The Appeal of Superman

Plenty of superheroes engage us emotionally, but the emotion that Superman stirs up in us is one of the most fundamental and powerful impulses we have.

Jor-El and Lara loved their child so much that they sent him into outer space just on the chance that he might survive. Jonathan and Martha Kent loved their child so much that they adopted him and raised him well despite all the challenges it posed. The entire foundation of the Superman myth was built on love from the very first panel and Superman only exists because of deeply loving acts. Because love created him and because he became a beloved and successful superhero, love is validated and encouraged by the story, because “look what it can lead to!” Every time Superman saves the world, you’re being shown the end result of love. And that makes you want to be more loving towards other people, stimulating your sense of affection.

And love is one of the most powerful things we can feel – in fact it may be the most powerful thing we can feel. Superman engaging such a deep and strong emotion in us could explain why he's always been so resonant despite plenty of competition, because no other character makes us feel something that deep and that strong.

Superman's emotional basis can also explain why he inspires us so strongly. Spider-Man may inspire you to be more responsible on a logical level, but Superman inspires you to feel more affectionate towards others, which is on an emotional level – and emotions tend to be more persuasive than cognitions.

It's no wonder that red, the color of passion and love, is all over Superman’s costume, including over his heart, and on his cape, as if love is flowing onto his shoulders and is flowing outward behind him. In fact sometimes his costume is even woven out of the baby blankets that he was lovingly wrapped in by his parents, as if the Superman identity is literally made out of love.

 

And it's fitting that his stories feature so much romance with Lois Lane, so the topic of love is kept in the foreground. Superman ends up being a very loving character both thematically, because of his origin, and personally, because he's so loving towards Lois, to his parents, to Krypto, to Supergirl, to Batman.

You can even argue that all of Superman’s heroics are not so much a job, but an expression of his love towards all of humanity. Being Superman could be considered an extension of the loving acts that created him, now directed towards the entire planet. His parents protected him because they loved him, and he protects us because he loves us. So the character makes us feel loved by him when we see him, which is incredibly powerful and warm. It may not be a parental love like his parents gave him, but more of a platonic love – like a friend, as Christopher Reeve said. In contrast to Superman carrying the love of his parents forward to all of humanity, Lex Luthor was deprived of love from his parents and now demands it from humanity.

In Superman #333, Superman describes himself to Lois, and he basically says that the primary function of Superman is not to save people, it's not to help people, it's not even to be some sort of symbol or inspiration. It's just about letting people know that there's someone out there who cares whether they live or die. And ultimately I think that's what we feel when we look at Superman: we feel like someone cares about us, and we want to care about others. No other superhero can touch our hearts in that way. Superman may be the greatest superhero because love may be our greatest emotion.