So with the complicated and over-expanded history of Superboy-Prime loaded into your headspace, you might be wondering the ultimate point of the character. Why he needed to exist. And what my opinions are of the character. Well, here ya go!
Superman is the first superhero. You can take your Greek mythology and Flash Gordon and shove em because Superman is literally the foundation for all modern superheroes. He's the foil, the starting point, Batman got to be as awesome as he is because Bob Kane and Bill Finger literally said, "So what's the opposite of Superman". Superman isn't just a power fantasy or a symbol of hope, he is the living embodiment of moral responsibility. He is the best case scenario of a modern God. When you look at "Man of Steel" or "Injustice: Gods Among Us" and you see what Superman could have turned out to be with all his power you begin to appreciate what he's been. A good person. He isn't perfect, he makes mistakes, there are some things he can't fix with all his words or all his powers. But he still tries to do the right thing. He still gives people a chance, he still opts to arrest rather than kill, he still tries to smile even in the face of aggression. Not because he's smug or overconfident, but because he doesn't let fear stop him and he-or I guess the good writers over at DC Comics-doesn't want us as the readers to let fear stop us or make us weaker. That's just the tip of the iceberg as far as what Superman represents as an American icon, but it's all of those inspiring things that make Superboy-Prime one of my favorite comic book villains.
Imagine, if you will, growing up reading comic books. You're just some normal kid, you like superheroes, maybe you share similarities with your favorite character. A standard life. You got a family, friends, a high school sweetheart. Your entire life ahead of you, comics or no comics. Then one day, Superman arrives at your door. Not walking, but flying. Then the moment after he shows up, you start to fly. And bend steel. And outrun trains. And Superman-a comic book character come to life-tells you that you're actually him. That you aren't just a Superman, but THE REAL Superman. Powers, heritage, and all. And so he gives you a costume, he brings you into the world of comics you loved so dearly, and you help him save the universe. Fictional figures like Batman and Wonder Woman become real, the writers and artists who made these comics possible are now drawing what you do and writing what you do. Are you subject to them or is this all your own choice? Do you leave the reality you grew up in or play superhero for the rest of your life? Maybe you don't have that choice, maybe the minute you stepped into this world you lost the one you came from. And as you stay in these pages, you see the rest of the world get darker. Superman dies and comes back, Batman has his back broken, The Green Lantern kills all his friends. What the hell has happened? Why are your favorite characters losing what made them heroes? And when you try to fix it, all you do is make it worse. Bludgeoning child superheroes with a mere swat of your hand, crushing bones in your grip, blasting the heat of a Sun from your face. All in frustrating lack of control. Lack of understanding. And when you fail to fix the world you idolized, you decide you just want to go back home. You don't want to be a superhero anymore. After failing time and time again, creating more enemies, endangering your life and taking the lives of others, you finally get home. And everyone hates you. Everyone knows what you did with your power. Everyone knows what you were. A villain. A killer wearing the costume of a hero. Whether those lives were real or not, when given the chance to take them you did. And when the world either fears you or mocks you, whether you go down in comic book history like all your heroes or you are overlooked like so many other failed creations, when you have nothing left. You turn to death. But death doesn't want you. You embrace the person you love, they tell you it's over, they tell you those writers and editors and artists won't lead you astray anymore. But they do. They bring you back to the comic books. They make you kill people. And they stick you in the one place you can't escape. Between fiction and reality. Until they feel like using you again. Happy Birthday, you're only 20.
That is what makes Superboy-Prime compelling to me. I think he is a character with too much potential, there's too much to say about him and even more of what could be said. He isn't just the "Superman gone bad". He's the very likely possibility of a kid's wish come true. He's the real power fantasy, the one you can't control or turn off. Superman should not be an example of "absolute power corrupts absolutely" because as a character he was raised better than that. But all Prime knows is what he has read. He is a real person and real people cannot handle so much power is so short of time. If Prime had been taught by Superman things may have been different, but you pull some kid from the real world, give him powers, and then tell him how great he is and then immediately tell him they already have enough Supermen so they don't need him? You create a problem child.
Just the concept of a real person in a comic book universe-subject to the industry's will-is interesting to me. What if he comes back? Will he remember all the reboots DC Comics has had? Will he know the movies and TV shows they have now? Will go to the DC offices again demands answers as to why these REAL WRITERS ruined his life? The deeper you think about this, the less it seems like a comic book story. This is a real life Superman being manipulated for the purpose of entertainment and he gains nothing by being what he is. It's starting to sound like some meta-textual independent comic written by Grant Morrison! Part of me hopes DC uses Superboy-Prime again (even if it's kind of unfair to him), but part of me also thinks they may not expand what he represents. It's like Superboy-Prime was ahead of his time, and that if he is used again it won't be to his greatest potential. If Superman is the starting point for all superheroes, then maybe Superboy-Prime is the end. The last superhero. Because nothing could be more unreal than what is real.
Thanks for reading.
Imagine, if you will, growing up reading comic books. You're just some normal kid, you like superheroes, maybe you share similarities with your favorite character. A standard life. You got a family, friends, a high school sweetheart. Your entire life ahead of you, comics or no comics. Then one day, Superman arrives at your door. Not walking, but flying. Then the moment after he shows up, you start to fly. And bend steel. And outrun trains. And Superman-a comic book character come to life-tells you that you're actually him. That you aren't just a Superman, but THE REAL Superman. Powers, heritage, and all. And so he gives you a costume, he brings you into the world of comics you loved so dearly, and you help him save the universe. Fictional figures like Batman and Wonder Woman become real, the writers and artists who made these comics possible are now drawing what you do and writing what you do. Are you subject to them or is this all your own choice? Do you leave the reality you grew up in or play superhero for the rest of your life? Maybe you don't have that choice, maybe the minute you stepped into this world you lost the one you came from. And as you stay in these pages, you see the rest of the world get darker. Superman dies and comes back, Batman has his back broken, The Green Lantern kills all his friends. What the hell has happened? Why are your favorite characters losing what made them heroes? And when you try to fix it, all you do is make it worse. Bludgeoning child superheroes with a mere swat of your hand, crushing bones in your grip, blasting the heat of a Sun from your face. All in frustrating lack of control. Lack of understanding. And when you fail to fix the world you idolized, you decide you just want to go back home. You don't want to be a superhero anymore. After failing time and time again, creating more enemies, endangering your life and taking the lives of others, you finally get home. And everyone hates you. Everyone knows what you did with your power. Everyone knows what you were. A villain. A killer wearing the costume of a hero. Whether those lives were real or not, when given the chance to take them you did. And when the world either fears you or mocks you, whether you go down in comic book history like all your heroes or you are overlooked like so many other failed creations, when you have nothing left. You turn to death. But death doesn't want you. You embrace the person you love, they tell you it's over, they tell you those writers and editors and artists won't lead you astray anymore. But they do. They bring you back to the comic books. They make you kill people. And they stick you in the one place you can't escape. Between fiction and reality. Until they feel like using you again. Happy Birthday, you're only 20.
That is what makes Superboy-Prime compelling to me. I think he is a character with too much potential, there's too much to say about him and even more of what could be said. He isn't just the "Superman gone bad". He's the very likely possibility of a kid's wish come true. He's the real power fantasy, the one you can't control or turn off. Superman should not be an example of "absolute power corrupts absolutely" because as a character he was raised better than that. But all Prime knows is what he has read. He is a real person and real people cannot handle so much power is so short of time. If Prime had been taught by Superman things may have been different, but you pull some kid from the real world, give him powers, and then tell him how great he is and then immediately tell him they already have enough Supermen so they don't need him? You create a problem child.
Just the concept of a real person in a comic book universe-subject to the industry's will-is interesting to me. What if he comes back? Will he remember all the reboots DC Comics has had? Will he know the movies and TV shows they have now? Will go to the DC offices again demands answers as to why these REAL WRITERS ruined his life? The deeper you think about this, the less it seems like a comic book story. This is a real life Superman being manipulated for the purpose of entertainment and he gains nothing by being what he is. It's starting to sound like some meta-textual independent comic written by Grant Morrison! Part of me hopes DC uses Superboy-Prime again (even if it's kind of unfair to him), but part of me also thinks they may not expand what he represents. It's like Superboy-Prime was ahead of his time, and that if he is used again it won't be to his greatest potential. If Superman is the starting point for all superheroes, then maybe Superboy-Prime is the end. The last superhero. Because nothing could be more unreal than what is real.
Thanks for reading.
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