I personally think Superman is a good idea for a hero, mainly because of his morality. Yes, he has enough power to kill everyone on earth, and then destroy the planet, but what sets him apart from other individuals with the same powers is his morality and moral code. That is, never kill, always believe the best in people, etc. He stands for the very best that humanity is capable of, and that's primarily the biggest reason I like him so much.

Even in an alternate universe tale, "Red Son" when he takes over the world, he only does so so that people won't starve, be homeless, or otherwise suffer. And even then, when people rebel and try to usurp him, he still doesn't kill them (granted, brainwashing them may be worse then death). In the end, even Communist Superman realizes that he's wrong to try and control everyone, and lets the earth go so that humanity can forge it's own path.

In the end, I think you're correct in that giving any one being all that power can be a recipe for disaster. All that matters though, is how that individual uses it. Superman has proven time and time again that he can be trusted with that power, because he's been using it for good for all these years, whereas someone who wants to use it for personal gain would probably fall to temptation fairly quickly.

well is not that I don't think he can't handle all that power , heck he is superman! he should be able to handle all that power cause that is kind of the premise of the story, isn't it?

no , what Im saying is, I don't think Society can handle being at the presence of a guy like this, knowing that he can hear your private conversations or know everything about you with no sweat, that no one can stop him

as comic readers we know he would never take over the world (unless it's a elsewhere story) but the moment he decided to make the earth his home the human race was unofficially replaced as the dominant species on the planet, this is now his planet and if we are allowed to keep making the rules and administrate thing is only cause he is allowing us to do so....and this is the sort of stuff that gets inside peoples heads , just ask lex luthor

there is a lot of things that at least for me don't make any sense in comic books and comic book films , not that they have to make sense I mean I love all stars superman for its naive childish hopeful nature and if we were to bring logic to the table New York should not even exist any longer in the marvel universe, that city get destroy and rebuilt so many times in a daily basis, its a miracle the united states hasn't stop existing for an economic crises


but still, I think there are a lot of interesting ideas to be explore about super heroes and their relationship with society.

for example in both Dc and Marvel is a fact that the universe is full of Alien species and other life forms...this is one hell of discovery for humanity! how would society react to know we are not alone in the universe, how would this knowledge reshape the face of the planet , what does this mean for the relationships between society and heroes like superman or green lantern

or what about stuff like the fact that in the marvel universe we got prisons in other diminution but not a single Colony yet in mars ?
or have héros like Anti- venom going around that have the power to cure people from disease and other health problems but instead getting to the nearest Hospital and help every single patient inside getting out , he instead start acting like the punisher

can this people be consider heroes when they waste so much of their potential in stuff that don't actually help humanity in the long run?

I don't know... what doe you think Ian?

Ah, I see where you're coming from. As far as I know, there hasn't been a Superman comic that explores him from the perspective of ordinary people, but I suspect that ordinary, everyday people like you and me would feel safer with him around. It's mainly the people in positions of power and authority who would be the most suspicious of Superman, mainly because in those type of positions, you need to have a cut-throat personality and be constantly on the lookout for anyone trying to take your job, or trying to take you down. So here comes an alien from outer space who can demolish mountains with a single punch, and they're bound to get suspicious. Religious leaders would probably go nuts because here's a guy who's practically divinity, and in some ways outdoes Jesus (did Jesus ever destroy mountains, fight aliens from outer space, and rescue kittens from trees to give back to their young caretakers?). Heck, Superman has even come back from the dead! Dictators and ruthless warlords would especially be afraid of Superman, and do everything they could to try and get rid of him, or at the least, turn their subjects against him.

You do have a point about society being afraid of superheroes who can hear anything everywhere, but I think someone in that position would get desensitized to that sort of thing very quickly. There was an article I once read about some older women (grandma age) who worked in a sex toy factory for a living. They said that after a few days, they were completely desensitized to the fact that they were working on dildos, vibrators, etc. all the time. I think it's the same with Superman. if you hear someone having sex/indulging in their favorite pastime/whatever, and do that billions of time, you would either:

A: Be totally disgusted forever

B: Not even care about it anymore.

As to heroes being around to do so much stuff, and possibly hinder humanity in the long run, I think it would be good for humanity to keep working on advancing their technology and medicines, because you never know when all your heroes might just vanish, and if you were completely dependent on them for everything, then you'd be screwed. And you've got a valid point about how we don't have colonies on Mars; my thinking is that we have so many super villains to take care of, we don't have the time and resources to devote to colonizing the cosmos (but we'd probably be annihilated by Galactus/Thantos/Whatever).

Are these people ultimately heroes if they don't really help humanity in the long run? That's a tough one to answer, but I'd say that if they're working to save lives, then they ultimately are. And it's definitely a good idea to have big guns when it comes to enormous, cosmic-level entities who aren't friendly.

BTW, have you ever read "Thor: Lord of Asgard" and "Thor: The Reigning"? They deal what would happen if these superheroes/gods directly intervened in our lives (answer: it isn't that good), and really goes into the mindset of what would drive them to do so. It also does a superb job showing what it would be like from an average joe's position, as a struggling fisherman has to decide between his traditional faith (which isn't helping him) or turning to Thor, who can help. It's actually very moving, and very thought-provoking.