I just watched Superman returns. Yet again, I was reminded why I love Superman so much. I thought…hmm, I wish I could share my love of Superman with someone. And then I remembered: “Hey, I have a website. It’s got my name on the domain and everything. I can totally share it there!”
This is me doing that now.
If you are a comic book fan, you might have read billions of odes to Superman. This might not be very different. You can choose to stop reading.
If you are accustomed to me writing relatively funny things, unfortunately, I am in the middle of a rut where nothing funny escapes my tongue/fingertips. Even this tongue/fingertip joke felt forced and annoying. So Imma refrain from even trying. If you came for that, you can choose to stop reading.
I sure hope none of you actually stopped reading. Those disclaimers were just to set expectations and not actually drive you away. Savvy? Okay, let’s go.
Superheroes. They’re trending. Over the last few decades, they are THE thing in entertainment. Corporations as big as Sony and Disney came together to give us 2 spiderman movies, competition be damned. There are sequels and reboots. There are new takes and “what ifs”. There are franchises for when superheroes are depressed (Doom Patrol), when they are incompetent (Hancock, Umbrella Academy), when they are assholes (The Boys), when they are just human with powers (Watchmen).
And yet, there is one that really stands out.
July 19, 2012. A friend scored a “premier” ticket for the early show of The Dark Knight Rises. After the dark knight, this was a big deal. In the interval, the below trailer played.
I did not know what trailer I was watching until 1:10. And even then it felt like some Iron Giant thingy. Until 1:14 happened.
A superman movie. A live action superman movie, where his flight made you think you were watching a God. I squealed. I am yet to be more hyped by a movie.
And if you thought that trailer had me excited, imagine watching this:
A movie where they understood what Superman means.
Superman is not a symbol of strength. He is not a symbol of truth and justice, despite the preachings in-universe of it. He is not the symbol of a god walking amongst men.
He is, at the foremost, a symbol of hope.
This is Superman.
A slightly longer, but a better version of the same narrative.
This is superman.
The first 63 seconds of this clip. As the movie title suggests, this is the movie where he dies. He is not strong enough to get through this alive. And yet, his priority is “Get back to your mom son. Everything’s going to be okay.” while saving not just the child, but what matters to the child.
This is Superman.
And don’t even get me started on the most human character in all comic-book history, Clark Kent.
I already feel like this post has gone longer than most will care to read. And, I do know this is about a fictional being whom I have put on a pedestal which no human can live up to. But that’s the point. We are not supposed to. No one is perfect. Not even God. Superman is better.
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