I'm not sure people would accept a older, established Superman that's not a sequel to anything-it's certainly a trend with X-Men, Spider-Man and Batman to have a more-connected series, while most of the James Bond films aren't about characters, people go for action and fun without caring too much, so that's not the best model.
Some of the 40s cartoons had dark villains, high drama in a way that worked well; to get depth, you probably do have to include a degree of isolation or the limits of the powers and his role.
Some of the 40s cartoons had dark villains, high drama in a way that worked well; to get depth, you probably do have to include a degree of isolation or the limits of the powers and his role.