Nietzsche's Superman
by Jack Lamarche
Friedrich Nietzsche was a philosopher with strong views on what life should be like and how people should live it. He wrote of the corruption caused by Christianity and the weakness that it encouraged, among other things. Nietzsche believed that there should always be a “best” and that people should not be rewarded for underperforming. In his writings, he also spoke of an “ubermensch,” or superior man. In 1938, Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel created just such a man, and in an extremely literal way.
Superman was America’s first real superhero and has remained in the hearts of many for nearly eighty years. Over time he’s become known for his great morals and upstanding personality, and while that may be a lot of people's idea of an “ubermensch,” it probably wasn’t Nietzsche’s. Any way you slice it, and it has been sliced in a plethora of ways, Superman is America’s bulletproof boy scout.
In the sea of comic books, movies, poorly made Nintendo 64 games, and movies, Superman’s humbly heroic ethics are what make Superman so super. Some of his powers include: flying around faster than a speeding bullet, the ability to leap over the tallest of buildings with ease, and those bright red lasers that he can shoot out of his eyes. And if you were to stop the list right there, then Nietzsche would be perfectly content with calling Superman an ubermensch; however, according to Nietzsche, Superman is missing an extremely vital component of the ubermensch equation. That missing piece is what some would call the “ubermensch attitude.” The ubermensch attitude is essentially a way of acting like an extreme narcissist. Nietzsche would consider Superman a bit of a weakling, simply because Superman doesn’t openly acknowledge or take advantage of the clear superiority that he has over humans. Superman is an extremely grounded guy, and as is ironic with any ultra-being who can fly across the universe, he’s also pretty down to earth.
Instead of Superman, Nietzsche would prefer to designate the title of ubermensch to someone more along the lines of Batman, whose endearing arrogance we have all come to know and love. Batman’s skills and power are immense, and even better than that, so is his ego. Batman’s talent rivals the most powerful beings in the galaxy, and the fact that he knows that and walks with a little more strut to his step makes him the perfect candidate for the grand title of Nietzsche’s “ubermensch.”
Superman was America’s first real superhero and has remained in the hearts of many for nearly eighty years. Over time he’s become known for his great morals and upstanding personality, and while that may be a lot of people's idea of an “ubermensch,” it probably wasn’t Nietzsche’s. Any way you slice it, and it has been sliced in a plethora of ways, Superman is America’s bulletproof boy scout.
In the sea of comic books, movies, poorly made Nintendo 64 games, and movies, Superman’s humbly heroic ethics are what make Superman so super. Some of his powers include: flying around faster than a speeding bullet, the ability to leap over the tallest of buildings with ease, and those bright red lasers that he can shoot out of his eyes. And if you were to stop the list right there, then Nietzsche would be perfectly content with calling Superman an ubermensch; however, according to Nietzsche, Superman is missing an extremely vital component of the ubermensch equation. That missing piece is what some would call the “ubermensch attitude.” The ubermensch attitude is essentially a way of acting like an extreme narcissist. Nietzsche would consider Superman a bit of a weakling, simply because Superman doesn’t openly acknowledge or take advantage of the clear superiority that he has over humans. Superman is an extremely grounded guy, and as is ironic with any ultra-being who can fly across the universe, he’s also pretty down to earth.
Instead of Superman, Nietzsche would prefer to designate the title of ubermensch to someone more along the lines of Batman, whose endearing arrogance we have all come to know and love. Batman’s skills and power are immense, and even better than that, so is his ego. Batman’s talent rivals the most powerful beings in the galaxy, and the fact that he knows that and walks with a little more strut to his step makes him the perfect candidate for the grand title of Nietzsche’s “ubermensch.”