[quote=@Lord Wraith] I completely disagree with this entire sentiment. Superman is one of the most compelling heroes out there and the fact that he isn't challenged often is the fault of lazy and uninspired writers. For years Superman has faced off against Lex in a battle of wits and people loved it. The thing people always forget is that they look at Superman and see his impressive array of powers and assume that nothing can challenge him. But Superman beneath the suit is one of us, he's human. And the best Superman stories are written when the writer remembers that. Everybody hurts sometimes. And pain doesn't have to be physical. The best stories for Superman are the ones that push his mind and heart to the limit, the ones that make you feel for him. Likewise, Superman has to show amazing restraint in his life, he could easily reach out and snap most of his foes' neck but he doesn't. He doesn't because he's better than that, because he stands for something. Even in a world made of cardboard, Superman takes care not to cause unnecessary harm. He's spent an entire life managing strength that's strong than a locomotive, blending into a world that moves at a snail's pace next to him and all because why? Because he knows the responsible that comes with such power, he cares for the world and truly wants to do better for it. He knows he can't just muscle his way through saving the world because guess what? Humanity is screwed up, you solve world hunger, we'll cause a world drought, you cure cancer, I'm sure we'll create a new super disease. But you can protect humanity and that's what Superman is, he's a protector, a watchful guardian. But he is not a despot, he's not a dictator and he's not an enforcer. A well written Superman shares no traits with that of a villain. [/quote] [i]Injustice[/i] Superman is well written, though. Superman, even beneath his suit, is human-[i]like[/i] but he is not human. The fact of the matter is Superman is an alien, and while his world is like ours, Krypton is not Earth and the manners and customs his people have are not our own. He [i]is[/i] different, regardless of how similar he is to humankind. [i]Injustice[/i] flips the entire trope, but it is not an anomaly of character; since Superman is human-like, he experiences grief just as we do. As such, it examines what would happen when Superman is pushed. But the push is--contrary to what some believe--not an extreme, as the death of Lois Lane is symbolic of the loss all humans must go through at some point in life. Superman's reaction to such death is also not one we have never seen (revenge killings are well-documented parts of human existence) in that he kills the perpetrator. It is something any parent of a child who has been murdered or any spouse whose partner has been murdered feels but typically does not act on: here, Superman does. It is not out of Superman's character to kill, it is not out of any superhero's character to kill. Superheros are, after all, representative of humankind--they are not paragons of hope or mongers of villainy. As you said, they are human; as such, they are flawed. They are not ideals, they are attempts to reflect what humans [i]might[/i] be if we had these kinds of abilities--but they retain one crucial aspect of our character, they are imperfect. While Superman [i]stands[/i] for justice, peace, liberty, equality--he exists in a world which spits in the face of these ideals, and he is not immune to the consequences of the sinister and broken world in which he resides. A well-written Superman does share traits with the villain, because both Superman and the villain are but two people who are subject to all of man's crucial character flaws. Both hero and villain are, and have always been, people who cannot escape the imperfection of Man--regardless of how many kittens they can save from trees.