DC’s New Superman Proves Man of Steel Was Right: Zack Snyder Didn’t Go Dark Enough

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No version of Superman has surprised fans like the brand new Man of Steel in DC’s Absolute Universe, a walking volcano of Kryptonian fury. But in a world as likely to hunt down superheroes as help them, the new Absolute Superman makes most of the same modern arguments as Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel, before going even darker than The Snyderverse version dared to.

It would be inaccurate to describe the new Absolute Superman comic series as a “dark” story, at least any darker than Kal-El’s tragic origin story already is. The main difference is that Kal-El grew to be a child on Krypton, raised by working-class parents, before arriving on Earth as a refugee. From there the comic sends Kal-El into hiding, determined to keep his identity and powers a secret while helping everyone he encounters. And once he makes himself known, the world around him has a shockingly brutal (but honest) response.

There’s No Denying It: Superman Would Be Seen As An Angel, God, or Savior

Both Man of Steel & Absolute Superman Treat Kal-El As a Guardian Angel, Saving in Secret

Man of Steel took inspiration from Mark Waid and Leinil Yu’s Superman: Birthright, depicting Clark as a traveler eager to see the world, but forced to keep moving once his gifts started to show. The film version went even further, turning Clark into a drifter using assumed names, and vanishing to start over once disaster struck. The result was a life of being forgotten… except by those to whom he played a guardian angel, saving their lives (or just their days) before moving on. And the effect is even more pronounced in the comics.

In the first issues of Absolute Superman by Jason Aaron, Rafa Sandoval, and Ulises Arreola, the Kryptonian drifter is even more dramatic, performing impossible miracles in service of oppressed and overworked miners (what else would you call a mysterious stranger achieving the impossible?). That includes disarming or even injuring the workers’ brutal tormenters, so it’s no surprise he is soon taken to be a supernatural, divine agent by those he saves. A ‘false god,’ his enemies might say.

The Snyder Problem: People Saw Superman As a God

People Worshipping Superman, or Praying For His Help Proved Controversial

Whether an angel, a savior, or another divine spirit, people around the globe begin to speak of this Absolute Superman as an otherwordly helper and observer, “a whisper among screams.” Even, dare we say it, praying to him for help as they would a deity. That idea may prove offensive to some, as it certainly did when the everyday people of the world began to project notions of godhood, messiah worship, prayer, or adulation onto the hero come Batman v Superman.

The idea and its imagery remain one of the most controversial parts of DC’s Snyderverse, for a variety of different reasons. Yet Absolute Superman suggests that were Kal-El a public figure, willing to show his face and be seen, then communities reaching out to him, or placing their hands on him in worship or devotion would make perfect sense. The difference is that in Snyder’s version, people view Superman as a divine gift. But in DC’s Absolute Universe, it’s Superman’s fury that people hope to see unleashed.

In DC’s New Universe, People Pray For Superman’s Rage

The World’s Oppressed People Believe Superman Will Kill Evil To Save The Innocent

This is undoubtedly the most powerful moment of the series thus far, when Lois Lane, an agent of the evil Lazarus Corporation, not a reporter, searches for Superman by retracing his heroic acts (as she did in Man of Steel). But the witnesses who have been helped by Superman all share the same obsession, having crossed paths and felt the physical presence of a superhuman. These people are as touched and devoted as the believers in BvS, but their faith is drastically different:

“He sees all. Children in cages. Families clinging to rafts. Grown men weeping on the factory floor. As you say, he is afraid. But not afraid of you. The Superman fears the day Lazarus will drive him to such anger… he cannot help but save this world… by killing you all. I pray for this. We all pray for such a thing. In every language, in every slum… We pray for the Superman’s rage.”

That’s right, the faithful believers in Absolute Superman pray that he will witness so much tragedy, he will be forced to unleash his fury on those they feel deserve it.

Compared To Absolute Superman, Zack Snyder’s DCEU is Optimistic And Hopeful

It’s One Thing To Save Victims, But Another To Crave Violence Against Victimizers

Zack Snyder’s vision of the world reacting to Superman was twofold: there were those who felt inspired by his miraculous acts, and those who felt powerlessness, and afraid. But the films stopped well short of the darker desires in Absolute Superman. As the pundits debating Superman say in BvS, people turn him into an icon, forming him into their own image of either good or evil. But for those oppressed under cruel dictators, is it “good” to remove the evil once and for all? What about the downtrodden of Gotham City?

The challenge of being “a guy trying to do the right thing” was Superman’s struggle in Man of Steel, earning devotees wanting to show appreciation. Absolute Superman has taken that same premise to a darker level, with Kal-El’s devotees praying for the blood of the oppressors. With the forms of evil being pointed to no longer supervillains, but world governments Absolute Superman is facing head-on, DC readers face a darker dilemma than Cavill’s goodhearted Superman would ever have entertained.

Absolute Superman #6 is available now from DC Comics.

“}]] The new Absolute Superman is following an even darker path than Man of Steel, and making Zack Snyder’s DCEU seem downright optimistic in comparison.  Read More