I Thought he never said he was a US citizen. As Clark Kent, yes he is. But as Superman he is not a citizen of any nation.
So, this just happened. In Action Comics #900, to be specific.
Yep, Superman is renouncing his U.S. citizenship. As I expect this to start a nerd-clusterfuck of massive proportions, I'm just going to slowly step back and let you all freak out in the comments. I understand this discussion is inherently political, but let's try to keep the Democrat and Republican-bashing to a minimum, please. I'm also genuinely curious what you foreign folks thing of all this. Impressed? Feel it's about time? Pleased? Couldn't care less? Thanks to everyone who sent in the tip. (Via Comics Alliance)
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264 comments
I'm going with the people that call this straight up crappy writing and just a money grab for issue #900. I also agree pretty heavily with this guy: JesseMXGangl. I would be a foreign folk if not for my family's decision to move to America and recognize myself as an American just as Superman would having lived here for his whole life. Just like with Civil War and any other politically motivated writing, these comic book writers should stick to comic book stories unless they happen to be fantastic writers like Moore, or Morrison, who can properly nuance this kind of thing. I think for most of Superman's comics and even JLA stuff, they tend to stay out of the political stuff and help with disaster prevention, relief, and aid. So what if he shows support for a peaceful protest? So what if he stops the other government from shooting them all to bits? How does that say that it's an American action? You know what, forget it.
Reiterating. Crappy writing, and JessMXGangl said it better than I could. The End.
When did he become an American citizen? Maybe he couldn't produce an authentic long form birth certificate for the Justice League and they gave him an ultimatum.
I couldn't care less about Superman not being a U.S. citizin anymore. If anything I think it's about damn time, because he's a superhero for the entire world, not just America. Go Supes!
Since when is Superman an U.S. citizen? He's kryptonian. Clark Kent IS a U.S. citizen.
-airfox
Up next: Superman begins a hunger strike to protest North Korean gulags and to show Kim Jong Il who's boss. Good Lord, this is an embarrassment. He looks like a big dupe. What happens when he leaves and all the people he was non-violently protesting with get thrown in a prison cell for decades (or worse)?
Hey Supes, do you remember when Iran headed up the UN's Human Rights Commission? Glad you have so much faith in an organization composed of mostly non-democratic thug outposts.
Has Supes ever really BEEN an instrument of American policy? Did he hunt terrorists or kill Iraqi kids or, I dunno, fly guns and bombs to Hosni Mubarak? I'm really not certain where his problem is coming from. He seems to be a far less political hero than Captain America, (who isnt really that overtly political anyhow since most of the problems he tackles are fantasy ones, except for the awesome time he beat the fuck out of that guy running a sweatshop with a Hostess fruit pie.)
this is dumb as hell. why has superman sucked so hard lately?????!! JMS started it with grounded, now this shit??! ugh. give the book to morrison for christ's sake.
Superman came illegally into the United States of America, he was born on another planet. He was not born in US soil, nor is he's parents American. He was illegaly adopted and registered as their child. To my understanding that fostering and illegal alien. *pun not intended* WTF is everybody bitching about?
He was abandoned here, found by the Kent's who took him to an orphanage then later decided to adopt him. This means his adoption went through all the legal channels and is a legal citizen (well Clark Kent is). The comics keeps switching things around, but this is how things originally happened so it's what I'm sticking to.
My own "foreign type" reaction: this is nothing new. A lot of worldwide translations have always subtly downplayed Superman's status as an American Icon. He's more of a Pop Culture Icon... which just happens to come from America, like Mickey Mouse or Darth Vader. It's not like he wears the flag like Captain America does. Some translations of "Truth, Justice and the American Way" let go of the "American" part and it goes back to the first Chris Reeve movie. There was a time in Italy when Superman was known as "Nembo Kid" and his S-Shield was blanked out (google-image it). So all that talk about it being a commercial feat to make Superman more popular overseas is totally besides the point. We've always tailored Superman so that he would feel more international than über-americain. This doesn't change anything. I just pity the poor translators who will have to deal with Action Comics #900, and try to make it sound like a real issue.
I think it's a nice idea. Superman should be everyones hero, not just for ther americans but as an ideal for everyone to strive for.
I like it way more than....Batman Inc....
Btw: Country Germany^^
In two months this will turn out to be a Superman robot. Or clone. The real Superman will return from space in a new red, white and blue costume to kill it. Then Superman will go back to wearing his old costume and all will be forgotten.
Ok, he's not saying he wants to be global. He's saying he doesn't want to be American. You don't have to renounce you citizenship to help people in other countries. Superman probably doesn't have a real citizenship because he's just a persona, so this seems more like a jester to show he doesn't want to be associated with America which kind of stinks.
You can argue that you don't see him as being American cause you are from another Country, but for those of us that live in America this is kind of disappointing. I mean if an American soldier goes in front of everyone and says he doesn't want to be an American, people in other countries probably won't care.
yes the ideals superman stands for are ones that can spread all over the world, but what's so wrong about an American having those ideals? Nelson Mandela has some high ideals that could be spread all over, but I think some people would get pretty upset if he renounced Africa saying he didn't want those good ideals to be associated with Africa.
I'm not gonna lie, I don't even think of Superman as an American citizen. I mean, I guess I know that he grew up in the U.S and that Metropolis is in the U.S but it just doesn't register with me. To me he's just a super hero, not "the American hero". Granted, I barely think of Captain America as the American Hero, though again, I guess I know he is. Thats probably what I get for being Canadian. Either way, this makes perfect sense to me.
One thing in that post stands out to me. The fact you correctly used the phrase "couldn't care less". Thank you.
Didn't Ellis sort of handle this years ago? I mean that was a central idea behind The Authority? Namely that god-like super-beings can get to a point where they're no longer constrained by international law as they are by their own morality?
I think what's best about this is the hilarious fallout going on over at Comics Alliance. Some people are losing their minds over this, as if this were a personal attack on their precious American values. Eesh.
Also as an Englishman I would surmise that Superman should really be beneficial to the world's good causes not simply the land he dropped down in from space. Take the Dark Knight Returns for instance, Superman literally is a US Military Instrument dancing for Ronald Reagan. Most unseemly for the gent. Most unseemly.
Well as a foreigner, I can say, that....meh!Is not thatn in the rest of the world we associate istantly Superman to USA. Odd I know, but he is not like Uncle Sam or Captain America(they are essentially USA incarnated), Super is more what humankind thrive to be. While Batman is what humankind can reasonably beNeedless to say otuside USA Batman(and for Marvel SpiderMan) is mor epopular than Superman, who except for a brief period never got his way too deep inside heart of fans.Oddly enough Cap and Uncle Sam are instead quite popular!!(albeit not nearly as Batman and Spiderman).On side note NO ONE GIVE A F**** about Green Lantern as character, here in Italy.
As I understand it, most Italians care 10x as much for Scrooge McDuck and Lupin III than for Superman. That. Is. AWESOME. And for the record, we here in the UK don't give a flying fuck for Green Lantern either.
Wait i don't get it...
Even if Superman had a birth certificate and a SSN and a US passport... wouldn't they all say "Clark Kent"? Isn't "Clark Kent" his government name? I'm sure Clark isn't going to renounce his citizenship, that wouldn't make any sense.
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This is just silly. Probably a grab at sales over controversy. Or the writers are just trying to score political points for some stupid reason. Either way Superman is a figure deeply related to America and its ideals. When he separates himself from America he diverges himself from his identity. This could be cool if they do something like nations getting worried about super heroes losing respect for nations as sovereign powers or the formation of government sponsored hero groups. Just saying.
is anyone really bothered by this? he's superman. He doesn't reserve that to the united states landmass or even planet earth. its not different than the justice league of america being changed to the justice league. you can tell stories about near god level powered heroes and only have them stick to one country, it doesnt work for the characters.
can't see that it makes all that much of a difference - I mean Clark Kent is still a U.S. national right ?and it's not like the comics will start telling stories based around his citizenship issues...
I´m Mexican (so, i´m not american, and i´m writing in a idiom thats not my own, so, i apologize for de misspelling and the bad sintaxis and all that).
I think that superman represent somthing biggers that mere patriotizim. I now that Superman is like the Most Iconic character America have, but, "Thrunt, Justice and the American Way" are bigger than the borders of USA... even the par of "american way"...
What i want to say is, you (american poeple) see this as a proobe that somo of your ideals have become global idials... Thrut and Justice are easy... but even "the american way" is now something global... at leat the way i understand it Freedom and a nice way of life for the good peaple... thats something EVERY human can realate to... and Superman being the Avatar of that idial, can be Global, not just american.
You're written English is better than most of the people I know. And I'M english. And a thought provoking point too!
My dad was reading stuff off of twitter, and he said this and I thought he was reading Onion headlines. It's THAT weird.
Wasn't he going on a cross country walk to "find himself" before this? Sounds like DC's floundering for something to do with him.
All I can think about this is that it's just another example of an American comic book writer shoving their political opinions into the story for no reason. Seriously, it seems like comics turn into the author's sermon way more than other media.
The comments here are strangely less insane than what's popping up on comicsallance comments. I'm talking about "boycott Superman," "Superman will stone women in Sharia Law countries," "Superman will soon turn into a transvestite," etc. kinds of crazy.
Personally, I find it interesting short story that probably should of happened sooner depending on whether or not Supes already had automatic citizenship in all nations anyway but that still doesn't work when not all countries will automatically agree to that depending on the government and its place in international coalitions.
Anyway, I'll probably stop caring in a day or so.
not for someone whose motto was "Truth, Justice and the American Way". i mean, damn, this is just about equal to Wong Fei Hung saying "I hate you, China!" and move to Paris to sell chow-mein noodles.
...and I realized half of you are probably wondering "Who the FUCK is Wong Fei Hung". To which I provide the link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W...
Long-story short: he IS the Chinese equivalent of Batman. XD
Ugh, that makes it sound like US bashing and I seriously don't want to read that crap. I know if I were from another nation and heard someone famous announce US Citizenship, or Citizenship of any country it sure sounds to me like he hates that country. He should just GTFO I guess. I don't know how many nerds are into the whole "I hate my country thing". If a lot of them are then this will fly, if most nerds love the US then this is going to cause issues.
Understand, we nerds don't just believe something, we go WHOLE HOG. So instead of "America is overall a decent place to live, but definitely has problems," we tend to go, "America is super-perfect" or "America is the WORST PLACE IN THE WORLD IN ALL OF HISTORY!"
On the bright side, now Superman can hang out with Miley Cyrus, whose world tour won't include the U.S. because she doesn't feel appreciated there. Always knew they'd end up together one of these days.
hey, I know superman's back story keeps changing and the continuity is nothing like it was in the golden age, but in the original comics superman was found by the Kents, then taken to an orphanage. Afterward they decided they should adopt him ad came back to the orphanage and adopted him, this means his adoption was perfectly legal and he is indeed an American, but now everything is so messed up with superman. Now if he makes a big show about not being an American won't that kind of alienate him from the people he protects in America? I mean isn't being an alien enough, does he really have to become and illegal alien? Honestly I really don't see why he needs citizenship though, the whole point of Clark is to given him a normal life. I mean does a firefighter need a separate ID for when he puts his suit on and saves people? Clark pays the taxes, works a job, has a wife and friends, and simply enjoys being human. Superman fights bad guys, gives kids a hero to look up to and saves the world. I'm tired of writers trying to make superman "realistic" and "relateable", I want and unrealistic superman who is a great guy beyond corruptibility who gives us something to look up to. No no one can be perfect, but that's why he's Clark, Clark is the scared, shy imperfect side that lies in all of us, he's the relatable part. I'll be the first one to admit America isn't hwat it used to be and the American way has gotten a bad name, but that's the thing about superman, when he says American way it's not the way of today but the American way that once was, if he stays true to that way America doesn't give him a bad name, he gives America a good one. People can say well if superman can come out of America then it can't be all that bad. You know what, for years now I've had an idea of a fan comic universe to restore superheros to their former glory and toss all this "multiverse" nonsense in the trash where it belongs. Superman has gone through so many changes I don't think he even knows who he is any more. I think it's time that as fans we claim superman is a casualty the body snatchers and the guy with the big red s on his chest in the DC comics is some foreign entity trying to take his place. If you are a true superman fan you'll be able to tell this isn't superman, so please stand with me and tell DC I"M MAD AS HECK AND I"M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANY MORE. If anyone is interested in reclaiming superman let me know.
