My Concept art for an early DCAU Superman Design

[Admiral Archer]

When Superman made his debut in what would become the DC Animated Universe (DCAU for short), Batman had been around for a few years and had even had the look and feel of his series upgraded for the fourth season of his show. Now, I profess from the start to know next to nothing about Superman: The Animated Series, except that it is in a consistent style to the New Batman Adventures series. But...what if Superman had debuted earlier on? Say, around the time of the Batman film, Mask of the Phantasm? Or even during the first few seasons of Batman: The Animated Series? This is a concept drawing I did to see how Superman might have looked in the style of the original Batman show, before the redesign that would come in season 4. I combined the costume of the Max Fleischer cartoons (which were already a huge influence on Bruce Timm's Batman series) with a face that more closely matched the style of the early DCAU. A nice side effect is, at least in my mind, he looks a lot like Christopher Reeve in the face. Anyways, check out my interpretation of the Man of Steel had he appeared in the early BTAS episodes.

 

[Tosk]

If I'm honest, I've never really liked the yellow bordered shield. Just personal preference of course.

 

[Admiral Archer]

If I'm honest, I've never really liked the yellow bordered shield. Just personal preference of course.

That's perfectly understandable. I was just trying to create a visual differentiation between the two Superman costumes. There are people who have different preferences on the Batman costume as well. Some prefer the yellow oval, others like the plain black bat.

 

[theenglish]

I like many of the designs, each representing an era. I'm a little disappointed that the red trunks returned after DC had finally managed to work out a really nice design after five years of trying. Nice interpretation, BTW.

 

[Tosk]

Trunks fo' life!

 

[Shaka Zulu]

Trunks fo' life!

DC shouldn't have brought those back, at all (although I suspect this happend because of the 'failure'-to some people of Justice League, and DC wanting to cut off ties to the movie [still want to see a Flash movie and a Cyborg movie.])

 

[Tosk]

DC shouldn't have brought those back, at all

I agree. They shouldn't have gotten rid of them in the first place.

 

[Shaka Zulu]

I agree. They shouldn't have gotten rid of them in the first place.

They were got rid of on the first place because DC wanted a change, a change they had every right to do (nobody says that Superman or any other hero has to have the same suit forever and ever.)

 

[theenglish]

They were got rid of on the first place because DC wanted a change, a change they had every right to do (nobody says that Superman or any other hero has to have the same suit forever and ever.)

Batman's changed his suit enough times. I don't think I was ever "anti" trunks but I do remember thinking they were outdated back when Jim Lee's "no trunks" design first appeared about a decade ago. The lack of trunks was less of a problem with the New 52 Superman than the high collar in my opinion. Like I said earlier, DC with Rebirth finally hit on a nice costume design. It seems that it was Bendis that brought the trunks back, but why? It doesn't really make sense.

And one thing that ticks the continuity nerd in me off is that the two Superman specials had him wearing the trunks before he should have been wearing them in story. That's just lazy editing.

 

[Tosk]

They were got rid of on the first place because DC wanted a change, a change they had every right to do (nobody says that Superman or any other hero has to have the same suit forever and ever.)

Of course. Doesn't mean I have to like any of the subsequent suits though.

It seems that it was Bendis that brought the trunks back, but why? It doesn't really make sense.

Doesn't make sense in what way? Do you mean design-wise for the comics, or in-universe?

 

[theenglish]

In-universe. Marketing. Why go through all the trouble, of redesigning the no-trunks suit twice just to go back to the earlier version? Personally, I think that DC wanted Bendis and he said something like "as long as I can write Superman and have him in the suit he had when I was growing up" and DC said "okay".

Kind of like Grant Morrison being granted whatever freedoms he wants whenever he writes a DC story--and then the editors have to work around Morrison's desires. (And I really like Morrison's stuff)

 

[Shaka Zulu]

In-universe. Marketing. Why go through all the trouble, of redesigning the no-trunks suit twice just to go back to the earlier version? Personally, I think that DC wanted Bendis and he said something like "as long as I can write Superman and have him in the suit he had when I was growing up" and DC said "okay".

Kind of like Grant Morrison being granted whatever freedoms he wants whenever he writes a DC story--and then the editors have to work around Morrison's desires. (And I am a really like Morrison's stuff)

Exactly.

 

[The Realist]

Why go through all the trouble, of redesigning the no-trunks suit twice just to go back to the earlier version?

Because you can't polish a turd?

 

[Tosk]

In-universe. Marketing.

In-universe means the world that Superman lives in. I wasn't sure if you meant that in his reality it didn't make sense to change his costume.

Marketing. Why go through all the trouble, of redesigning the no-trunks suit twice just to go back to the earlier version?

If they were never happy with either design, returning to a classic makes perfect sense.

Personally, I think that DC wanted Bendis and he said something like "as long as I can write Superman and have him in the suit he had when I was growing up" and DC said "okay".

Probably. Almost certainly. I don't see the problem with a "get" wanting things a certain way.

 

[Shaka Zulu]

Because you can't polish a turd?

To you, yes. Not to countless others who liked the design, and thought it made Superman fit into the 21st century.

 

[theenglish]

In-universe means the world that Superman lives in. I wasn't sure if you meant that in his reality it didn't make sense to change his costume.

When I said "in universe" and "marketing" those were actually two different responses.

The "in universe" reason is that Clark gives up his Superman suit for Lois and Jon's trip. Fine enough. He uses an old costume while they are gone. But then the Superman special issues have him wearing the suit prior to this decision--that makes no sense.