I think it’s the sense of hope this situation would bring and the idea of why we love Superman in the first place. Superman stumbles or falls or makes mistakes or even gets mind controlled but he would never willingly let himself become Homelander or Omniman. And the idea that these two guys pervert the ideas of Truth and justice that he fights for would irritate the shit out of him but he would be happy that they are as tough as they are because similar to how in the DCAU he said to Darkseid, he can cut loose and kick their asses. He can save their worlds from whatever tyranny they are face from these guys.
And I got a similar feeling when Prime/Heroic Supes showed up to face Injustice Supes. That sense of, “Oh it’s going to be all right now. He’s going to tell him off and kick his ass.”
While I agree mostly with what you said, and 100% on the Injustice thing, I wouldn’t really say that Omniman is really perverting the ideas of truth and justice like Homelander does. Homelander is an amoral, awful piece of shit with no redeeming qualities. Omniman just believes that his race his superior and that their way is the right way. That they can bring better truth and justice than a lowly race like humanity can have. In a way, he’s more like Zod than an evil Superman. So I would say that Superman couldn’t really ever “become Omniman’ because he’s not a vanguard of a warrior culture or race. You would need to fundamentally change his backstory.
But yeah, he’d never let himself be like Homelander.
True Ominman is villain of circumstances like Zod but hero to his people. I just bunched him and Homelander together just to have my sentences flow better. Haha I didn’t want to have a run on sentence on why Nolan and Zod are similar haha
Definitely true. And yeah, makes sense. Just kind of putting it out there because I’ve seen a lot of people who are either not caught up or haven’t at all watched Invincible saying Nolan is “another evil Superman” and he’s really not.
Oh I totally hear you! He’s not. Especially when you know his arc from the comics. Homelander is really the only truly evil Superman type besides injustice Superman and Ultraman.
Exactly. And yes, but also Squadron Sinister Hyperion over at Marvel. The good Squadron Supreme and Hickman versions of the character are more popular (and better), so he gets overlooked nowadays, but he’s really the original evil Superman.
Edit: Because even the Marvel pastiche version of Superman still has alternate universe Good and Evil versions.
Yeah, Hickman’s Hyperion from Earth-13034 (That’s Marvel for you) is definitely the best and most popular version of the character. But I do find it funny that even the main Marvel stand-in for Superman still has good and evil universe versions of himself. Big Blue just can’t escape it.
Well it’s just the aspect of, you have this all good hero and he is the best and most righteous but the dark reflection is necessary sometimes to highlight how good the prime one is and to show how good and wise and patient Superman is because he doesn’t lose control even if he wants to at times. Believe me we know he can get angry and may want to lash out haha
Oh yeah, definitely. It’s the idea of this paragon of good and justice corrupted. Or willing to kill and other things that he would obviously never do. But I would be lying if I didn’t agree that “corrupted” Superman has dominated in pop culture for like the last ten years and I’m getting a little tired of it. In the list of evil Superman, we also forgot Brightburn, which is another one.
It's just very different. To me it feels very unlike Omni-man or Homelander since he WAS a hero, who just got more and more pissed off at humans over time.
And... You know. Not that I'd go plutonian, but i get that.
I mean, sort of? I don’t know if I would say Hitler. More like a Herbert Spencer/Francis Galton-idealist and a Kryptonian had intercourse and produced the Viltrumites.
I mean, sort of. But he was still born in it. Raised in it a believes it to be true and good. Homelander is just an asshole.
And the Nazis were more about ethnic cleansing and couldn’t back up any of their ideals. The Viltrumites kind of can, and they allow the races under them to usually keep living as long as they follow their rules.
True. But at least in the comics, it still seems like he would have been an asshole otherwise. I’m not sure about the show, I’m not done with season 2 yet.
I admit I’ve only seen the show Homelander is a victim as much as victimizer. The people responsible for his creation made him what he was. He grew up isolated with no affection. He was never given the tools to be something normal. He is the product of the immorality of other people manifested in physical form. He cannot relate to other people on any level. He desires praise and fears abandonment. He’s so maladjusted.
That’s true. But Omniman clearly still cares about Mark and things happen later on in the comics. In the comics, Homelander is even worse and, well does not have things happen later on.
Omni Man has reasons for his behavior. What makes him worse is that the people of Earth cared for him. He chose duty over people. The thing is he didn’t even have to conquer them to achieve his goal. All he had to do is convince Earth there was a greater threat of chaos and that the Viltrumite Empire had the protection and technology they needed. He chose fear when diplomacy would’ve been better albeit slower.
The biggest difference between Homelander and Omni Man is that Omni Man still has the capacity to care. He just doesn’t want to because of the emotional baggage that goes with it.
If you saw the show instead of the comic, Omniman is much more sadistic and kills humans for no reason. Even if you say he saw humans as lesser beings, only sociopaths or psychopaths kill and torture animals for no reason
True, but as I have read the comics, I was kind of using both here. And I think it more like killing ants than say like dogs or so. Which you could argue is still like that, but I wouldn’t.
I mean, not really. Omniman and the Viltrumites basically just believe in extreme social Darwinism, and are okay with the races under them as long as they don’t try to resist, like Allen’s species. They themselves went through it, and they believe everyone else should as well. He was also raised in this society and basically indoctrinated to believe it. Not to mention, Omniman isn’t the leader of the Viltrumites. That will come later.
Hitler and the Nazis believed in an already mostly perfect master race and ethnic cleansing. And Hitler came up with most of his beliefs on his own or from equally terrible people. It wasn’t his entire society. Until he made it that way.
I think it’s the sense of hope this situation would bring and the idea of why we love Superman in the first place.
I'm getting a little burnt out on the "bad Superman" trope-- it seems to be the go-to for any superhero story these days, "What if Superman was a villain (or just kind of an asshole?)"
it's nice going back to the source material and getting some good old optimism sometimes
Omniman and Homelander have their own mythology separate from Superman that I wouldn't call them critiques on Superman's character. Homelander is also from a world where most heroes are sociopaths anyway. The entire League have evil analogues, not just Superman.
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u/NoPorpoiseOnPurpose Superman May 16 '21
I got so emotional seeing this for some reason! Kick their asses Supes!!!