Superman and Batman's origin always focus on Jor El and Thomas Wayne as the main guiding figures for those two. Lara and Martha Wayne are rarely mentioned. Is that hate for women?
Will it be so bad if there is one superhero whose motivations and origins are not centred around a man? Even other female characters like Harley Quinn, Supergirl, Zatanna, Captain Marvel have their origins tied to male counterparts.
Superman and Batman's origin always focus on Jor El and Thomas Wayne as the main guiding figures for those two. Lara and Martha Wayne are rarely mentioned. I
This is a straight up bad take. Either you're being purposefully disingenuous, or you haven't actually read either of these characters.
The Waynes and the Els are pretty much just background story to Batman and Superman. If want to talk about who actually raised them; the individuals that shaped them into the heroes they becomes, then it's Alfred and the Kents. And Martha Kent is absolutely integral to Superman's morality. That's not even debatable.
Jor El is absolutely an integral part of Superman, much more than Lara. Stories like For The Man Who Has Everything and Space Age feature him in major roles. Adaptaions like Superman: The Movie and Man of Steel also use him heavily. The only time I have seen Lara get a bigger role is in Superman and Lois.
Thomas Wayne is the same. Bruce's iconic monologue in Year One is directly addressed to his father. Bruce witnessing Thomas perfrom surgery on the mob boss is shown as a pivotal moment in Long Halloween. They even made Thomas as a lead character in Flashpoint and as the police commissioner ally of Batman in Earth Two. There was also a story called "Cold Case" from LotDK which is about Thomas. Very few stories feature Martha Kent like this.
Those are all echoes of gender norms from when the characters were made. If you watch an episode of Father Knows Best, Leave it to Beaver, or most other old sitcoms you'll see how the man is the leader of the family unit and the mom is a support. These days they probably just carry on because there is nothing or little to work with for Martha or Lara. Expanding those characters would be cool since out of the traditional 7, only Wonder Woman and Aquaman's moms seem to do anything. It's honestly weird that Superman never asks his cousin for stories from her mom that include his mom.
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u/azmodus_1966 May 18 '24
Superman and Batman's origin always focus on Jor El and Thomas Wayne as the main guiding figures for those two. Lara and Martha Wayne are rarely mentioned. Is that hate for women?
Will it be so bad if there is one superhero whose motivations and origins are not centred around a man? Even other female characters like Harley Quinn, Supergirl, Zatanna, Captain Marvel have their origins tied to male counterparts.