Man of Steel: Five Similarities to The Man of Steel

Shortly after Crisis on Infinite Earths created one of the first major New 52-style upheavals in the DC Comics Universe, fan-favorite writer/artist John Byrne tackled Superman, taking the character (who at that point had decades of history depicting him with near-limitless power and an enormous gallery of science fiction-inspired friends, allies and foes) and bringing him considerably down to Earth. In The Man of Steel, Byrne reintroduced a version of Superman whose physique was more that of a typical superhero, rather than the Curt Swan-style body that Superman had been depicted with for some time. He was also significantly de-powered, and other changes were made to his backstory, as well. Some of those changes have stuck around for the long term, although many of them were retconned out around 2000 when a major creative upheaval brought new blood into the Superman titles and began the process of re-applying many of the pre-Crisis aspects to the character. That said, there's really no way around the fact that one of the best-selling Superman stories of all time is called The Man of Steel--the same title as the movie. Besides that, the publishing era which was ushered in by the Byrne miniseries is still being collected in a series of trade paperbacks featuring the "Man of Steel" branding--there are seven at present.

Downplaying Kryptonite In the post-Crisis world, Byrne and the other Superman writers used Kryptonite sparingly, as it was seen as a bit of a Deus ex Machina. That's the case in the movie, too, with Zack Snyder dismissing the element as "predictable," "too easy" and "a glorified allergy" in this week's Entertainment Weekly. Ma Kent is Still Alive In and following The Man of Steel, Superman's adoptive parents were both alive by the time he became Superman. This was at the time a break with historical precedent, as he'd been portrayed as an orphan by the time he got to Metropolis in the past. That element of his character has been brought back in the New 52, in spite of the fact that Martha Kent appears to be alive (we see her hugging Superman while in his full Superman glory) in the movie. Generally, you'd expect them to sync things like that up with the movie, but apparently not. Whether Jonathan Kent is still around by the time his son is Superman isn't clear (our money's on no), but it sure looks like Martha is.

Superman's "Special" Birth Superman's the "Last Son of Krypton" in a very literal sense in The Man of Steel. That is, in a culture that prizes science over passion, children are genetically engineered. In the comics, this is what keeps more people from being evacuated from Krypton, as some genetic tinkering makes it impossible to leave their homeworld. So how did Kal-El get away? Well, both in the Byrne-era comics and in the upcoming movie, he's the last baby ever born naturally, rather than engineered--something that makes his parents outcasts (and, according to a new article out this week, criminals in the movie). Without the genetic modifications the other kids had, Kal-El was able to be shot off into space. It's not clear whether that'll be the reason in Man of Steel, but it makes sense.

Clark's Difficult Formative Years One of the most frequently-repeated scenes of the The Man of Steel era in the comics (at least as far as I remember as a reader) was a moment when a young 20's Clark came home to Smallville and confided in his father that his super-senses were oppressive, and that his role as Superman only increased the feeling that "everyone wants a piece of me, Pa." That's in keeping with the moment we see at the beginning of the second trailer, when young Clark struggles with being able to hear everything, and Martha Kent helps him learn to close off the world. Even beyond that, though, you get a lot of things here that were used in The Man of Steel (and, for that matter, Smallville). The notion of creating the bumbling Clark as an alter ego is one as old as time, but the discussions on his having to "hold back," and that he couldn't do things like participate in sports lest he out himself as extraordinary, is something that played a huge role in the '80s and '90s comics. In fact, before he learned of his alien lineage, when he thought he was just really good at stuff, Clark played on the football and track teams--things at which he routinely outshone Ken Braverman, the school's other big jock. Kenny's father didn't take kindly to a kid who always came in second and put so much pressure on the kid that, eventually, it turned him pretty crazy...which was problematic later in life when he became a Kryptonite-powered supervillain who hated on Superman for "cheating" by using his powers as a kid.

Traveling Abroad One of the things that played a big role in Clark Kent's transition into Superman (and which may have existed in the Pre-Crisis but definitely took a bigger role after The Man of Steel) was his odyssey to "find himself," during which time he did heroic deeds without the benefit of a public profile or a costume. I remember stories of Superman helping ferret out terrorists, rescue disaster victims and fend off African dictators, all of which happened after it was established that he had a Batman Begins-style period away where he had to decide how exactly these powers were going to fit into his life. And while we don't have official confirmation yet, the popular theory is certainly that his time on the fishing vessel is essentially this period of his life.