Superman, and Writing Overpowered Characters

How do you write a main character who can't lose? Trick question - the main character can always lose. Even Superman.

00:00 Intro
01:23 Underdogs
01:41 Mary Sue
02:24 Obstacles
03:20 Name of the Wind
03:55 Challenges for Superman
05:12 Flat Character Arcs
07:35 What Everyone Gets Wrong About Superman
08:07 Superman vs. The Elite
09:22 Conclusion

#superman #dccomics

Twitter: @BackpackBigBlue

Music by Sam LaGrego:
@samlagregomusic

BigBlueBackpack Intro Animation by AronGIsMe:
@AronGIsMe

Royalty Free Music by Bensound

[milkiassamuel]

I too was once indifferent about the character for a time but I still thought he had cool powers when I was really young, I didn't necessarily hate the character more like I was too into Batman or Spiderman as a kid. However as Ive grown up and now entered my early 20's Ive learnt how much of a phenomenal character Superman truly is and how much he matters today's world, now more than ever as the war wages on, innocent people suffer, corruption continues and cynism and nihilism cloud out minds. I learnt how much of a special character Superman is acter going through a very dark time in my life and had to suffer through a a lot of mental struggles Im still fighting even now, but at a moment in my life when I thought I couldn't keep on going I read All Star Superman and seeing that panel of Superman comfort a kid suffering too touched my heart in a way I couldn't explain and after finding my own strength to accept the love and support of my friends, family and people I hardly knew to help me and tbat is something I will be eternally grateful for and that's when I realised Superman saved me and even if he isnt real, hes at least real to me and I choose to try and ne the best I can, because if Superman believe in me than I can believe in myself

[Itachi]

completely agree with you. people many times contrasts super man to batman in how batman is a much more flawed character trying to the best thing possible with what he has at his disposal. but, in fact, i think that batman is more of a mary sue than superman.

as edgy as batman view of justice might be, he is truly incorruptible. stories where batman turns bad are usually a completely out of character version of him, or the cause of a extreme moment of anger or madness. when superman turns bad, you know that is just the other side of the coin, the side that he always is trying to supress.

also, batman intelligence seems to outperform superman's power frequently. with batman on the picture, one always know that he is going to come out with some very premeditated plan that no one knew about but he had always been crafting since the beginning of the plot.

[rowandunning]

it's funny how people say that the character doesn't work in the dark, depressing modern day as if the character wasn't written during world war ii

[jamesdewayne]

oh this is a banger, you nailed this one on the head

[StareachValcin]

This is a great video on how Superman isn't a boring character but a great character to those who understand who he is, what he stands for, and what he struggles with. To me and many others, Superman is the greatest superhero, who is more relevant now more than ever.

[foowjqb]

I feel they did really well with Dr manhatton

[Blushdow]

Bro you needa blow up, the video quality is insane

[marscaleb]

It sounds like you don't want to rein in on the Mary Sue topic. If you ever do, I would only want you to point out that the truth is that use Mary Sue as a pejorative, but the what we actually define as a Mary Sue applies to so many characters that we actually love.
Sometimes we WANT a character who is perfect and amazing, because that's fun to watch.
James bond is a Mary Sue. Superman is a Mary Sue. Both of these characters were ruined by adaptations that tried to de-MarySue-ify them.
Which actually goes into another aspect of storytelling that becomes the real problem: breaking the rules that was already established within a story, particularly a series. The characters people complain about being Mary Sue's are typically ones that show up in established media but then break the rules that were already established. In Star Wars, Luke had to learn and train to become a Jedi. We see him practice and stretch himself in every movie, and the villains are explicitly described as "taking the quick and easy way." Then Rey shows up and is all-powerful without anyone teaching her. Once she is told that she can use the force, she suddenly knows how to do every Jedi trick without even being told that Jedi can do these things. Plus she knows how to pilot ships and repair things because she... salvaged scraps. She is a hated Mary Sue because she violates the rules the series had already established.
James Bond is a beloved Mary Sue, but he was established that way from the beginning. We already know he has an inhuman ability to seduce women, outgun hordes of soldiers with only a pistol, outsmart the smartest villain, and so one and so forth. So when a new movie comes along and he does exactly that, we don't complain because that's what we expect and even came for. But on the antithesis, when the more recent films tried to humanize him and make him fallible, the long-time fans were dejected because this wasn't what they came for.

But back to the original point, I challenge anyone to find a definition for Mary Sue that somehow doesn't apply to James Bond, Captain Kirk, Superman, and a hundred other beloved characters. There's no way to do it without being so vague that the definition has no merit, that doesn't just boil down to "I don't like this character." If we use a definition that has any kind of objectivity to it, then it's going to apply to characters we love. I think the real solution is just to embrace that. Stop using Mary Sue as a pejorative and just use it as a description, accepting the fact that it describes both good and bad characters.
Or maybe at the very least, find some other term to use that isn't tainted, like how we have shifted from "clichés" to "tropes" because we acknowledge that there are tropes that we love, and being repeated doesn't make something bad.

[who.asked.]

Love your vids man! Your content is great and I constantly look foreword to your vids now. Keep it up!

[rahulray]

One Punch Man writers should write SUPERMAN

[Cagon]

I just don't care for the narrative that he represents the best of humanity. People suck. And we don't deserve him. The people that say this probably say things like "rscm doesn't exist."

[mohawho]

truly great analysis of the superbeings creation, fucking shocked with the insanely disproportionate 7k subs to a 10 million+ level content, keep going bro youll eventually make it

[marscaleb]

Thank you for stating the obvious.
No really, thank you for stating the obvious! Some people don't get it.

[ekmenek]

Keep up the good work man you deserve way more subscribers

[gak]

Don't listen to this idiot writers, that's how we got Rey Skywalker.

[deadx]

_My Adventures with Superman_ is the first time I cared about Clark Kent/Superman. Normally he and the other characters just exist to make adventures happen, which are usually more interesting than the characters in them or whatever's going on in their lives. Where was that endearing portrayal all this time? He is the equivalent of a proper portrayal of Superman's personality and character, as Lily James is to Cinderella.

[Masonicon]

Heroes tv Show writers was good example of people that can't write Overpowered Characters well in canon

[TutucrMapper]

honestly I dont dislike superman for being boring, its because its a child's story with no complexity, litteraly it has no complicated themes and its just fights and fights, no complex stuff of the real world, for example One Piece is not childish (Except for how women look) is because they show the corruption of the goverment, and superman only has him saving thr dsay

[robertrainford]

Your points are all invalid because Superman has just powered every character you brought up. The writers even make Superman resist magic or krptonight when he shouldn’t.

[davidsousaRJ]

I understand your points, but I still find superman boring.