In 2011, a younger Superman appeared.Following last summer’s thrilling The Avengers and the recent high-powered adventures of Iron Man 3, another caped hero has swished his cloak in a long-awaited return this summer. Man of Steel, starring Henry Cavill as the new Superman, is the latest in the new breed of comic spawned blockbusters.
Faster than a bullet, more powerful than a locomotive and able to leap over tall buildings in a single bound, this year the Man of Steel is blowing 75 candles. But he certainly doesn’t show his age.
The son of Krypton was originally the brainchild of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, two teenage American science fiction enthusiasts from Cleveland, Ohio, who wanted to make it big in the publishing world. Although initially Siegel and Shuster garnered no interest from publishers or newspaper syndicates, this did not deter them from coming up with their own science fiction hero.
For weeks, they drew bundles of newspaper strips and in June 1938 they finally unveiled their creation. Partly inspired by Edgar Rice Burrough’s Tarzan, the Man of Steel was launched in the first issue of Action Comics published by Detective Comics (DC Comics).
Superman became an instant hit – it revolutionised comic strip books by creating a new fantasy genre embracing numerous costumed superheroes, thus ushering in the golden age of comic books. The rest, as they say, is history.
Superman soon leapt from the comic strip to the big screen with the first ever 15-part black and white Columbia film series, with Kirk Alyn donning the red cape. It was originally screened at movie matinees and every episode ended with a cliffhanger.
The 1940s saw a series of visually stunning Superman cartoons from Max Fleischer studios, while in the 1950s, the Man of Steel morphed into colour in the classic Warner Bros. Adventures of Superman television series. Starring George Reeves, the series became a 1950s television landmark.
In 1978, Superman – The Movie’s amazing special effects directed by Richard Donner and starring big-name stars set the blueprint for the Superman franchise. The film became an instant hit, thanks to the timeless orchestral score by composer John Williams and to Christopher Reeve, who became the quintessential Superman.
From his humble appearance in a 10-cent comic book, Superman was now a global merchandising power.
In the 1990s, Superman was reinvented for television – featuring Lois and Clark, the new adventures of Superman introduced a more romantic touch intended to lure the female Danielle Steel demographic to the television sets. The same approach was adopted in 2001, with the Smallville television series appealing to the Dawson’s Creek teenage target audience.
Unlike the previous Superman films starring Reeve, the 2006 film Superman Returns starring Brandon Routh had four comics bridging and expanding Superman II and Superman Returns, entitled Krypton to Earth, Ma Kent, Lex Luthor and Lois Lane.
DC Comics had done it again by creating a comic book prequel to Zack Snyder’s remake Man of Steel that expands on the Kryptonian universe and offers some hints about what audiences might see in Man of Steel.
Technology has also contributed in transforming Superman into a superhero who communicates through various media
While there is no question that over the years, Superman films have been truly successful, it’s the television series adaptations of Lois and Clark and Smallville that proved to be a great medium in which to expand the Superman story.
Superman’s image has certainly come a long way since the tagline ‘Truth, Justice and the American Way’ was used in the long-running 1940-1951 radio series, The Adventures of Superman. Originally the opening titles described the leading character as fighting a never-ending battle for truth and justice. “The American Way” was added during World War II broadcasts.
As a result of the first Superman film being released after the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal, the tagline is used in an ironic fashion, as journalist Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) responds to the tagline by saying: “You’ll be fighting every elected official in this country”. As a possible consequence of post-9/11 sensibilities, in the 2006 film Superman Returns, the tagline, as uttered by Daily Planet editor Perry White (Frank Langella) changed to, ‘Truth, justice, all that stuff’.
The Superman comic strip of the late 1930s and 1940s was a product of its time and reflected life during the Great Depression and World War II. Back then, the Man of Steel was the all-American hero – nowadays, his remit is global. Kal-El is a citizen of the planet and a defender of Earth.
This is also reflected in the radical changes brought to the new costume in Man of Steel. Gone are the bright red and blue as well as the flaming red and yellow S-shield that shimmered in the Reeve films. Instead, the shield is now the Kryptonian symbol for hope, a specific detail which draws inspiration from the 2003/2004 Superman Birthright series The Origin of the Man of Steel by Mark Waid, Leinil Francis Yu and Gerry Alanguelan.
As seen in the teaser trailer of Man of Steel, Superman’s sweeping scarlet cape recalls gladiatorial Rome and is intended to appeal to the Game of Thrones demographic.
Technology has also contributed in transforming Superman into a superhero who communicates through various media. Whereas before, there was the excitement of running to a shop to buy the latest Superman comic, now there’s a DC Comics app that lets you download all the classic Superman comics.
Also, the Man of Steel online marketing campaign made it a point to never mention its hero’s name. This was further complemented by teaser trailers of the Man of Steel film on You Tube, as well as numerous Facebook pages which united all fans together and revived once again the popularity of Superman memorabilia. During the filming of Man of Steel, Facebook was very effective in gathering feedback from fans regarding Cavill donning Superman’s revamped costume.
The Superman brand has become so embedded in popular culture that science and physics educators and techno geeks have got on board the Superman bandwagon and created the Superman Science Universe School. This is intended to educate the public on the real science behind the Man of Steel’s powers of flight, super strength, X-ray vision and speed. Thanks to Superman, these professors and technology geeks have a new heroic mission to teach in a very easy manner the basic scientific and physics concepts underlying our modern technological lifestyles.
One can learn a lot of science from reading comic books
In his book The Physics of Superheroes (Gerald Duckworth and Co. Ltd, 2010), Professor James Kakalios writes how, “Over the decades, physics teachers have developed an arsenal of overly stylised scenarios involving projectile motion, weights on pulleys, or oscillating masses on springs. These situations seem so artificial that students inevitably lament, ‘When am I ever going to use this stuff in my real life?’ I first made the connection between science and Superman when I purchased Action Comics # 333, which featured a scene in which, as a tribute to all he’s done for humanity, Superman was to be granted an honorary degree of Doctor of Super-Science by Metropolis Engineering College.”
Prof. Kakalios adds that: “One trick I’ve hit upon in teaching physics involves using examples culled from Superman comic books that correctly illustrate various applications of physics principles… Those not overtly familiar with superhero comic books may be surprised to learn that anything in comic books could be scientifically correct, but one can learn a lot of science from reading comic books.”
In The Science of Superman (I Books, 2002), science writer Mark Wolverton examines Superman’s powers through the lens of modern science, explaining the fundamental biological and genetic differences between Earthlings and Kryptonians that allow Superman to exercise extraordinary abilities on our planet.
Science and physics teachers have followed Prof. Kakalio’s and Wolverton’s examples by applying Superman visual examples during lessons related to the laws of physics.
Their focus is how Superman’s amazing powers are being reborn as X-ray vision at airport security checks and bullet-proof vests that are five times stronger than steel.
But let’s not forget that Superman is not just science – he is also human. After all, as Reeve once said, “What makes Superman a hero is not his immense power but the wisdom and maturity to use power wisely.”