Summary
Supermanhas been around since 1938, and despite a few color tweaks to his costume and the removal and the return of his classic trunks, he’s looked the same since his first appearance inAction Comics#1. Flowing black hair with a single curl and an all-around American face: that’s Superman, all right. And for the majority of his life, he was the standard of hotness — until now.
With DC Comics recently announcing its Absolute Universe, which begins in October with the release ofDC All In Special#1 by Joshua Williamson, Scott Snyder, Daniel Sampere, and Wes Craig, some major characters are getting a colossal makeover. These “Absolute” versions of the characters — inclusing Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman — will be a revamp of not only the character but their style. While Absolute Batman will be without his fortune and Absolute Wonder Woman without her island of paradise,Absolute Superman will be left without his family and his home.
ABSOLUTE SUPERMAN #1 (2024)
November 6th, 2024
Variant Covers:
Wes Craig, Jim Lee, Clayton Crain, Matteo Scalera
Without the fortress…without the family…without a home…what’s left is the Absolute Man of Steel!
Yet that’s not even the main draw of this new (and hunky) Superman, who leads his own title:Absolute Supermanby Jason Aaron and Rafa Sandoval. His family and childhood in Kansas have never been the real issue for me. Instead, it’s his boring, forgettable appearance. But all changes in the Absolute Universe.
DC Makes The Perfect Superman Upgrade For Anyone Who Hates David Corenswet’s Trunks
DC’s latest animated Superman adaptation adds to the trunks discourse following a costume upgrade that sees them ditched for the more modern look.
Superman Is the Face of the Past
Once the Standard for Attractiveness — Almost a Century Ago
For too long, Superman’s face was the face of America. In the 1940s, clean-shaved, well-kept hair with no tattoos may have been the masculine norm, but it’s been nearly a century since then. I certainly don’t look like that, and I’ve been waiting for Superman to catch up. While he sported a mullet in the ’90s, he quickly cut his hair to return to the everyday symbol Americans expected. No wonder I don’t quite resonate with Superman, asbeing the standard of attractiveness in 2024 doesn’t mean the same thing as in 1938, andthe creators of the Absolute Universeare finally rectifying this mistake.
It’s about time Superman conformed to the modern definition of masculine attractiveness instead of staying rooted in a dead past.
Beauty standards have vastly shifted many times, and now “hotness” lands in more rugged territory. Emotionally damaged heroes working through their issues are some of the characters comic-lovers like me thirst over. Even Batman has gotten decidedly hotter over the years, while Superman has remained stagnant.This new Absolute Supermandoesn’t just look like he’s finally grown up, but like he’s lost that innocence that gave him that white-bread blandness that never appealed to me. It’s about timeSuperman conformed to the modern definition of masculine attractivenessinstead of staying rooted in a dead past.
Absolute Superman’s “S” Now Stands for Sex Symbol
From Boy Scout to… Daddy?!
It’s not just the stubble and the long hair; it’s the anguished look in his eyes that resonates with my need for comic modernity. Do-gooder Superman being happy and hopeful all the time, in my opinion, just isn’t interesting to me and gives his story nowhere to go.But an unkempt, brooding hero with hair falling in his eyes is the very stuff that fan-fiction is made of.With a magical transformation like that, I think I’ve discovered thatSuperman isn’t the only one with a weakness to magic.
It’s odd enough that Superman isn’t a sex symbol already. He already holds the masculine ideals of morality and fierce protection that society deems attractive. He has all the pieces that could allow him to become the peak of hotness, and it seems all that was missing was for him to let down his hair. The “ma’am” and “sir” of the old world Superman are gone — get ready for a thirst-trapSuperman.
Absolute Superman#1is available November 6th, 2024 from DC Comics.
Superman
The icon who launched the entire world of superheroes, the last son of Krypton escaped his dying world to crash land on Earth and be raised as Clark Kent. The world knows him better as Superman, the Man of Steel, the leader of the Justice League, and the most well-known hero in the DC Comics Universe. Blessed with the powers of a demigod, Kal-El of Krypton fights enemies both small and cosmic in his endless pursuit of truth, justice, and a better tomorrow.
