Characters to Help Superman

Two Character’s to make Superman more interesting.


When the scribes of Christopher Nolan’s/Zach Snyder’s Superman: Man of Steel get together to figure out what it is going to take to make Superman appealing to audiences without sacrificing character integrity, they should consider two modern characters to help formulate Superman’s character. I’m choosing these two based on the duality they both encompass.


1.Dexter Morgan

Dexter is essentially a Super Hero of sorts after all, isn’t he? I suppose he’s more of an antihero than hero, but that’s not the real point here. One of the reason I believe that Superman has gone stale is because of the concept behind the Tarantino/Carradine speech. Everyone portrays Superman in a light that he is acting human. The problem with that idea is that Clark Kent loses depth. He’s a facade, every action he makes is just to cover up that he is Superman, so no one really cares about him.

While you are free to disagree with me, I think this is where Dexter Morgan can help. Dexter, while fully trying to hide who is, he has a couple of other things going on. Namely, he is trying to figure out what it means to be human. He’s not just hiding he is trying to understand. Whether it’s “sexual rituals”, social etiquette, family priorities, or simple human emotions, he is really trying to figure this whole mess out. What makes Dexter interesting is that he makes strides and stumbles in his journey for understanding of what it means. Dexter’s ignorance is also the cause of his awkwardness, which also makes his alter ego more sincere and relatable.


This is part of what makes Clark boring. In what we have seen, he already has a complete understanding of humanity. The act for him doesn’t accomplish anything, it’s simply empty. Clark has to be more than a mask, he has to be a sincere being in and of himself. It should be important to Superman that Clark be real. In that want and lack of understanding, Clark will come out as awkward and bumbling because he is trying so hard to BE human, not because he is trying to ACT human.


2. Sergeant First Class William James (The Hurt Locker)

Sgt. James has a bit of a duality himself. Renner’s character is conflicted in an interesting way. He is fearless, flawless, and masterful in his duty. James knows exactly how to handle the worst situations. But when you put him into the “real” world (the world the rest of us live in) then you have a guy that can’t pick a cereal. While we don’t see a lot of his life in society, the point is clear. James loves war because he doesn’t know what else to do with his life.

This character can be a great combo to the Dexter personality. Being Superman is easy for Superman. He flies, he throws Kryptonite continents off the planet, he takes bullets like a champ, and uses his x ray vision to get his jollies. Being Superman rocks. Being Clark Kent though is difficult. Nothing makes sense to him, he’s a joke to his peers, the woman he loves is more interested in his other half, and he can’t figure out what he really wants out of life. Life is complicated, saving them isn’t. I think by this we can create the conflict for Superman spending time as Clark Kent. What will make it better is that it won’t just be about simple right or wrong, it will end up becoming about personal acceptance.




Superman has to make choices and has to have a very internal struggle in order for him to be interesting. Dexter and James are great examples of “heroes” in conflicting dualities, and I believe that molding Supes into something of this fashion would work well in getting people to care about him again.


I don’t know if this is as clear as I wanted it to be, I wrote this pretty late, but that’s what the comments section is for.