Superman Deserves Better Than Video Games Have Given Him

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.

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.