10 Changes That Totally Ruined Comic Book Characters

3. Superman

Superman has gone through a lot of changes over the decades, but there are many constants. Rocketed from a doomed planet moments before its demise, he landed on Earth and was raised by a kindly farmer and his wife. Growing to adulthood, he discovered he had superhuman abilities. With his alter ego of mild mannered reporter Clark Kent, he is Superman, Earth€™s greatest protector. Following Crisis on Infinite Earths, an event which rebooted the DC universe, DC gave John Byrne the task of rewriting Superman€™s origin and updating it for the modern day. Although there were some things that worked very well, such as excising the Superboy persona from the origin and making Lex Luthor a shrewd businessman as opposed to an evil scientist, Byrne went a bit too far. In order to make Superman more relatable, Byrne significantly decreased his powers. However, he also altered Clark Kent€™s personality. Instead of being a mild mannered reporter, this new Clark Kent was more of a man of action. The intention was to portray Superman as the mask and Clark Kent as the true personality, but what this did was effectively erase any real difference between the personalities of Superman and Clark. He also kept the Kents alive, a move that gave us a Superman who never really experienced the humility of a situation where his powers couldn€™t save the day. Aspects of this were reduced once Byrne left the Superman books, particularly in Mark Waid€™s far superior origin tale, Birthright. But with the New 52, more unlikable aspects of Superman have been introduced. This Superman is now more brash and more of a jerk than pre-New 52. To make matters worse, one of the most grounding aspects of Superman that helped tether him to humanity has always been Lois Lane. But this has been undone and instead, Superman is now dating Wonder Woman. The New 52 Superman is now unfortunately a lot more like the Superman seen in the Man of Steel movie when Superman should be more akin to Christopher Reeve.