Superman is one of the most iconic superheroes, if not one of the most iconic characters, of all time. The demigod from another world, raised by a kindly couple to embody the best qualities of humanity, has been inspiring audiences for nearly 90 years across several movies, thousands of comics, and unfortunately, a handful of mostly forgettable video games. For all of his status and prestige, video games have struggled to capture the unique appeal of the Man of Steel. As DC's film division gets a high-profile reboot with the release of James Gunn's Superman, it's time Superman got the game he deserves.
Superman's history in video games has been, to be generous, spotty. Early games for the Atari or Commodore 64 were simplistic affairs that captured his titanic feats of strength, at least as well as could be portrayed for the time. Their rudimentary nature meant that narrative was virtually nonexistent and they could only really capture one or two types of heroic actions and then loop them repeatedly. A 1992 Genesis game was a decent but unremarkable action-platformer. Superman was strong enough to punch down fearsome robots, and it made a token attempt at capturing his suite of powers, but it was barely distinguishable from any other action-platformer contemporary. The Death and Return of Superman game, a tie-in with the major comic book event of the same name, was a beat-'em-up featuring the four "Supermen" who appeared after the hero's untimely death at the hands of Doomsday: Cyborg, Steel, Eradicator, and Superboy. Many superheroes of the time were adapted into similar brawlers, including Batman, Spider-Man, Punisher, and others. Death and Return of Superman was a standout as one of the better ones, but it still didn't portray what makes Superman so remarkable.
Superman on Atari 2600, via vghchannel on YouTube
These early games largely failed to capture the essence of Superman. Some were better than others, but in broad terms they largely borrowed familiar genre templates. Superman often didn't feel powerful enough, as a limitation of game design; but more crucially, those early narrative structures couldn't properly support the fundamental goodness that is at the heart of the character. Sure, he could punch through solid steel--but why is he putting himself in harm's way for this planet of strangers at all? Why does he care so much about humanity? Superman's capacity to see the best in us--to be the best in us--is just as central to the character as his titanic strength and bulletproof skin.
As video games moved into the 3D era, the problem only worsened. Superman: The New Adventures, colloquially known as Superman 64, is widely regarded as one of the worst video games of all time, due to its general bugginess, pea-soup fog, and poor presentation. Superman Returns, a licensed game released alongside the Brandon Routh movie, was a middling open-world game without much to actually do. Its most notable feature, though, cleverly solved for a challenge that developers have struggled with: Superman is generally regarded as invincible, so how do you make it interesting to play as someone who can't lose? In Superman Returns, the son of Krypton himself was nigh-invulnerable, but instead, the city of Metropolis itself had a life bar. This shifted the player's focus from self-preservation to protection, which at least captures an important part of Superman's identity.
More recently, it seems game developers have mostly given up on making being the Man of Steel into a great video game experience. Instead, studios have increasingly turned to borrowing the character, with all his god-like abilities, to present the player with an insurmountable threat to overcome. Games like Injustice and Suicide Squad have embraced the "what if Superman were evil?" premise in different ways. It works well enough for that purpose. Superman is often criticized as overpowered, so why not turn that to your advantage by making him your game's big-bad? But sadly, that also means that Superman's best uses in video games have been the ones that act contrary to the character as he's been known for years, and to the qualities that make him an enduring hero.
Why is Superman so hard to get right?
Superman in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
To start, the criticism that Superman is overpowered does carry some weight in terms of game design. He is one of the most powerful characters in DC's canon, the yardstick by which other powerful characters are measured, and has decades of history building up new levels of power and ways to use his abilities. Building game mechanics around that level of strength is, apparently, pretty difficult. Make Superman too powerful and a game in which you play as him will be dull. Make him too weak and the game feels untrue to the character and dispiriting. The Superman Returns approach of making Metropolis itself the vulnerable aspect is a smart solution, but as that game showed, it can be difficult to maintain interest in an open world that feels too sparse.
As an aside, it's worth noting here that Superman is very powerful, but he is not immortal. The comics have established that he's so strong that he seems invulnerable by any human standards, but sufficiently powerful technology, magic, or beings from alien planets can injure him. Kryptonite, the radioactive rock that serves as Superman's main weakness, can feel like a writerly cheat, but it's not even necessary to lay Superman low. A villain like Doomsday or Darkseid can draw blood all on their own.
So the solution, then, may be a compromise that marries the two approaches. A game that wants to capture the essence of Superman's powerful abilities could begin in Metropolis, giving you the freedom to fly around the city, rescuing people and averting crises, with a gamified element like Superman Returns' Metropolis health bar to show how well you're fulfilling your mission to act as Earth's protector. Elements like technology from perennial villain Lex Luthor or various invading aliens could slowly start to hurt Superman, ramping up the difficulty progressively until the player is faced with a threat that could actually kill him, and leave Metropolis defenseless in the process. Overcoming these threats could fulfill the power fantasy of being Superman and adapting to new challenges.
More importantly, this could be a narratively satisfying way to express the core of Superman: he is fundamentally good. The Elseworlds stories about an evil Superman ruling like a tyrant can work to give stakes to the stories of other heroes, but they are not really stories about Superman. The Man of Steel is earnest and gentle, a figure meant to be aspirational and inspirational. He has all the power you can imagine, but he would never use it to inflict pain or suffering. He is charitable with his time and his affection for Earth and its people. He gives of himself. That is Superman.
Any story that aims to be about Superman has to capture that element above all. The question, "What if the world's most powerful person were evil?" no longer resonates like it once did, perhaps because we have plenty of powerful, evil people right here in the real world. Much more revolutionary is the simple idea that Superman has represented for the last several decades. What if the world's most powerful person were also its kindest?
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Superman's history in video games has been, to be generous, spotty. Early games for the Atari or Commodore 64 were simplistic affairs that captured his titanic feats of strength, at least as well as could be portrayed for the time. Their rudimentary nature meant that narrative was virtually nonexistent and they could only really capture one or two types of heroic actions and then loop them repeatedly. A 1992 Genesis game was a decent but unremarkable action-platformer. Superman was strong enough to punch down fearsome robots, and it made a token attempt at capturing his suite of powers, but it was barely distinguishable from any other action-platformer contemporary. The Death and Return of Superman game, a tie-in with the major comic book event of the same name, was a beat-'em-up featuring the four "Supermen" who appeared after the hero's untimely death at the hands of Doomsday: Cyborg, Steel, Eradicator, and Superboy. Many superheroes of the time were adapted into similar brawlers, including Batman, Spider-Man, Punisher, and others. Death and Return of Superman was a standout as one of the better ones, but it still didn't portray what makes Superman so remarkable.
Superman on Atari 2600, via vghchannel on YouTube
These early games largely failed to capture the essence of Superman. Some were better than others, but in broad terms they largely borrowed familiar genre templates. Superman often didn't feel powerful enough, as a limitation of game design; but more crucially, those early narrative structures couldn't properly support the fundamental goodness that is at the heart of the character. Sure, he could punch through solid steel--but why is he putting himself in harm's way for this planet of strangers at all? Why does he care so much about humanity? Superman's capacity to see the best in us--to be the best in us--is just as central to the character as his titanic strength and bulletproof skin.
As video games moved into the 3D era, the problem only worsened. Superman: The New Adventures, colloquially known as Superman 64, is widely regarded as one of the worst video games of all time, due to its general bugginess, pea-soup fog, and poor presentation. Superman Returns, a licensed game released alongside the Brandon Routh movie, was a middling open-world game without much to actually do. Its most notable feature, though, cleverly solved for a challenge that developers have struggled with: Superman is generally regarded as invincible, so how do you make it interesting to play as someone who can't lose? In Superman Returns, the son of Krypton himself was nigh-invulnerable, but instead, the city of Metropolis itself had a life bar. This shifted the player's focus from self-preservation to protection, which at least captures an important part of Superman's identity.
More recently, it seems game developers have mostly given up on making being the Man of Steel into a great video game experience. Instead, studios have increasingly turned to borrowing the character, with all his god-like abilities, to present the player with an insurmountable threat to overcome. Games like Injustice and Suicide Squad have embraced the "what if Superman were evil?" premise in different ways. It works well enough for that purpose. Superman is often criticized as overpowered, so why not turn that to your advantage by making him your game's big-bad? But sadly, that also means that Superman's best uses in video games have been the ones that act contrary to the character as he's been known for years, and to the qualities that make him an enduring hero.
Why is Superman so hard to get right?
Superman in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
To start, the criticism that Superman is overpowered does carry some weight in terms of game design. He is one of the most powerful characters in DC's canon, the yardstick by which other powerful characters are measured, and has decades of history building up new levels of power and ways to use his abilities. Building game mechanics around that level of strength is, apparently, pretty difficult. Make Superman too powerful and a game in which you play as him will be dull. Make him too weak and the game feels untrue to the character and dispiriting. The Superman Returns approach of making Metropolis itself the vulnerable aspect is a smart solution, but as that game showed, it can be difficult to maintain interest in an open world that feels too sparse.
As an aside, it's worth noting here that Superman is very powerful, but he is not immortal. The comics have established that he's so strong that he seems invulnerable by any human standards, but sufficiently powerful technology, magic, or beings from alien planets can injure him. Kryptonite, the radioactive rock that serves as Superman's main weakness, can feel like a writerly cheat, but it's not even necessary to lay Superman low. A villain like Doomsday or Darkseid can draw blood all on their own.
So the solution, then, may be a compromise that marries the two approaches. A game that wants to capture the essence of Superman's powerful abilities could begin in Metropolis, giving you the freedom to fly around the city, rescuing people and averting crises, with a gamified element like Superman Returns' Metropolis health bar to show how well you're fulfilling your mission to act as Earth's protector. Elements like technology from perennial villain Lex Luthor or various invading aliens could slowly start to hurt Superman, ramping up the difficulty progressively until the player is faced with a threat that could actually kill him, and leave Metropolis defenseless in the process. Overcoming these threats could fulfill the power fantasy of being Superman and adapting to new challenges.
More importantly, this could be a narratively satisfying way to express the core of Superman: he is fundamentally good. The Elseworlds stories about an evil Superman ruling like a tyrant can work to give stakes to the stories of other heroes, but they are not really stories about Superman. The Man of Steel is earnest and gentle, a figure meant to be aspirational and inspirational. He has all the power you can imagine, but he would never use it to inflict pain or suffering. He is charitable with his time and his affection for Earth and its people. He gives of himself. That is Superman.
Any story that aims to be about Superman has to capture that element above all. The question, "What if the world's most powerful person were evil?" no longer resonates like it once did, perhaps because we have plenty of powerful, evil people right here in the real world. Much more revolutionary is the simple idea that Superman has represented for the last several decades. What if the world's most powerful person were also its kindest?
Source