Why "Evil Superman" Never Works

[00:00] For more than a decade, superhero fans

[00:01] keep circling back to the same tired

[00:03] idea. What if Superman were evil?

[00:06] Welcome back ScreenCrush. I'm Ryan Arey,

[00:07] and today we're going to dissect the big

[00:09] problem with an evil Superman. We're

[00:11] going to look at the most famous evil

[00:12] Superman in recent years and explain why

[00:15] this idea always falls apart in the long

[00:17] run and how over time it's even started

[00:19] to change Superman himself. From

[00:21] Injustice to Homelander or even

[00:23] Invincible's Omni-Man, we have seen

[00:25] countless iterations of a Superman who

[00:27] just snaps, who goes too far, or who was

[00:29] never even good to begin with. Somewhere

[00:31] along the way, we started to believe

[00:33] that Superman is only interesting when

[00:35] he breaks bad. But that says less about

[00:37] Superman and more about how we

[00:39] fundamentally misunderstood this

[00:41] character. What do you mean? Well, these

[00:43] evil Superman stories aren't actually

[00:45] about Clark Kent. They're about our

[00:47] inability to believe that someone with

[00:49] that much power would choose to be good.

[00:51] Let me explain. We all know the story of

[00:53] the classic Clark Kent Superman. He was

[00:55] created as the champion of the

[00:57] oppressed. Superman's creators, Jerry

[00:59] Siegel and Joe Shuster, are even cited

[01:01] as saying that they created him as a way

[01:03] to tell stories of hope during times

[01:05] when things looked hopeless. For years,

[01:07] we have read stories of a Superman who

[01:09] helps those in need, loves his ma, and

[01:11] says stuff like,

[01:12] >> Golly.

[01:13] >> So then, what happened? How did we go

[01:15] from the Superman who saves cats stuck

[01:17] in trees to one playing judge, jury, and

[01:19] executioner? Well, people started to

[01:21] mistake the super part of Superman as

[01:23] the power that he has rather than his

[01:25] restraint. I mean, think about it.

[01:27] Superman spends his entire life

[01:28] surrounded by people who, by comparison,

[01:31] have the power of an ant. But rather

[01:33] than look down on them, he treats them

[01:34] with dignity, respect, and most

[01:36] importantly, he loves humanity.

[01:38] Superman's biggest power has never been

[01:40] his physical strength. It's his

[01:42] emotional strength. Writing a Superman

[01:44] that kills people is easy. He can just

[01:46] let go, unleash all of his pent-up

[01:48] aggression, and rule the world. We have

[01:49] seen that become the end goal in every

[01:51] single evil Superman story so far. It is

[01:54] much harder to write a Superman who

[01:56] wields that power accordingly and

[01:58] doesn't make the alien god the most

[01:59] important aspect of Clark's life. The

[02:01] idea of an evil version of Superman or

[02:03] an anti-Superman has been around,

[02:06] basically forever. Bizarro, although not

[02:08] necessarily one of the evil Superman

[02:10] we're talking about, was invented just

[02:12] 20 years after Superman. So, a

[02:14] villainous Superman is not a new

[02:15] concept. However, it did gain widespread

[02:18] popularity through the Injustice

[02:20] universe. In 2013, DC released

[02:22] Injustice: Gods Among Us, the prequel

[02:24] comic to the fighting game of the same

[02:26] name. In that comic, the Joker drives

[02:28] Superman insane when he kills a pregnant

[02:30] Lois Lane. Driven angry with grief,

[02:32] Clark kills the Joker and one thing

[02:34] leads to another, leading to Superman

[02:35] declaring to save the world by doing,

[02:37] quote, "Whatever it takes." Injustice

[02:40] was pretty much Superman's one bad day.

[02:42] At first, Injustice worked as a fresh

[02:44] new take on Superman and the DC

[02:46] universe. The comic also validated the

[02:48] audience's growing suspicion of an

[02:50] entirely peaceful Superman. We see the

[02:52] amount of grief that Clark goes through

[02:54] and understand his anger. It makes sense

[02:56] that he would snap like that. However,

[02:58] because the concept itself was for a

[03:00] video game, every comic issue in each

[03:02] game needed to create new reasons for

[03:04] the conflict. When he begins to continue

[03:06] killing after the Joker, we become

[03:08] almost numb to the cruelty of the

[03:10] character or it becomes shock value. So,

[03:12] not only does this snap go against

[03:14] everything we've known from Superman,

[03:16] but it also

[03:17] well, it just gets old. More recently,

[03:19] take Homelander for example. While he

[03:21] obviously doesn't have the same alien

[03:23] history or even human upbringing as

[03:25] Superman, he was created as a satirical

[03:27] parody of Superman. He is a version of

[03:29] Superman that shares the same immense

[03:31] power, but lacks all the morality and

[03:33] compassion. The thing with Homelander,

[03:35] though, is that he wasn't ever a

[03:36] character that we viewed as the paragon

[03:38] of good. Homelander is all the super

[03:41] without the man, and there was never a

[03:43] belief otherwise.

[03:44] >> You're nothing at all.

[03:45] >> Throughout every season of The Boys, we

[03:47] watched as Homelander became more and

[03:49] more depraved. From the second he was on

[03:51] screen, we were aware of his morality.

[03:53] So, it becomes less jarring or out of

[03:55] character when his goal of world

[03:57] domination is finally being pursued. It

[03:59] also works for The Boys because

[04:01] Homelander is not the hero. Homelander

[04:03] made for an interesting villain because

[04:05] we got to see this unstoppable force get

[04:08] taken down by a group of rowdy

[04:09] underdogs. However, like I said, it does

[04:12] come to a point. Towards the later

[04:14] seasons of the show, complaints began to

[04:16] rise about the show's constant need to

[04:18] one-up itself with kills. Homelander

[04:20] worked best in the early seasons

[04:21] because, like Injustice, it feels like a

[04:23] new take on a famously good hero. Once

[04:26] we know, though, that this character is

[04:27] willing to cross that line, the shock of

[04:29] them doing so entirely fades away. Take

[04:32] another, even more similar, evil

[04:34] Superman adaptation, Omni-Man from

[04:36] Invincible. Omni-Man is directly

[04:38] inspired by Superman. Invincible

[04:40] co-creator Robert Kirkman even said that

[04:42] Omni-Man's original name was Supra-Man.

[04:45] Parody names aside, they do have a

[04:47] similar power set. They both come from

[04:49] alien worlds. a badass. And prior to

[04:51] Nolan's turn, they are both beloved by

[04:53] the public. I mean, even Viltrum is

[04:55] similar to some iterations of an evil

[04:57] Krypton with their manifest destiny

[04:59] approach.

[05:00] >> Rule it over the planet as the last son

[05:02] of Krypton. Our most trusted [music]

[05:04] officers were each given a planet to

[05:07] weaken by themselves.

[05:09] I was one of those [music] lucky few.

[05:12] >> So, it's a shock to everyone, both in

[05:14] universe and out, when the real Omni-Man

[05:16] is revealed. This is their world's

[05:18] Superman being revealed as a

[05:20] world-conquering homicidal sociopath.

[05:22] But, see here, it works because, despite

[05:25] their immense similarities, Nolan is not

[05:28] the Clark Kent allegory of that world.

[05:30] Mark is the Clark Kent of this universe.

[05:33] Invincible's main theme centers around

[05:35] the human experience and how that is

[05:37] what makes Mark good, or at least not a

[05:39] conqueror like his father. While

[05:41] Omni-Man has a backstory similar to

[05:43] Superman's, Mark is technically the

[05:45] Superman of this story. However, Nolan

[05:48] does have a face turn and aids Mark in

[05:50] saving Earth from being conquered.

[05:52] Eventually, while he does still kill, he

[05:54] does return to the classic Superman

[05:56] values of being a champion for the

[05:58] oppressed.

[05:58] >> There's a statute where it's Superman.

[06:00] >> Right, but they were still super men.

[06:02] And that's important because this means

[06:04] that the problem isn't just evil

[06:06] Superman. It's the assumption that this

[06:08] much power will make anyone evil no

[06:10] matter what. Like with Injustice, it's

[06:12] the belief that Clark Kent, like anyone

[06:14] else, is just one bad day away from

[06:16] snapping. And while Zack Snyder Superman

[06:18] doesn't become a dictator or take over

[06:20] the world, he does work under some of

[06:21] these same assumptions. Snyder Superman

[06:24] ultimately falls into the same trap that

[06:26] all evil Superman storylines do. Man of

[06:29] Steel is definitely both a product of

[06:31] its time and its director. Coming off

[06:33] the heels of Nolan's Dark Knight

[06:34] trilogy, Man of Steel emulated the same

[06:36] dark gritty tone of that universe.

[06:38] However, you can't really ground

[06:40] Superman in Smallville or Metropolis the

[06:43] same way you can ground Batman in

[06:44] Gotham. Now, while we often compare the

[06:46] two or pit them against each other, they

[06:48] are ultimately built for different kinds

[06:50] of solo stories. Batman can easily take

[06:52] on a gritty and dark tone all while

[06:54] keeping his same motifs. Superman,

[06:56] however, cannot. Unlike Batman, Superman

[06:59] doesn't start his journey in darkness.

[07:01] He begins as the light. To have Superman

[07:03] spend an entire film grappling with

[07:05] himself further alienates him as a

[07:07] character and this is part of what makes

[07:09] Snyder Superman feel so

[07:12] un-Supermanly. The challenge with

[07:14] grounding Superman is that Superman

[07:16] isn't grounded by his powers. He is

[07:18] grounded by his humanity. Man of Steel

[07:21] places a lot more emphasis on Clark's

[07:23] alien side than his human side. Instead

[07:26] of a Superman that feels deeply

[07:27] connected to humanity, we get a Superman

[07:29] who spends a lot of the runtime

[07:31] questioning whether or not the human

[07:32] race deserves his help.

[07:34] >> What was I supposed to do?

[07:36] Just let him die?

[07:37] >> And that is an important difference.

[07:39] Superman has never been inspiring

[07:41] because he's Kryptonian. He is inspiring

[07:43] because, despite being an alien, he sees

[07:45] the best in humanity and chooses to be a

[07:48] part of it.

[07:49] >> You trust everyone and think everyone

[07:52] you've ever met is like beautiful.

[07:55] >> And this is where Man of Steel starts to

[07:57] brush up against the same idea that

[07:59] powers so many evil Superman stories.

[08:02] Not that Superman is evil, but that

[08:03] eventually Superman, like anyone else,

[08:06] will break. When the film reaches its

[08:08] climax, Clark is presented with an

[08:09] impossible choice. Kill Zod or let him

[08:12] laser a group of people. Superman

[08:13] ultimately picks the former.

[08:16] >> [screaming]

[08:19] >> Now, while you can say that he had no

[08:21] other choice, that only emphasizes the

[08:23] misunderstanding of the character. If

[08:25] your Superman story gives Superman no

[08:27] other choice than killing someone, then

[08:29] you have forgotten a key aspect of his

[08:31] character, hope. Superman will always

[08:33] find another choice. As he said, there's

[08:35] always another way. That aside, this

[08:38] breaking point where he does kill Zod is

[08:39] exactly where this fantasy of evil

[08:41] Superman hits a wall. Superman snapped.

[08:43] He lasered someone. He snapped someone's

[08:45] neck. So, now what? See, getting

[08:47] Superman to that point is dramatic.

[08:49] You're on the edge of your seat waiting

[08:51] to see if he'll actually do it. And when

[08:52] he does,

[08:54] that's it. Now that he's crossed this

[08:55] line, he can do it again and again and

[08:57] again. And eventually, every evil

[08:59] Superman story ends with dictatorship,

[09:01] murder, intimidation, etc. This new

[09:03] immoral Superman just lost all of the

[09:05] tension that makes Superman interesting

[09:07] because we now know that he doesn't have

[09:09] a problem crossing that line. There's a

[09:11] great story in the comics called

[09:13] Superman Exile, where it explores just

[09:15] how distraught Clark gets after killing

[09:18] somebody. After being forced to execute

[09:20] three Kryptonian criminals in accordance

[09:22] with Kryptonian law, Superman is haunted

[09:25] by his actions. He decides to exile

[09:28] himself from Earth before he can hurt

[09:30] anyone else. Evil Superman only works

[09:32] when Superman stops being Clark Kent.

[09:35] Homelander can be evil because he was

[09:36] never Clark Kent. Omni-Man can be evil

[09:38] because he was never Clark Kent. But,

[09:40] the moment that Clark loses that

[09:42] compassion, empathy, and humanity that

[09:44] define him, he stops being Superman, and

[09:47] he becomes a different character

[09:48] entirely. For a while, we looked at an

[09:50] evil Superman as the logical conclusion

[09:52] of the character. But, the more popular

[09:54] those stories become, the less they

[09:56] became about Superman, and the more they

[09:58] became about us. Superman is a hero

[10:01] because he chooses to do good with the

[10:03] powers that he has, something that to

[10:05] most of the human race is unfathomable.

[10:07] This evil Superman trend rose because of

[10:10] our own cynicism and our own belief that

[10:12] corruption is inevitable with that much

[10:14] power. But, Superman was never

[10:16] interesting because he had the capacity

[10:18] to destroy the world. He is interesting

[10:20] because he wouldn't. We stopped asking

[10:22] whether or not Superman could ever abuse

[10:23] his power, and as a society, we started

[10:26] assuming that he would. The fantasy was

[10:27] never about Superman turning evil, it's

[10:29] about proving that our own cynicism was

[10:31] right. Evil Superman is easy. Superman

[10:34] is hard. And luckily, I think we're

[10:36] finally coming back around to

[10:37] recognizing that. Shows like My

[10:39] Adventures with Superman are making

[10:41] Clark Kent just as important as

[10:43] Superman.

[10:43] >> Well, maybe he's a nice guy who has

[10:45] powers [music] and just wants to use

[10:47] them to help as many people as he can.

[10:49] >> Clark, if you had powers, you'd do that.

[10:51] >> In the show, we meet a relatively new

[10:53] man of steel. He's just discovering his

[10:55] Kryptonian heritage, but instead of

[10:57] isolating himself and becoming further

[10:59] alien, Clark is actively seeking out

[11:01] human connection. He wants friends. He

[11:03] wants community. He wants to belong. We

[11:06] saw something similar in James Gunn's

[11:08] Superman. Despite being an alien,

[11:10] Superman gets his strength from his

[11:11] humanity.

[11:12] >> But, that is being human, and that's my

[11:15] greatest strength.

[11:16] >> These newer adaptations remind us what

[11:17] Superman was always supposed to

[11:19] represent, not power or invincibility or

[11:21] the ability to rule over everyone else,

[11:23] but hope. The belief that someone with

[11:26] every reason and opportunity to abuse

[11:28] their power would choose not to abuse

[11:31] power. When you have a character whose

[11:32] entire premise is helping people who are

[11:34] oppressed, you fundamentally can't have

[11:36] them be evil. The question was whether

[11:38] or not what happens when Superman snaps,

[11:41] it's why doesn't he snap. We're not

[11:42] looking to see a story about a god being

[11:44] lured to the dark side. We want a story

[11:46] about a man who defies all odds and

[11:49] chooses to do good. After decades of

[11:51] creating characters and plotlines that

[11:53] validate our cynical fears about what

[11:54] someone with that much power would

[11:56] become, we seem to finally be

[11:57] discovering why the man part of Superman

[12:00] is so important. [music] Big shoutout to

[12:02] Lee Mazio who wrote this video, you can

[12:03] find his links down below. And let us

[12:05] know what you think about the concept of

[12:06] evil Superman down in the comments or in

[12:08] our free to join Discord server. And if

[12:09] it's your first time here, please

[12:10] subscribe, smash that bell for alerts.

[12:12] For ScreenCrush, I'm Ryan Arey.

[12:16] >> [music]

[12:22] [music]

[12:28] [music]