The Era of Evil Superman

The Symbol of Hope flies high for a reason. Superman is the person people want to see. Superman is the person heroes look up to. Superman is the person villains fear. But no matter who calls for him, no matter who is in front of him, Superman’s first thought is to help. It could be encouraging words or just some extra muscle. Superman’s authentic, absolute kindness is a superpower in itself, as well as his greatest attribute. Yet, there is always temptation to take him in the opposite direction. Superman is synonymous with compassion but there was a time where an evil Superman was the trend to follow. That compassion was replaced with many shades of malevolence. It even leaked into other franchise. Although, that bright approach to Superman is shifted back to its roots, evil depictions of Superman was a common trope. But why was it so tempting to turn something so purely good as Superman and make him a twisted dark mutilation?

Obviously, DC was the one that led this charge. For a good portion of the 2010s, it was almost normal to see Superman in this dark light. One of the earliest cases during this time period was the reboot in the comic books known as the New 52. In this rebooted universe, Superman’s personality changed pretty noticeably. He was a bit more hotheaded, happy triggered, brash, with a dash of arrogance. Far from being outright evil, but clearly not that hopeful, kind, and caring behavior. What debuted around this time was the first Injustice game. In Injustice: Gods Among Us, they were two earths the game was set in. One had the classic Superman, the other, the evil Superman. The Evil Superman was the game’s main antagonist and one of the game’s main focuses. Since it was a fighting game, the story concluded with a fight with evil Superman. In the game, this Superman became an oppressive dictator of the world that killed anyone who will go against him, even disagree with him. That rolled into Injustice 2. The two earths plotline was gone but the story did take place on the one where Superman is evil. Batman frees him from prison to help defeat Brainiac. And depending on the ending the player chose, Superman was either defeated by Batman or was successful in gaining dictatorial control over the planet again. This narrative even jumped into an animated movie. When it came to cinema, Zack Snyder was taking Superman in the same direction the Injustice games took when it came to Man of Steel. At some point in the universe he was establishing, Superman would embrace Darkseid’s influence and become an evil ruler over Earth. Some of this was glimpsed in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Although comic books went back and forth in showing Superman in both the light and the dark, it was these stories that really defined Superman’s character for almost a decade.

During this time, some other franchises embraced that dark tone of Superman. The most notable was Homelander from The Boys show. The two definitely have a similar aesthetic and very similar superpowers. It’s easy to see that evil Superman trope in Homelander. Homelander gave a glimpse into what Superman could have been if not raised properly. Homelander gave a glimpse into what Superman could have turned into if he was raised coldly and bitterly. He also showed what Superman could have become if he was treated as a thing and not as a human.

Omni-Man was another evil Superman during this time period. Omni-Man had a similar look to Superman as well; the cape, the letter on his chest, similar powers, and an extraterrestrial home world. Superman is kind largely by nurture. Omni-Man was hell bent on conquering because of nurture as well. Omni-Man offered a glimpse into the possibility if Superman fully embraced his powerset in the way that many on Earth fear; to conquer. The conquering mindset of Omni-Man allowed that dark potential of Superman to shine.

Even original projects gave into this temptation to show off an evil Superman. James Gunn directed Superman and is directing the sequel, Man of Tomorrow. But before that, his name was attached to a movie that had a Superman resemblance. That movie was Brightburn. The main character of Brightburn was a child named Brandon Breyer. Much like Superman, he’s from another world and bares the same powers as Superman. The big difference, Brandon was naturally vile from the start. While, a young Kal-El came to earth with a relative blank slate, Brandon was evil from birth. As he went from a toddler to a young teen, he realized his purpose and began attacking and killing. This interpretation on an evil Superman embraced the possibility of what if Kal-El was evil right when he landed on Earth?

So why the evil Superman trend? This trend really spiked, ironically, during a huge spike in the superhero medium. In the 2010s, the genre hit heights that it arguably never reached due to the MCU. During that time, the superhero genre was dominant, it was the hottest property. However, it was Marvel reaping most of that success. DC only poked its head from time to time, especially compared to Marvel. Marvel was able to bring C-listers to maybe D-listers to mainstream prominence. They became household names. But THE household name was falling back a bit. Perhaps it was tempting to make an evil Superman so he could keep up with Marvel’s successful attempts to elevate obscure characters. By having him be so drastically different from his classic and expected persona, it kept Superman’s name in conversations. Because it was at this time names like Doctor Strange, Ant-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy were shining bright. Much brighter than Superman’s own. So, in order to keep Superman’s name in passionate discussions, decisions were made to make him evil so the debates could revolve around Superman’s twisted personality.

Then, characters like Superman that have been around for decades, do need a little change to keep them updated, keep them fresh. This does happen to a lot of characters that have lasted the test of time. Not all of course, but change does come with such a long history of existence. Batman has been the recipient of this. Sometimes he is a bit more whimsical. Other times he’s more aimed for a younger audience. Other times he is thrusted into a darker tone. Maybe it was Superman’s time to get a few fresh additions.  For all of Superman’s existence up until that point showed him as the boy scout, the perfect symbol of a perfect person, shining treasure. Unlike Batman who had a recognized history of campiness and maturity, Superman’s history was known as being the boy scout. It was perhaps his time to embrace a darker side of his character. Maybe a long overdue attempt.

So maybe it was a change that made some level of sense on paper. Throughout his existence, there were in fact stories that teased Superman becoming tyrannical and villainous. The reason why is because it’s a fear that many people in the DC universe have in their back of their minds. With the power Superman has, it would be extremely simple for him to become that way. His worst enemy and his greatest friend fear this. Yet, DC held off fully embracing it for a while until maybe the possibly of Superman becoming evil was too simple to ignore. The teasing of it, characters fearing it and maybe some outside chatter gave writers enough persuasion to make Superman a lesser version of himself. All that needed to lead somewhere. It was becoming Chekhov’s Gun of sorts and the payoff needed to happen.

Another reason is a popular conversation point at one time; Superman is boring as a true and through symbol of hope. If anyone were to look at the other most popular superheroes – Batman and Spider-Man – they have trauma in their life and some edge. Batman always carries a sliver of brutality with him. Spider-Man falls victim to the Symbiote’s dark influence and has tragedy welcome him seemingly every corner he walks around. But the heroes’ battles and triumphs over those issues make them more intriguing. Superman – although has his fair share of trauma – wasn’t held in that same circle. He was seen as the one reaching out to people with problems, who needed his aid. It didn’t help with the rise of the MCU which saw many of the heroes being inflicted by flaws. Superman was seen as someone who simply wasn’t bothered by any of it. A lot of heroes during this time were willing to get dirty and a bit aggressive to fight off bad guys especially Superman’s greatest ally, Batman. And it was during this time where Batman was really stating to take over, being seen a little more and accepted by a lot more fans. So, his style was very easily compared to Superman’s style. It was clear his boy scout approach failed in comparison to Batman’s approach to crime. So basically, to keep Superman up to speed with these characters that had a more hostile approach to their fight against evil, Superman needed to adopt that as well. It was common to hear in this short-lived era that Superman got Batman-ized.

Another possibility to why Superman was evil may come from his perfect status. Again, he is the perfect example of what a perfect person should. On paper, he should beat anyone due to his power scaling. But that creates a problem; no stakes. Of course, he has Kryptonite and magic but Superman seems to be untouchable while mending all forms of problems. There’s no conflict, there’s no stakes with him. But by making him evil, it gave him some cracks, some flaws in his image. Showed that he could be defective.

That trend, from the looks of it, has ended. Superman is being reverted back to his classic hopeful image. Even the conclusion of The Boys and Omni-Man’s redemption arc is helping Superman’s image. But Superman was plunged into stories that had him adopt a more aggressive persona. It occurred so often, his hopeful manner was secondary to a darker nature. A few reasons may have contributed to that but that chapter is in Superman’s history.