What's Super about Superman?

Since I have invested in the comic books, I figure to justify them I should offer reflections inspired by this enjoyable study.

Superman, it seems, cannot really suffer a loss or even face a challenge too great for him to overcome. Apart from his attachment to Lois and his vulnerability to Kryptonite, there is basically nothing greater than Krypton's last son.

So, why do we care about his struggles? We would get tired of watching a cheater win--if there's no challenge then where's the conflict that makes success amazing? We wouldn't find it amazing if there was a man who devoted his life to saving ants. So why is Superman amazing?

Surly at least one answer has to be that Superman is amazing, not because of his abilities, but because he wants to inspire us to be better than we are, and that cannot be brought about because of his powers. If there is anything history teaches us, its that power doesn't equal reform. No, that comes only through personal choice, and those choices are dependent on each individual's decision to want to be better than they are.

So, to be a super-human--an alien actually--with powers that could easily rule the world, and instead of devoting your time to the gathering of more power, to choose to be an example of what good could exist if people would choose to live differently (one might even say, to adopt a lifestyle alien to humanity...hmm, there's a concept); surely that's amazing. Ultimately, Superman's message is that there is a personal choice to be made, and if we want to, we could actually choose to embrace goodness and truth and beauty, to the betterment of all men, and most certainly to the betterment of ourselves.

Something interesting about this idea is that, since Superman was, in fact, created by men, Superman tells us something about ourselves. In Kill Bill 2, Bill offers the Bride this insight; that Superman's critque of humanity is his alter-ego, Clark Kent, who is "mild mannered" and rather weak and pathetic. This might have merit...though there are arguments for the virtues of Clark Kent; Clark plays by the rules, is a good, kind, polite man who does what he can within the realm of his abilities.

Still, if the created persona suggests more about the creator than the creation (which seems likely) then our hero, Superman, suggests that we believe that the greatest being we might ever meet could not save us unless we choose to change the lives we lead. Of course this doesn't mean that we can "save ourselves"; we still need Superman to show us the way. But even the Man of Steel cannot solve the problems of humanity--at least, not without destroying the freedom of humanity; the best he can do is show us the need we have for the kind of self-lessness that he exhibits through his service to underserving humanity. It remains for us to choose to respond in kind, instead of always waiting, hoping to look up in the sky, and see...

Superman!