10 Superman Questions That Always Confused You

Just what exactly does the 'S' stand for?

by Ewan Paterson
Superman Thumbnail
DC Comics

Superman is the bedrock of the superhero genre. He's the grandaddy of American comics and one of the most beloved fictional icons in history. Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster's creation is so iconic, in fact, that the Superman logo is one of the most recognisable symbols on Earth, and that's without the character being deified by the mainstream.

The Man of Steel's legacy is incomparable, truly - and while everyone is likely to have their own favourite version of the character, few, if any, comic book characters have undergone as many changes over the years as he. The Last Son of Krypton has been the subject of numerous retcons, re-jigs and reboots to the point that, today, it's quite possible everyone has something about him that they don't feel too clued up on.

Convoluted backstories are part and parcel of the comics medium but especially the superhero genre. Naturally this can lead some to question the very tenets of a given character, Batman being one, and his Metropolis-based ally being another.

With both characters pushing upwards of eighty years worth of material on and off the page, it's easy to understand why that's the case. That doesn't mean that the answers aren't out there though...

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.