Misconceptions about Superman

[JulianPerez]

Because back issues can be hard to find and people talk about Superman quite a bit, a lot of misconceptions have developed about Superman over the years.

A few I can think of off the top of my head:

The idea that every single U.S. President has been privy to Superman's Secret Identity

Actually, this was dispelled in a lettercolumn in ACTION COMICS #387 (1970) where a reader wrote in to ask why it is that Superman in that tale concealed his secret identity from President Nixon. The response was that Superman had told President Kennedy (as a result of specific events in ACTION COMICS #309), however, no other President since has been in on the secret.

Also, it should be noted that ACTION COMICS #371 (1969) had an amnesiac Superman believe his secret identity was President of the United States, only to have the "real" President show up, only to tell Superman that he doesn't know who he really is!


Earth-2 Superman is the Golden Age Superman

In many ways, Earth-2 Superman is a seperate character from Superman's Golden Age history, with elements that were present (and discarded) deliberately emphasized to make him different from the Earth-1 version of the character. Perry White, for instance, was a Golden Age character introduced by the Radio Show, however, he has no role on Earth-2 save for being someone that Clark Kent beat out for being the publisher of the Daily Star.


Smallville is in the Midwest

The movies did a lot to emphasize this image of Smallville as a bucolic town somewhere in Iowa or Indiana or Nebraska or Kansas or something.

However, Smallville is clearly on the East Coast (possibly even New England or New Jersey), at least in the comics. For one thing, during the first appearance of the Legion of Super-Heroes, it was explained that Smallville is now a "neighborhood" or district of Metropolis; this implies that it is close enough to be a part of Metropolis's 30th Century expanded boundaries. It should be noted that lots of cities are now a part of Metropolis: "Old Boston," for instance, is a Metropolis neighborhood in the Legion Future.

If, however, Smallville was in the Midwest, if it was a neighborhood of anywhere, it would be a neighborhood of Lakopolis, which includes the area covered by Chicago, Toronto, Cleveland, and Milwaukee.

[DoctorZero]

That's very true, Julian.  Especially about Smallville.  If Gotham were to be New York where did that place Metropolis anyway?

[MatterEaterLad]

Misconceptions?

So where does the Golden Age Superman live?  Is he fiction?  Is there a pre-Crisis Earth Golden?

According to Jim Hughes work and re-printed here, Action #2 shows that Clark worked for the Cleveland Evening News, in Superman #4, Clark works for the Daily Planet with editor George Taylor, and by Superman #7, Perry White has taken over as editor...all these stories take place in a time that is defined by Earth 1 as belonging to Superboy's boyhood...it seems easy to say that the Golden Age Superman is not the Earth 2 Superman because writers in the 70s wanted to make a new world and retconned one thing without explaining the other.  OK, Earth 2 Superman is different, not the same dude...so who is the Golden Age Superman other than "not the Earth 2 Superman"?

Smallville's location is perfectly acceptable as close to Metropolis, and midwestern by the first Legion tale, because Metropolis wasn't stated to be an eastern city (heck, it could as easily be Cleveland) and it wasn't clear what the world looked like to the writers or they didn't want to specify it...the time period of the Legion is oddly weird in that story as well.

If later writers want to retcon these things, then they can do a more thorough job of it, or else I won't think that the earlier version's implications are misconceptions.

[Super Monkey]

As far as I know, it was the 1st Superman film that made it seem like Metropolis was just another name for New York. However, this was never the case in the comics.

The real life version is in Illinois:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolis%2C_IL

[MatterEaterLad]

I vaguely recall a map of the DC world where Gotham is essentially NYC and Metropolis is close by, can't remember where they put Central City etc. or if it was a pre Crisis or post Crisis map...Laughably, Keystone City is often refered to as in Pennsylvania (which is probably the implication) or out in the midwest as a Twin City to Central City...I thought all the New Boston/Metropolis stuff was from the "Who's Who in the Legion of Super Heroes", from the later 80s...generally my motto is "don't trust a comic that sold for more than 15 cents on the newstand"...LOL...

The early stories are smarter, they don't try to mix exact details of these cities so much...I liked the idea of Superman and Batman going to fictional central American countries at the same time that Jimmy Olsen going to Hollywood was fine too...there was a nice mix of not taking these things too seriously... Personally, as a kid, I could see a world where Metropolis was a giant city with a harbor and even be close to a major ocean and Smallville being a rural community close by because I knew that comics weren't real even when I was just a little guy... :wink:

[TELLE]

These are great misconceptions --many never proven one way or the other.

Just to add to the confusion:

https://www.supermanthroughtheages.com/wiki/index.php/Statue_of_Liberty

[MatterEaterLad]

LOL, but how can they be misconceptions when there isn't a right or wrong answer? :lol:

Examples of continuity glitches, sure...

[Super Monkey]

stupid Superboy-Prime punches