In my previous post I wrote that Superman is still quite popular with the general public despite the decline in movie and comic book fortunes.

So what's wrong with Superman in these two great mediums?Let me suggest that it's the fault of DC and film producers, and further, I think there are three things that they're doing wrong that are hurting the fortunes of the character:

1) The Message from DC: Batman Rules, Superman Drools

Let me preface this remark by saying that I love Batman. I've seen every episode of Batman: The Animated Series, Batman Adventures, and I've watched countless Batman animated and real movies. I read every Batman daily strip. Batman is awesome.

However, DC has often chosen to build Batman's reputation at the expense of the Man of Steel. In the signature modern Batman tale, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Superman becomes a government stooge who takes on Batman who is the real hero fighting back against government oppression.

In Justice League: The New Frontier, Batman has become a hunted vigilante while Superman signed a loyalty oath to the United States government to placate the public. (Note: Declaring to the United States in the 1950s is always a bad thing to liberal writers.)

In Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, the two are basically completely even in terms of their fighting abilities. Only Batman is cooler.

Even as I'm watching the Justice League Animated Series, I'm struck with how much Superman gets thrown about and often at Batman's benefit. In the most recent episode, Superman got to attack a dangerous machine, but the damage he had done was only a set up for Batman to throw a batarang to do the real damage.

And of course, the inciting event for Justice League was Superman being tricked by alien invaders into disarming the Earth ahead of their planned invasion.

The message seems to be clear: Batman is cool, intelligent, and can take on anyone while Superman means well but he's kind of a tool.

And they wonder why Superman comics aren't selling.

2) They Don't Get the Character

The reason that so many writers get Superman wrong is this. There are two things they usually don't understand: Superman naturally and Superman metaphorically.

Superman has developed quite a bit over the years, so the Superman in people's mind is somewhat different than the one originally developed by Jerry Siegel in the beginning.

The vision that people have of Superman is that he's a man whose powers may come from Krypton but whose heart and values come from the Kents. Superman is a product of outer space and the heartland.

As Superman was emerging in the 1940s and 50s, Americans were moving away from places like Smallville into cities where the sense of community in small towns was often lacking and the moral climate was less favorable In the midst of this, Superman brought this heartland goodness into the culture and climate of a modern American city.

At the same time, Superman came to present a Christ-like figure. Pastor H. Michael Brewer spent the entire first chapter of his book Who Needs a Superhero?: Finding Virtue, Vice, and Whats Holy in the Comics making the case that Superman's story parallels Jesus, writing, "Superman does really stand for Jesus, who comes from the world above, sent by his Father, bearing both his Father's name and nature."

The imagery has certainly not something that has gone totally unnoticed. Indeed, the best of the comic book and screen writers have hit upon it. Perhaps, most notably in the Death of Superman story in the 1990s that saw Superman give his life to save Earth from Doomsday. Of course, an early promo for Smallville played into this as well.

However, modern cultural biases have presented a serious problem.

Our view of rural and heartland America has changed quite a bit in recent years, particularly within large cities themselves. People in places like Kansas are often viewed with contempt for political and cultural reasons.

At the same time, Christ is less revered. Certainly messianic imagery works in a culture with Christian roots, but the portrayals are often inconsistent at best.

As a result of these cultural biases, it's very hard for Hollywood and the Comic book writers to understand and appreciate the character. That's why you end up with a compromised Superman.

And we'll discuss that in our final article.