He can move planets. He survives nuclear blasts without a scratch. He sees through walls and hears a heartbeat from miles away. Honestly, on paper, Clark Kent is a nightmare for any storyteller. When you have a protagonist who is essentially a god, where does the drama come from? People always say Superman is boring because he’s too powerful, but that’s a surface-level take. The truth is, for creators in the DC Universe, Superman it's not easy because the stakes aren't about whether he survives—it's about whether he can save everyone else.
Power isn't the problem. The problem is the moral weight of that power.
Think about it. If you’re Batman, you’re limited by physics and a car. If you’re Superman, and you fail to save someone, it’s not because you weren't fast enough; it’s because you chose to be somewhere else. That’s a heavy burden for a guy raised on a farm in Kansas. Writers like Grant Morrison and Mark Waid have spent decades trying to crack this code. They know that the "Boy Scout" persona is a mask for a man who is constantly vibrating with the stress of hearing every scream on the planet at once.
The Power Creep Trap
The history of Superman is a weird arms race between the writers and the concept of physics. In the 1940s, he was just "faster than a speeding bullet." By the Silver Age of the 1960s, he was literally pushing planets out of orbit and inventing new powers on the fly, like "Super-Mathematics" or shooting tiny versions of himself out of his palms. It got ridiculous.
When DC rebooted everything in 1986 with The Man of Steel, John Byrne had a massive task. He had to nerf the guy. He made Superman's power levels manageable so that a bomb or a high-voltage floor could actually hurt him. But even then, the core issue remained. If he’s invulnerable, how do you make the reader feel tension? You don't do it by introducing a bigger monster. You do it by attacking his heart.
Writing Superman it's not easy because you have to pivot from external conflict to internal crisis. In the classic story Must There Be a Superman?, the Guardians of the Universe basically tell him that by solving all of humanity's problems, he’s actually stunting our growth. He’s a cosmic helicopter parent. That’s a fascinating conflict. It’s not about punching Doomsday; it’s about the existential dread of being a "savior" who might be doing more harm than good by just existing.
The Kryptonite Crutch
Let’s be real: Kryptonite is a lazy writing tool. Most of the time, when a writer realizes they’ve made Superman too strong, they just pull out the green rock. It’s a literal "off" switch for his godhood.
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But the best stories? They ignore the rock.
Look at All-Star Superman. Grant Morrison starts the story by giving Superman a terminal illness. He’s dying because he absorbed too much solar radiation. Suddenly, the strongest man in the universe is the most fragile. He has twelve tasks to complete before he passes. This is how you handle the character. You don't take away his powers with a glowing rock; you give him a problem that all the strength in the world can't fix. Time. Mortality. Legacy.
Why the "Relatability" Argument is Wrong
People love to compare him to Spider-Man. Peter Parker has to pay rent. Peter Parker gets the flu. Peter Parker is "relatable." Because Clark Kent is an alien who looks like a Greek god, people think he’s disconnected.
I’d argue he’s the most relatable character in the Justice League.
Batman is a billionaire with severe trauma who lives in a cave. Wonder Woman is an immortal princess from a magical island. Clark? Clark is an immigrant. He’s a guy trying to honor his parents' midwestern values while navigating a world that treats him like a weapon or a deity. He’s the ultimate outsider trying to fit in. He literally puts on glasses and slumps his shoulders just to be "normal." That’s a deeply human struggle. We all have versions of ourselves we project to the world versus who we really are.
The Problem with the Evil Superman Trope
Lately, pop culture has been obsessed with "Evil Superman." You see it in The Boys with Homelander, or Invincible with Omni-Man, or even the Injustice video games. It’s a trend that suggests a god-like being would inevitably become a tyrant.
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While these stories are fun, they’re actually the "easy" way out.
It is much harder to write a character who stays good despite having the power to rule. Making Superman "dark and gritty" is a shortcut to relevance that misses the point. The difficulty—the reason Superman it's not easy—is maintaining that sincerity in a cynical age. We find it hard to believe someone could be that powerful and that kind. That’s our flaw, not his.
Real-World Editorial Hurdles
From a business perspective, managing the Superman IP is a minefield. DC Comics and Warner Bros. have struggled for years to figure out what a modern Superman looks like. Do you make him a social justice warrior like he was in his 1938 debut, where he was literally throwing corrupt slumlords off buildings? Or do you keep him as the patriotic symbol of the status quo?
The 2013 film Man of Steel tried to ground him in realism, and it split the fanbase in half. Some loved the "first contact" sci-fi vibe. Others hated that he killed Zod. This tension exists because everyone has a "their" Superman. He’s a Rorschach test for our own values.
Writers also have to deal with the "Superman Problem" in team books like the Justice League. If Superman is there, why doesn't he just solve everything in five seconds? You have to constantly invent reasons to keep him busy. "Oh, he’s in space stopping a sun from exploding while the rest of the team fights bank robbers." It’s a clunky balancing act that requires a lot of narrative gymnastics.
The Burden of Perfection
One of the most nuanced takes on the character comes from the Kingdom Come series by Mark Waid and Alex Ross. In this future, Superman has retired because the world chose more violent heroes. When he returns, he tries to force peace, and it almost leads to an apocalypse.
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It shows that even when he's trying to do the "right" thing, his sheer scale makes any mistake catastrophic. If Superman trips, he levels a city block. If he gets angry, he can crack the moon. Living with that level of self-restraint is a psychological nightmare.
Most people think being Superman is a power fantasy. It’s actually a horror story about never being able to let your guard down. Not even for a second.
How to Actually Write a Great Superman Story
If you’re a creator tackling this character, you have to stop thinking about what he can do and start thinking about what he wants. He wants to be one of us, but he never can be.
- Focus on the Journalism: Clark Kent isn't just a disguise. He’s a reporter because he wants to help people in ways Superman can’t. He wants to change minds, not just move mountains.
- Embrace the Sci-Fi: He’s an alien from a dead civilization. Use that. The loneliness of being the last of your kind is a powerful emotional hook.
- The Lois Lane Dynamic: Lois isn't a damsel. She’s his anchor to humanity. She’s the person who keeps him from becoming a detached god.
- Avoid the "Big Punch": The climax of a Superman story shouldn't always be a physical fight. It should be a moral choice.
The legendary writer Alan Moore wrote what many consider the best Superman story ever: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? It works because it’s an ending. It treats him with the dignity of a myth while acknowledging the absurdity of his world. It understands that the character is a symbol of hope, and hope is a very difficult thing to write without sounding cheesy.
Final Steps for Understanding the Man of Tomorrow
If you want to dive deeper into why Superman it's not easy to get right, stop looking at the power stats. Skip the "Who would win?" debates on Reddit. Instead, look at the moments where he's just a guy.
- Read Superman: Smashes the Klan. It’s a brilliant look at his 1940s roots and his struggle with his alien identity while fighting real-world prejudice.
- Watch the 1978 Richard Donner film. Pay attention to Christopher Reeve’s acting. The way he transforms from Clark to Superman just by changing his posture is a masterclass in the character's duality.
- Explore the "World Forger" arc in recent comics. It explores the idea of Superman having to choose between a "perfect" world and a flawed, real one.
Ultimately, the difficulty of the character is his greatest strength. He forces writers to be better. He forces us to think about what we would do if we had all the power in the world. Would we be Homelander, or would we be the guy who stops to save a cat from a tree even though we could be doing a million other things? That choice is the heart of the story. It's not easy to be the best version of ourselves, and that's why we still need Superman.