Superman

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Superman parodies/references

• Apollo of the superhero teams Stormwatch and the Authority is often seen as a Superman-pastiche. He also gets his powers from the sun, wears a spandex outfit with a triangular logo on the front, and possesses the powers of flight, heat vision and super-strength. As a differentiating twist, Apollo is the gay lover of Midnighter, the corresponding Batman-pastiche.
• Gladiator of the Shi'ar is an analogue of Superboy and Superman, and possesses a number of relevant powers, such as strength, endurance, flight, enhanced senses, and the ability to travel through space unaided. His costume also shares a similar theme with Superman.
• Hyperion, originally of Marvel Comics' Squadron Supreme, was originally a tribute to Superman; like Superman, he was a solar-powered alien who fell to Earth in a spaceship and tried to live as a human. The Squadron Supreme as a whole was created as an homageparody of DC Comics's superhero team Justice League Of America. In the darker Supreme Power reboot, Hyperion is taken from his foster family by the government and raised as a super-soldier to be acutely aware of his biological superiority, and believes himself to be better than all humans.
• The Saint from the independent comic The Pro was an obvious parody of Superman; he wore a blue spandex uniform with a red cape, had a day job as a reporter, and had an unrequited crush on his pushy co-worker.
• The satirical novel Super-Folks features a costumed protagonist who hails from the planet Cronk, and as a result, is vulnerable to the substance Cronkite.
• Sentry, a Superman-like hero who derived his powers from a special serum. The Sentry was an optimistic and socially accepted hero who stood in marked contrast to the mostly freakish nature of Marvel characters.
• Virtue, from Marvel Knights Spider-Man #14 is also a Superman-like hero except he was raised by Fundamentalists parents.
• From its earliest days, MAD Magazine has frequently spoofed the Man of Steel; some consider the parody "Superduperman!" (from issue #4), in which a Superman doppelganger battles a Captain Marvel doppelganger named "Captain Marbles", to be the magazine's first true example of what would come to be the MAD vein. Since then, numerous MAD articles about or including Superman have appeared, including parodies of the various TV and movie projects. Other related pieces include:
• "What If Superman Were Raised by Jewish Parents?" (in which the rabbi is unable to circumcise his super-foreskin, but he makes his mother proud by using his vision to become a radiologist);
• "What If Truth in Advertising Laws Applied to Comic Book Previews," which made sport of DC Comics' killing and reviving the character;
• "The Incredi-Man Archives," an alleged reprint collection of a 1940s infringement of Superman (like Captain Marvel). The character boasted such powers as incredi-hearing and incredi-viola playing, and like Superman, avoided World War II service. However, Incredi-Man did so by faking homosexuality;
• Various gag strips, including one by Sergio Aragones in which a hobo finds Clark Kent's abandoned suit inside a phone booth and steals it, and another by Don Martin in which a series of massive lifts induce a "super-hernia."
• Author John Varley wrote the short story "Truth, Justice and the Politically Correct Socialist Path", a parody where Superman does not land in the United States but in Soviet Russia. In this story, "Kyril Kentarovsky" took on the identity of "Bolshoiman", who attempted to represent Russia but only managed to get thrown into a gulag (with Leon Trotsky as his cellmate). The story can be found in the collection "Superheroes", edited by John Varley and Ricia Mainhardt.
• Author Larry Niven wrote the short essay/study "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex", about the psycological and biological problems with Superman's romace with Lois Lane, or any human female. Niven has written (in N-Space and elsewhere) that DC has forbidden the publication of any illustrated version of this essay.
• Japanese manga artist Akira Toriyama parodied Superman in his first series Dr. Slump, in the form of "Suppaman" (the way that Superman is written in Japanese katakana), a short, fat, pompous buffoon who transforms into a Superman-like costume by eating a sour (or "suppa" in Japanese) pickled plum. Unlike Superman, Suppaman can't fly, and instead pretends to fly by lying belly down on a skateboard and scooting through the streets.The Dr. Slump characters appeared in an episode of Dragonball,where,in the english dubbed version,Suppaman was renamed "Sourman".
• In the Philippines-produced movie Fly Me To The Moon (produced around 1988), starring Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto and Joey De Leon (the hosts of Eat Bulaga!), Superman's costume got sucked into their spaceship's rocket booster while the three were on their way to the moon. Superman, who appears in the film wearing only polka-dot boxer shorts, is shown begging the astronauts for the return of his costume.
• In an episode of the television series The Monkees, the Monkees audition over the telephone in a phone booth, delaying Clark Kent from using the booth to change into Superman.
• Spanish cartoonist Jan created his parody of Superman in 1973, called Superlópez.
• Superdupont is a parodized French Superman.
• The Rock played a Superman unable to conceal his secret identity effectively from Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and Perry White (while being completely oblivious of that fact) in a Saturday Night Live sketch. Other Saturday Night Lives Sketches spoofing the hero included Christopher Reeve, playing himself, auditioning for the role of Superman against another young hopeful and it is soon revealed that Christopher has the egde since he has Superman's powers. There is also a sketch spoofing the "Funeral for a Friend" story in which Superman's funeral is attended by Lex Luthor (who admits he won't really miss him), Marvel Comics' Super-Heroes (including a eulogy by the Incredible Hulk, and Black Lightning (played by Sinbad) claiming that he taught Superman how to fly.
• Ultiman is Big Bang Comics, based on Superman recreate the golden age and silver age of comics.
• Supreme was created by Rob Liefeld and was a violent, egotistical Superman knockoff. Later Alan Moore rebooted Supreme to pay tribute to the classic Silver Age Superman mythos.
• Samaritan is the Astro City version of Superman.