r/superman

Superman: The movie (1978) Dir: Richard Donner

A challenge in including Superman in video games is that his invincibility (to normal enemies, that is) is too iconic to the character, to the point that it could get old to make him only fight mooks armed with kryptonite or robots. However, I think something that should be indispensable is the superhero/journalist dichotomy in Superman's character, which would not only justify struggles against common enemies in combat but also diversify gameplay.

The idea is that Superman functions as a hero not only in his role as Superman but also in his role as Clark Kent, going on investigations in which a health bar is replaced by a "Cover Bar". Clark will not be truly injured whenever he gets shot, but his cover might get blown. So the player needs to act as if Clark were a human whenever he is in his disguise, or else both the enemies and the Daily Planet will find out he is Superman, and the phase is lost. The most lethal the weapon, the less believable it is that a mild-mannered journalist can survive getting hit by it.

For example, let's say that Superman finds out that there is a clue to an evil plan inside a factory. But he can't break in as Superman, or else he would alert the criminals he needs to investigate and interrogate. Therefore, the player must enter as Clark Kent in an investigation for the Daily Planet and evade attacks by the enemies. Each time Clark gets "injured," the believability of his lies decreases ("It just grazed me!", "That was a close one, I almost got shot!", "Good thing I'm wearing a bulletproof vest!") until his cover bar depletes and the player needs to restart.

Therefore, the player would use phone booths spread around Metropolis to transition between the two personas as needed for different missions and goals.

If the player needs to overtly use superpowers, such as in map navigation and boss battles, they switch to Superman; if they need to sneak in to investigate an area in which Superman wouldn't be allowed inside without alarm, such as a crime scene or an evil lair, they switch to Clark Kent. Every time the player is in Clark Kent mode, they get access to Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen as helpful companion NPCs. For example, if there is kryptonite in a region, the player switches to Clark in a nearby phone booth and gets it away with their help, expanding the map in a way they could not as Superman.

This mechanic could also lead to tense situations in the narrative. Superman couldn't just get into LexCorp, but as Clark Kent, he could interrogate Lex Luthor for clues in missions in which the player would need to be extra careful to not blow his cover.

The gameplay mechanics change from action-adventure as Superman to stealth detective as Clark. To keep Clark's sections from being too monotonous, though, Clark should still get to use his powers: super hearing and x-ray vision would be allowed all the time, but the others could only be used in secret; if the player misses the timing, the Cover Bar decreases. For example, Clark needs to use his laser vision to open a coffin with a clue inside, but there are enemies nearby: he must distract them first before getting the right timing to use his powers.

Not that Jor-El hates humans or sees them as lesser (I really hate that interpretation) he just wishes Kal would focus on his own happiness. He didn't send him away to be the world's clean-up guy.

I’ve been collecting Batman for a couple of years now, but I’ve always been a Superman fan as well and am finally branching out. I think this is a nice start to my collection. What do you think I should add next?

the way she’s gazing at him I mean come on.

It's a pretty good figure, but wish the cape was accurate length.

He looks so good

Forgive me if this is a question that comes up here often. I did a search and didn’t find anything and can’t seem to get any FAQ section to pull up on mobile.

The most recent Superman film included the idea that Kal-El was sent to rule over Earth. When I first watched it I thought that was new concept to me. I didn’t remember picking up on that before.

Since then, my daughter and I have gone back and starting watching Smallville. They include the “rule over Earth” concept in the story. I hadn’t seen the show since it originally aired and was surprised to hear that story line included.

Was Smallville the first time that concept was introduced? I definitely don’t remember it from any of the earlier films but I could be mistaken. I did a quick Google search and it says the story line was from Smallville but that isn’t always the most reliable source.

Was there any other earlier mention that Jor-El sent Kal-El to rule over Earth?

My Superman. ❤️💙💛