect works in the canon books because there are dozens of characters with amazing powers. On DC Earth people would see them on the news every day.

I think the God aspect has been done and done well, now there's been MoS and BvS and the non comic book reading masses have seen it should be put to rest. Super-heroes and Superman himself have been around for over 75 years treating Superman as new and unique doesn't work on any level any more (not that he is a bad character.) He needs to be written well and good stories and stop resting on his (un-doubted) iconic value and doing the whole God thing.

That was great.

I always found in Cannon he was Super-Human. Certain writers take the Super-God approach. While those are my favorite books he for the majority of time is written as Clark. Sometimes he is Clark that bumble and falls to hide his ID but mostly Clark who raised by great parents and has superpowers, thus Superman.

It was said Batman has key traits but he is written differently out of Cannon as well. While Bruce goes further in the abyss, Clark goes towards the heavens.

I don't know if it's because they are the first or that how open ended the idea of the characters are. Superman is an superpowered alien raised with morals. While Bruce is a driven, rich, murder witness of his own parents..I think rich is important to Batman as much as the alien or powers are to Superman. The thought of what people would do in these situations seem to carry as much sway as what is written about them.

True. It's because cannon Superman is in a world with dozens of incredible super heroes. The god approach doesn't work when so many other similar characters exist.

Most non cannon stories have very few heroes, sometimes just Superman , or just Superman/Batman etc.

@arrownoir

" Super human?

Why do people attribute the term human to a Kryptonian "

Because he was raised by the Kent's, he sees the world as a human with great power the same way Bruce Banner and Billy Batson do. He has relatively little influence from Kryptonians, none at all for most of his life.

Superman is not a god nor a demi-god. He's just a dude with superpowers. If he didn't have a superpowers, he'd be mortal. Put him under a red sun, you can basically kill him with a bullet.

Superman is a "godly" being who tries hard to be more human. So the name is appropriate.

Other super-powered beings will flaunt their powers and strength to remind everyone who they are, unlike Supes.

I'd say that, being from Heaven and basically a race of humans vastly more evolved he is basically a sci-fi Dying/Rising God/Demi-God. The whole human/god thing is only an issue when you think of gods as being 'transcendent', which isn't true of many ancient religions. Even if you do, the dichotemy between his super-brain/senses and supposedly having a normal conversation at the same time is pretty similar to one theologians and Gnostics have had with the coherence of their Divine Logos of Heaven existing as some hard-light projection onto the lower material creation. I'd tend to say most superheroes are gods for a sciencey culture that isn't quite comfortable with worship anymore.

Superman is not a God. He is simply an incredibly powerful Kryptonian. Remember Superman is ALMOST immortal, not immortal. Superman knows it too because he never states he is a God directly. I think he is christian honestly because of the church scene in Man of Steel but not sure. Shutout to Jesus btw.

Is super Christian I wonder? Or is his past too vague to reveal on religion?

@thefactwizard said:

In some portrayals - notably Superman for All Seasons - he's portrayed as Protestant (Methodist in that specific comic), but elsewhere during the Silver and Bronze age he was portrayed as believing in the Kryptonian god Rao.

I think that church must be against Superman.