One thing I've never understood regarding Superman stories

[Christopher]

Superman's origin depending on a Green Lantern is a little problematic.

Actually there's a 1972 comics story that ties Tomar-Re into the Superman origin story, by having him fail to prevent Krypton's destruction. You can read the whole story here:

http://superman.nu/tales2/greatestGL/

And really, it makes sense. The Green Lanterns patrol the universe and protect its inhabitants from danger, so it's reasonable to ask the question, why didn't they save Krypton?

 

[Captaindemotion]

I kind of figure Jor-El was kind of like Al Gore. Everybody kept insisting his inconvenient truth was just an unproven theory or hoax . . . . .

Gore-El?

 

[Myasishchev]

Superman's origin depending on a Green Lantern is a little problematic.

Actually there's a 1972 comics story that ties Tomar-Re into the Superman origin story, by having him fail to prevent Krypton's destruction. You can read the whole story here:

http://superman.nu/tales2/greatestGL/

The two things I like best: the story treats GLC membership as a tour of duty, instead of a lifetime of service that only ends when Sinestro or Hal Jordan finally succeeds in killing you; and neat art! (My favorite panels are either Tomar-Re with blindness lines radiating out of his eyes, or the loving, almost fatherly look Dillin gave Brainiac 1 as he watches over Kandor, which is a weird but nice touch.)

The two things I like the least: its uncritical embrace of eugenics, evidently based on a complete lack of understanding of how sexual reproduction works; and Lara's portrayal as the worst parent in comics history, at least until David Cain showed up.

And really, it makes sense. The Green Lanterns patrol the universe and protect its inhabitants from danger, so it's reasonable to ask the question, why didn't they save Krypton?

Yeah, it does make sense, and it is cool to answer the question "where was the Corps?", but my only point was having Superman specifically depend on a Green Lantern is weird.

Like, I think it's a real misstep to have either a Lantern or the Guardians shepherd Kal-El to Earth, which was what that story proposes and Mistral's idea essentially demands.

Even ignoring the crossing-the-streams argument, it makes Tomar-Re, or in the Maggin story's case the Guardians, seem to be jerks. Who finds an infant whose parents and planet have been destroyed, and throws him at random strangers on some other planet? Why would Tomar-Re not take him to people he knows and trusts, perhaps on the planet of the Bipedal Beaked Lizard People? Hell, you can make a better argument for taking him to Brainiac--at least then he could be with his own species--than sending him to Earth.

Of course, what's most interesting about the Maggin story, though, is that it raises the question of why Clark Kent didn't get Abin Sur's ring instead of Hal Jordan, and then fails to answer it.

Gore-El?

Well, there is a Kru-El.

 

[Mistral]

The Guardians would have a deep knowledge of the universe that wouldn't preclude them knowing about WHO Kal-El will become-that's why they let him go bother Humanity.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

[shivkala]

Like, I think it's a real misstep to have either a Lantern or the Guardians shepherd Kal-El to Earth, which was what that story proposes and Mistral's idea essentially demands.

Not quite the same thing, but in James Robinson's Starman, Jor-El gets the idea to send Kal to Earth from a time (and space) travelling Jack Knight.

 

[Anwar]

I think there should be some connection between Earth and Krypton, so to explain why they look exactly the same.

I liked the idea that the Ancient Martians (who have powers like Kryptonians) experimented on prehistoric humans and then transplanted them to two different worlds (Krypton and Daxam). That's why they look like humans, and they have powers like Martians but with differences.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I think there should be some connection between Earth and Krypton, so to explain why they look exactly the same.

I liked the idea that the Ancient Martians (who have powers like Kryptonians) experimented on prehistoric humans and then transplanted them to two different worlds (Krypton and Daxam). That's why they look like humans, and they have powers like Martians but with differences.

And why do humans look like Thanagarians and Rannians? ( and countless other aliens in the DCU)

 

[Christopher]

And why do humans look like Thanagarians and Rannians? ( and countless other aliens in the DCU)

I thought the explanation was that all humanoids were descended from the Maltusians (the people who became the Guardians of Oa).

 

[Admiral_Young]

There's no need to provide an explanation of why aliens in the DC resemble each other. If you want just use the Star Trek theory that they all originated from the same being or same concept.

There have been several attempts at explaining why Jor-El specifically chose Earth. One thing that "Smallville" did interesting was have Jor-El actually come to Earth and interact with the Kents, earning their trust.

 

[shivkala]

I believe the theory is that in order to have life, you need to have some pretty consistent factors, such as distance from the sun, available water/food supply, certain gases in the atmosphere, etc. Given that the human body is designed to accommodate these factors, the theory is that given similar circumstances, evolution would have taken a similar course on other worlds, with minor differences (ridges, skin color, ear pointedness, etc.).

What's interesting is that in the 90's DC tried to explain why many of the planets in the United Federation of Planets in the 30th century looked human. The idea was the Dominators, featured in the late 80's event Invasion! continued their fascination with the meta-gene (which is DC's version of mutant powers, the idea being, most super-humans have a metagene which is activated somehow, giving them powers).

Valor (who was/is called Mon-El in other continuities), aka the Daxamite Lar Gand, happened across a Dominator world. Angry at the role the Dominators played in the invasion (Especially since they convinced the Daxamites to join them, which lead to a heel-face turn by the Daxamites later in the invasion. Lar's father, Kel was killed during the invasion, which Lar blames on the Dominators).

There he found thousands of humans being experimented on by the Dominators. Freeing them, he convinced the refugees that they would have trouble fitting in back on Earth and instead to colonize a buffer zone of worlds between Dominion space and Earth. The refugees were separated by the powers they developed (or could develop) and were put on worlds that would benefit from their powers. The non-powered humans who agreed to colonize were put on Earth-like worlds. Thus, those with magnetic powers found themselves on Braal, which had a strong magnetic field. Those with the ability to generate cold fields settled Tharr, which was the hottest of the planets.

These planets would, a thousand years later become the foundation of the United Planets. It didn't explain why Kryptonians and Thangarians, which existed prior to this, resembled humans, but it did explain why many of the Legionnaires all looked human.

 

[Christopher]

I believe the theory is that in order to have life, you need to have some pretty consistent factors, such as distance from the sun, available water/food supply, certain gases in the atmosphere, etc. Given that the human body is designed to accommodate these factors, the theory is that given similar circumstances, evolution would have taken a similar course on other worlds, with minor differences (ridges, skin color, ear pointedness, etc.).

Which doesn't make any sense, given how many wildly divergent body shapes life takes on this planet alone. An elephant's body or an ostrich's or a tarantula's is adapted to accommodate the exact same factors.

And more and more, we're discovering that life has the potential to thrive in conditions radically different from what we're used to. There are extremophile microbes that can survive in heat, cold, pressure, radiation, or other conditions that would kill a human. We're finding that life-bearing conditions (liquid water, adequate heat) can potentially exist beneath the surface of icy moons, or on tidally locked planets near red dwarfs, or on superterrestrial planets with gravity up to four times stronger than Earth's.

 

[JoeZhang]

One of the bigger problems is gravity - you only need a minor variation in gravity and evolution takes a radically different cause - there was a great BBC documentary on the subject a few years ago.

 

[Christopher]

Even on a planet exactly like Earth, you wouldn't get a "humanoid" shape in an intelligent species. We didn't end up looking the way we do because it's the "natural" form for this planet, but because we're the end result of many, many different instances of evolutionary selection with no single plan guiding them in any particular direction. We bear the legacy of evolutionary adaptations that our distant ancestors made to their own environments and survival needs, a lengthy chain of unrelated decision points that could've easily gone different ways. If an asteroid hadn't happened to strike Earth 65 million years ago, the intelligent species now could be a feathered dinosaur with a horizontal body and a long, cantilevering tail. If trees hadn't evolved to take the place of ferns, there might never have been brachiating primates to evolve into hominids. And it's probably just chance, or an adaptation to some unknown factor in the ancient oceans, that the first vertebrates had four limbs instead of six or eight.

Sure, there are some functional advantages to our form, so it could crop up occasionally on other worlds, but it wouldn't be the only functional form for a sapient, tool-using species and there are a lot of ways it could vary, so it probably wouldn't look like an actor wearing face paint or latex appliances. After all, the other bipeds on this planet have included theropod dinosaurs (and their descendants the birds), indrid lemurs, and kangaroos, so "two-armed biped" doesn't automatically mean "humanoid."

 

[Anwar]

Which is why I think there should be a unifying explanation for why so many DC aliens look like humans. I had that theory unifying the Martians, Kryptonians and Daxamites, so we can spread that and have the Raanians (who are biologically compatible with humans to boot!) be humans also transplanted out there by...oh I don't know, the Guardians?

Same for Thanagarians.

 

[Myasishchev]

Meh, I didn't need it in Star Trek, and definitely wouldn't need it in Superman.

Although I don't mind the idea of the Rannians being transplated humans.

Like, I think it's a real misstep to have either a Lantern or the Guardians shepherd Kal-El to Earth, which was what that story proposes and Mistral's idea essentially demands.

Not quite the same thing, but in James Robinson's Starman, Jor-El gets the idea to send Kal to Earth from a time (and space) travelling Jack Knight.

Yeah. While I liked the story in and of itself, and am always pleased to see Byrne-era Krypton, I thought that had the same "small universe syndrome" flavor to it.

Here's another Superman conundrum: the Phantom Zone is both incredibly hellish yet also an incredibly bad prison. Unless I misunderstand the fictional technology, in order to access the Zone you need 1)a projector device.

Also it's sort of creepy knowing that Jax-Ur may be standing at the foot of your bed wishing he could masturbate.

But more importantly, that's giving everyone in America a key to Florence ADMAX.

 

[JoeZhang]

And why do humans look like Thanagarians and Rannians? ( and countless other aliens in the DCU)

I thought the explanation was that all humanoids were descended from the Maltusians (the people who became the Guardians of Oa).

I'm not sure if that's still the case, I think Johns changed it so all life in the Universe began on earth.

 

[Anwar]

So Johns messed with the GL canon he loves so much?

 

[JoeZhang]

So Johns messed with the GL canon he loves so much?

It was a "everything you know is wrong!" moment where it's revealed that the Guardians covered up the fact that life began on earth (I don't think they actually said that *Humanoid* life begins on earth).

 

[shivkala]

I could have sworn that we'd been told previously that Maltus and specifically life on Maltus began before the Earth was even created.

 

[Christopher]

^That's why they call it a retcon.