Superman General

It was a concept that got very confusing for Transformers, but I think Mxyzptlk is the one character that makes it work.

Also Zod issue 3 ends with a pregnant Ursa apparently dead, Zod craddling her body.

I think its fine if they are on another dimensional plane/another universe outside the main ones.

According to John Byrne, Mxyzptlk even hangs out in the Marvel Universe as The Impossible Man.

If you only want your universe to be fifth dimensional, and have narrowed that down to one single definition of fifth dimensional, then sure. Problem is DC has already contradicted that.editAnd that one's been shot down by other writers at Marvel themselves, kind of proving my point.

Also, I refuse to believe Bayformers Fallen is Comic Book Fallen, and I liked Bayformers. It's fine to have a character in the multiverse appear several times where others just get alternates, but to say absolutely no alternates ever while having writers and editors who don't converse with one another working at the same time in different mediums is just a recipe for failure. That's exactly where one would leave as much room for alternate interpretations, as a precaution.

Edited by IndirectActiveTransport on Mar 6th 2024 at 10:31:26 AM

It kinda works with Mxy, because they're (a) an all-powerful Reality Warper, and (b) motivated solely by their own, mercurial sense of fun. So any inconsistencies between how Mxy and/or the Fifth Dimension are portrayed between stories can be explained as Mxy changing things to suit their current whims.

Quisp/Qwsp was much the same in Aquaman; he started out as a goofy friendly water sprite, but when he saw Arthur's Darker and Edgier makeover he decided to do the same thing and became a huge threat.

Meanwhile on another Earth...

The recent show My Adventures with Superman is getting a comic series later this month, as written by Josie Campbell, the show's producer, and drawn by Pablo M. Collar!

@ Trash Jack: The writers saying all versions of Mxy are the same guy are like the writers saying all versions of Darkseid are the same guy; they sure as heck don't act like it. Are they also gonna say "well you see, they are actually avatars of Mxy and we are seeing three-dimensional cross-sections of the Fifth Dimension"

All the versions of Mxy or Darkseid or such being the same guy manifesting avatars in different realities is a cute idea, but it's one of those things that only really works if the story is contained to one medium/creative team. Once you have a bunch of different creative teams involved, it's gonna fall apart because not everyone is going to be willing to play along and keep their portrayal of those characters in-line with yours.

I think it can work for Mxy, since he's that kind of chaotic guy, but Darkseid?

Like, he'd know not to do the same plans and actions then.

Ironically, I recently ran into a video that tried to break down this exact subject (that is, whether Mxy being the same in all continuities actually works narratively with all the different versions of the character without contradictions) and was literally on my way to share it, cause Mxy's my favorite Superman villain and I thought it was interesting.

(www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6S2Is34q0Q)

(are embeds and links not working all of a sudden, btw?)

General assessment, it basiclally works for nearly every version (except Smallville, but who knows, maybe Smallville Mxy could be like a human descendant or something), though it works better for some versions than others.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Mar 14th 2024 at 9:23:28 AM

So it's not just me? I was having the same issue actually. Embeds failed, but I was able to do general links.

I think I saw that video you're talking about as well, but I didn't watch it. Interesting to see that it nearly works. I suppose if anyone could pull it off, it's Mxy.

It's harder to justify this with Darkseid, because then you'd have to explain what his goals in Superfriends have to do with anything.

Does 'he was bored' count? XD

Though they eventually had Mxyzptlk and Impossible Man meet, so that's not the case.

Except they haven't, Mxyzptlk even says that he changes his act depending on the Superman he's facing, including whether he's mischievous or malevolent.

Incidentally, Watchtower Database recently did a video on this very topic and concludes that it ultimately works.

Edit: The same video Known Unknown mentions, though it seems they can't embed it either.

Anyway, there's more supporting than there is debunking the idea, especially if we take "Whatever happened to the man of tomorrow?" into account, Mxyzptlk states in that same story how he changes his personality from time to time.

Edited by Cortez on Mar 15th 2024 at 3:08:44 PM

If I were to write Superman... Maybe I can include a scene that shows the disparity of how he can handle ethnic issues and how minorities feel about his presence.

Or was that done before?

Superman is canonically multilingual and has a great deal of experience helping people of different countries though. I'm not sure that would be a particularly compelling story beyond, "White man is out of touch with impoverished minorities." We've already had stories like Superman: Grounded for that kind of thing.

It doesn't really feel like a Superman story given his origins.

It sounds like a bad idea to me. Because Superman's literal entire thing since his inception has been being a champion of the oppressed and downtrodden. Superman's the kind of guy who minorities would love and governments would hate. And in his civilian identity, he's a reporter of the sort who constantly makes articles in support of civil rights and such. So you really can't play him as a "dumb white guy out of touch with the PO Cs" and I frankly find the idea low-key racist and stereotypical. This is the guy who helped smash the Ku Klux Klan in fiction and in real life bear in mind.

That being said, the idea of Superman struggling to fix more societal and complex issues despite his great power HAS been a theme that's been handled well before. Like the one arc, I forget which, where he learns that a wife he saved from being beaten by her husband was later murdered by said husband because he obviously couldn't be there all the time to watch her, or him grappling with his inability to save everyone during the Imperiex War.

Edited by immortaleditor on Mar 30th 2024 at 9:13:29 AM

The comic Must There Be a Superman? touched on that too.

There was also that story about a deeply religious woman living in one of Metropolis' seedier neighborhoods who takes him for a guardian angel sent by God to help people when asked for. Even when Superman insists that he can't always be there to help her, she continues to pray to him and wades into dangerous situations to try and defuse them with Superman's help. Eventually, she's shot while Superman is out fighting a giant alien and apologizes for her hubris while he apologizes for being there to save her.

She manages to survive thanks to some good samaritans. Meanwhile, the story of her faith and bravery inspires social change to begin cleaning up crime in her area.

Edited by reppuzan on Mar 30th 2024 at 9:17:49 AM

Uh, that wasn't my intent. It was more of a "The burden of being an example for many even though others are divided by arbitrary racial lines." Namely, wanting many people to stand up without caring about his ethnicity after seeing the many species there are in the Universe.

Yeah, that's a good one. It also reminds me, on a darker note, of Emil Hamilton's arc in the DCAU, initially worshiping the ground Superman walks on only to end up turning on him and joining Cadmus after being on the receiving end of Superman's flaws and having his idealized image of him shattered. "I thought you were a guardian angel, here to save us all... but Lucifer was an angel too, wasn't he?"

Oh, that's far better, nevermind.

Edited by immortaleditor on Mar 30th 2024 at 9:17:10 AM

Yeah, that.

Like, him saying something like "All of you are part of the same species, the same brethren, the same air, but you still believe in a meaningless separation? Why?"

Oh yeah, that could definitely be an interesting story. The problem is finding an author who can handle it tactfully and with nuance.

In other words, not Tom Taylor.