Widely disliked ideas about Superman that I like. When I think of "widely disliked ideas" I tend to think of things people who dislike Superman in general dismiss him for like his morals, his power levels, his costume, and his disguise. All of which I enjoy very much. I'll address some of the ideas that have been posted already.
Super-costume: It should be nearly indestructible. Besides, wouldn't you want that if you spent alot of time going into burning buildings, being shot at, moving at high velocity and being covered in various forms of alien energy and slime?
Kryptonians: I think it should be limited to The Phantom Zone and Kara for the most part but with some wiggle room. Krypton should be a dream and a memory that is always kind of in sight but just out of reach for him. Sure he can have a module or crystals with Kryptonian history but nothing too interactive. It's a world and a family that he will never know. That's the tragedy of it. I've also always thought the writers were shooting themselves in the foot when they have him find out too much about Krypton to start with. I think it would be intresting if Krypton were like a puzzle he was trying to peice together. The culture, the language, why what happened happened. Through the course of his life and career he gets bits a peices of it. To start with he should only have like a single message from Jor-El and Lara telling him his name and that he is the last. For Kara I like the STAS sleekness of having her be from a sister world. So you get all the simplicity of the "supermans cousin" version while still having him be the last son. It boggles my mind that DC looked at that they only took from it the costume and slapped it onto Linda whatsherface. It's right there! You can have your cake and eat it to! He can be the last son and you still have a Supergirl that makes sense!
Super Pets: Something I've enjoyed in regards to the animated incarnation of Krypto is that the way it's set up you can sort of take it or leave it. His origin is very clearly tied to STAS but at the same time you don't see Krypto on JLU. Krypto has Kevin which I think is a wonderful touch.They kind of have their own cartoony corner where they have fun adventures. Superman still shows up and there's that link. He's still a Superman's best friend. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I have no problem with cute and playful concepts such as this but I kinda prefer they sort of have their place or at least are not a constant presence. But I'll also admit to gettin kick out of stuff like having Poison Ivy open a door and there's Krypto floating with his heat-vison eyes ready to go or harrassing Catwoman with doggie licks.
Bizzaro: Again I gotta go with the animated series stuff. He's a clone, there's only one of him and he's not actually evil yet at the same time still dangerous as he is Superman's power without a stable intellect to guide it. Also like the STAS version I want him to have some form of childlike personality but not the extreme backwards talk of the recent comics version or the other extreme, the blank monster of Ross's Justice series.
Super-Smarts: I don't think he should be a super genius but I do think that he should always be shown as excelling in areas that would fit his experience and expertise. I'm thinking his skill as a investigative reporter, I'd imagine he would have a very developed intrest in astronomy, I also have always seen him as someone who knows every language and can communicate with anyone fluently.
Batman and Superman: Friends: These are two of the greatest heroes ever. They would be friends. Why? Because neither one is so blatantly stupid, ignorant, and full of themselves that they would treat the other as an enemy. That's not to say they wouldn't maybe have differing point's of view on things, but I also think that Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent would be able to hang out with each other without needing to be in dramatic tension mode 24/7. Bruce would buy Clark a root-beer float and they could talk as buds.
I fail to see how any of these ideas are "widely disliked." In fact, not only are none of the things you point out widely disliked, I don't think any of the things you mention are even moderately controversial.
Show of hands here - is there anyone that thinks Superman and Batman shouldn't be friends? Anybody? Even the most hard-assed Frank Miller fan understands that the reason DARK KNIGHT RETURNS was so effective a story, was that it was a shocking reversal from the way things usually are.
Busiek's been using Super-Intelligence for some time now, and the universal response is a type of curiosity, and marveling at the over the top feats that his brain makes possible. How - just HOW - is this "widely disliked?"
As for Superman's Super-Costume being indestructible...I like the elastic, super-stretchable cape with the secret compartment as well, but I find it hard to believe anyone sees this as being important enough to be hard-assed about...either for it or against it. It's KINDA cool, I suppose. Maybe I should start a thread that says "Superman ideas you like that other people are mostly indifferent to?"
But I'll also admit to gettin kick out of stuff like having Poison Ivy open a door and there's Krypto floating with his heat-vison eyes ready to go or harrassing Catwoman with doggie licks.
Any writer that actually does this should burn in hell forever.
Suspension of disbelief for a fantasy world like Superman's, is like a house of cards. I would not compare having Krypto harass Catwoman with doggy licks to a careless card. I would compare it, though, to hitting the house of cards with a rocket launcher.
I agree they would never treat each other as enemies in the world we know. But lately I've been reconsidering their suitability for chumsville, and I am thinking Green Lantern (the real one, Hal Jordan) is a better close buddy for the Man of Steel than Batman. Of all the versions (eras) of Batman through the decades, there aren't many who could be a special buddy for Superman.
Neil Gaiman is several steps ahead of you there. He developed the idea that Superman and GL would have a bond.
I think pointing out Hal as "the real Green Lantern" sells short a lot of interesting characters. Steve Englehart in the 1980s, with his usual unpredictability, didn't bring Hal back and instead told stories with John Stewart, and he successfully set John up as a heroic character in his own right. Reading those issues now, Stainless made John so much fun, I didn't WANT Hal back. Ditto for the Englehart story arc where freaky space monster Salakk became Pol Manning!
I've often pondered the suitability of Batman and Superman together as well. It made sense, sort of, when they were DC's top two properties, but come the Bronze Age, when Batman was given an "outsider" characterization whose province was the weird and unusual, he lived in a whole different world than Superman did, and having them team up together and be bestest buddies would make as much sense as Superman being chummy with the Phantom Stranger.
I'm not saying they should be rivals, as they were in the 1980s-1990s. Jamespup hit it right on the money when he said that there's mutual respect, certainly, which is not quite the same thing as friendship.
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