By Graeme McMillan 譯 / 張曦

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Last Son of Krypton1）， who has been fighting crime and saving his adopted world simply because thats the way he was raised. But while Clark Kents alter ego2） has been a constant presence in comic books， movies and on television for the last seven and a half decades， he hasnt been constant in terms of characterization. Throughout his existence， Superman has changed to match the times， for better and worse.

Heres a quick guide to the many faces of the Man of Steel.

Man of the People

When Superman was first seen in Action Comics #1 in 1938， he was as his creators Joe Shuster3） and Jerry Siegel4） imagined him： An uncomplicated hero who stood up for the little man against forces of corruption and tyranny in a country emerging from the depression. The original Superman was a man of action above all， seeing no problem with fighting the authorities as well as the criminals if he believed justice wasnt being served.

He had no problem with killing， either， offing5） villains by destroying their plane in mid-flight or threatening heavies6） with having their “brains dashed out” on walls if they didnt comply. Such youthful intensity wouldnt last long， however， especially as the characters popularity started to rise up， up and away.

Man of the Free

When America went to war， it only made sense that Superman would accompany it. What worse injustice existed in the world than the march of fascism， after all， and who better to stand up against it？

Unfortunately， Supermans wartime engagements were mostly limited to patriotic covers on comic books as he exhorted readers to support the war effort， and he occasionally indulged in genuinely appalling racism while he was at it （“Superman says： YOU can slap a Jap with War Bonds and Stamps！” declared the cover of Action #58）. As World War II changed society， Superman changed with it， becoming more of a dependable authority figure than before.

Man of the Family

Post-War， America tried to get back to normal with a new cultural focus on domesticity； the phrase “nuclear family” entered everyday usage， and the Man of Steel found himself a family of his own to match.

Alongside work-wife Lois Lane， Superman gained a cousin， a pet and an entire extended family of fellow Kryptonians in the Bottle City of Kandor7）.

Man of the Moment

As the 1950s and early 1960s went on， Superman had more to do than wrestle with family duties and run of the mill criminals， of course. With superheroes mostly out of vogue， Supermans adventures occasionally wandered into the eras more popular genre， the monster movie， thanks to whatever deus ex8） monster methods happened to be available at the time.

“Red Kryptonite9）” would transform the hero into alternate versions of himself—He has the head of a lion！ He looks like an insect！ His morality has become reversed！ and so on. As the country unconsciously prepared for cultural transformations via the rise of the teenager， rock and roll and the Summer of Love10）， Superman paved the way by demonstrating how flexible personality and sense of self could be.

Man Out of Time

Once America had dealt with real-life hippies and glam rock stars， Superman—at this point， 40 years old and still a reporter for a mild-mannered metropolitan newspaper with suit， tie and hat to match—seemed more than a little out of date … And perhaps a little too powerful， too， considering he could fly in space and travel through time entirely unaided.

The only solution： A soft reboot11）， which saw Superman significantly de-powered and Clark Kent given a new job as a television news anchorman—complete with new comedy co-workers， updated wardrobe and newly laid-back attitude towards life.

Man of Means

In the mid-1980s， DC Comics12） went for broke13）. Thanks to the massively-successful Crisis on Infinite Earths14） series that allowed the publisher to relaunch most of its premiere characters， Superman got a do-over courtesy of15） John Byrne， one of the comic industrys most-popular creators at the time.

Massive swaths16） of the characters mythos were washed away， with Clark Kent going from clumsy loser to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and novelist who romances a similarly-successful Lois Lane. Meanwhile， Lex Luthor17） schemes in the background， no longer a mad scientist but a hyper-wealthy corporate shark. It was the 1980s： Greed was good for everyone， it seemed.

Man of the Past

Such success couldnt last， of course. After the yuppie-centric 1980s reinvention， there came 1992s massively-successful Death of Superman storyline， in which Superman—by this point， engaged to Lois Lane—sacrificed himself to save Metropolis from a monster with the unsubtle name “Doomsday.”

If the storyline seemed shoddy18） and half-baked， thats because it was. It was a long-running joke amongst Superman writers that became a reality when they suddenly needed to delay Supermans wedding to Lois to accommodate the schedule of the concurrent Lois and Clark TV series. That didnt seem to impact sales， with the storyline breaking sales records and making the character more popular than hed been in years， if not decades.

The best Superman， it seemed， was a dead Superman.

Man of Emotion

Of course， Superman wouldnt stay dead for too long. He was back in Action within a year.

Having died， been reborn and eventually managed to marry Lois， Superman entered the 21st century a new man， one who was， for the first time， in touch with his feelings. So in touch was he， in fact， that watching Superman clench his fist in angst or cry one single tear quickly became the benchmark with which fans could identify the seriousness of a particular storyline.

The problem with this emotional Superman， however， was that he could be too busy feeling to actually do things. As Batman cruelly told him in the first issue of 2006s Infinite Crisis， “The last time you really inspired anyone was when you were dead.” As you might expect， writers and artists tried a course correction to fix this. Something drastic needed to be done.

Man Reborn

For the second time in its history， DC Comics wiped everything clean and started anew in 2011 following its Flashpoint series.

As part of “The New 52，” there was once again a new， younger Superman， one more closely modeled after Siegel and Shusters original social crusader.

How quickly this new Superman will come to not only conform to， but uphold and ultimately represent， the status quo19） remains to be seen—Hes certainly already on his way in such series as Superman and Justice League—but if the character retains a little bit more of an edge as a result of this rebirth， that might not be too much of a bad thing.

Man of Steel

So what makes Superman Superman， throughout all of these reinventions and restylings？ Is it the costume and the powers？ Well， in part， but even those change. Those red trunks disappeared with the 2011 reboot， for example， and his powers have constantly been in flux throughout the decades. His personality， too， has been through revisions both subtle and major， so it cant be that， either.

Instead， what makes Superman so recognizable is the underlying attitude of the character： hes the guy who believes in the good of people， and wholl never give up fighting anything and everything that threatens that optimism and utopian outlook. Superman wants the world to be a better place， and fights for that on a regular basis so that other people dont have to. What makes Superman Superman is hope； something that the latest Man of Steel trailer picks up on. Unlike other superheroes， he doesnt want to scare you， or gain your sympathy for his hard luck life. He wants you to look up. Up in the sky.

今年是氪星最后之子誕生75周年。一直以來(lái)，他打擊犯罪，拯救這個(gè)收養(yǎng)他的世界，而這僅僅是因?yàn)樗麖男〗邮艿木褪沁@樣的教育。雖然在過(guò)去的75年里，克拉克·肯特的另一個(gè)自我一直在漫畫(huà)書(shū)、電影和電視中出現(xiàn)，但就人物性格的塑造而言，他并非是一成不變的。自他誕生到現(xiàn)在，無(wú)論是好是壞，他一直在隨著時(shí)代的變化而改變。

下文就是介紹鋼鐵超人諸多側(cè)面的快速指南。

人民的超人

1938年，超人在連環(huán)漫畫(huà)雜志《動(dòng)漫》的第一期中首次亮相，其形象正是他的創(chuàng)造者喬伊·舒斯特和杰瑞·西格爾所設(shè)想的那樣：一個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單而純粹的英雄——在大蕭條肆虐后的美國(guó)為小人物挺身而出，反對(duì)腐朽和專(zhuān)制。最初的超人首先是個(gè)行動(dòng)派，如果他認(rèn)為正義沒(méi)有得到伸張，他就會(huì)與當(dāng)權(quán)者抗?fàn)?，與罪犯斗爭(zhēng)，并且絲毫不覺(jué)得這樣做有任何問(wèn)題。

他也不覺(jué)得殺戮有任何問(wèn)題：炸毀壞蛋在半空飛行的飛機(jī)，殺死他們；在強(qiáng)盜不順從他時(shí)，威脅讓他們“腦袋開(kāi)花”，腦漿濺墻。但是，這種年輕氣盛的激烈做法不會(huì)維持太久，尤其是在他越來(lái)越受到大眾喜愛(ài)，聲名不斷遠(yuǎn)揚(yáng)之后。

尋求解放的超人

當(dāng)美國(guó)加入到戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)中，超人也唯有參戰(zhàn)才顯得合理。畢竟，世界上還有什么不公正行為能超越法西斯的橫行？還有誰(shuí)比超人更適合挺身而出對(duì)抗法西斯？

令人遺憾的是，超人對(duì)戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)的參與也主要限于出現(xiàn)在漫畫(huà)書(shū)的愛(ài)國(guó)封面上，督促讀者支援戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)。當(dāng)他出現(xiàn)在封面上時(shí)，他還時(shí)不時(shí)地肆意表現(xiàn)出十分駭人的種族偏見(jiàn)（在第58期《動(dòng)漫》雜志的封面上寫(xiě)著：“超人說(shuō)：‘你可以用戰(zhàn)時(shí)債券和郵票摑日本人的臉！”）。二戰(zhàn)改變了美國(guó)社會(huì)，超人也隨之發(fā)生改變，變成一個(gè)比以前更受人信賴(lài)的權(quán)威人物。

回歸家庭的超人

戰(zhàn)后，美國(guó)將新的文化關(guān)注點(diǎn)放在家庭生活上，試圖以此回歸正常的生活狀態(tài)?！昂诵募彝ァ边@個(gè)詞進(jìn)入人們的日常用語(yǔ)中。為了適應(yīng)這一社會(huì)潮流，鋼鐵超人也建立了自己的家庭。

除了工作拍檔兼妻子的洛伊斯·萊恩外，超人有了個(gè)堂姐，有了個(gè)寵物，還有了一個(gè)由氪星人組成的完整的大家庭，他們住在瓶中城Kandor里。

活在當(dāng)下的超人

到了20世紀(jì)50年代及60年代初期，除了全力履行家庭責(zé)任和管理工廠里的罪犯外，超人當(dāng)然還有更多的事要做。這一時(shí)期的超級(jí)英雄大多已經(jīng)過(guò)時(shí)，幸虧當(dāng)時(shí)恰巧有怪獸突圍的游戲方法，這讓未來(lái)超人的冒險(xiǎn)經(jīng)歷偶然闖入了那個(gè)時(shí)代更為流行的一個(gè)類(lèi)別——怪獸電影中。

“紅氪石”能把超人變成各種不同版本的另一個(gè)他——長(zhǎng)出了獅子頭！看起來(lái)像只昆蟲(chóng)！道德觀發(fā)生了顛覆！等等。當(dāng)這個(gè)國(guó)家在不知不覺(jué)中通過(guò)青少年的崛起、搖滾樂(lè)以及“愛(ài)之夏”運(yùn)動(dòng)準(zhǔn)備文化變革時(shí)，超人通過(guò)展示性格和自我意識(shí)的靈活性來(lái)為這一變革鋪平道路。

不合時(shí)宜的超人

當(dāng)美國(guó)社會(huì)開(kāi)始與現(xiàn)實(shí)生活中的嬉皮士和魅力十足的搖滾歌星打交道時(shí)，超人就顯得太過(guò)時(shí)了。此時(shí)的超人40歲，依然是一家溫和派大都會(huì)報(bào)紙的記者，為了與職業(yè)搭調(diào)，還是身穿西裝，打著領(lǐng)帶，頭戴帽子。而且，他似乎有點(diǎn)太強(qiáng)大了，想想吧，他能在完全不借助外力的情況下飛翔于太空、穿越于時(shí)空。

解決這些問(wèn)題的唯一辦法就是對(duì)超人進(jìn)行“軟重啟”：超人的能量被大大削弱了，克拉克·肯特?fù)Q了新工作，成為電視新聞主播，而且還有了滑稽的新同事、合乎潮流的行頭和新近才有的懶散閑適的生活態(tài)度。

富有手段的超人

20世紀(jì)80年代中期，DC漫畫(huà)公司孤注一擲，謀求發(fā)展。由于（其推出的）《無(wú)限地球危機(jī)》系列大獲成功，出版商得以重新推出很多首推過(guò)的人物形象。承蒙當(dāng)時(shí)漫畫(huà)界最受歡迎的創(chuàng)作者之一約翰·拜尼的恩惠，超人也獲得了重新被打造的機(jī)會(huì)。

關(guān)于超人神話的大量片段都被抹去了，克拉克·肯特從一個(gè)笨頭笨腦的失敗者變?yōu)橼A得普利策獎(jiǎng)的記者和小說(shuō)家，和同樣功成名就的洛伊斯·萊恩演繹了一段浪漫故事。與此同時(shí)，亞歷山大·盧梭一直在背后搞鬼。他不再是個(gè)瘋狂的科學(xué)家，而是一名擁有巨額資產(chǎn)的企業(yè)巨鱷。這就是20世紀(jì)80年代：貪婪對(duì)所有人來(lái)說(shuō)似乎都是一件好事。

成為歷史的超人

當(dāng)然，這樣的成功不會(huì)維持很久。經(jīng)歷了20世紀(jì)80年代以雅皮士為中心的風(fēng)潮的重塑，1992年漫畫(huà)雜志中《超人之死》的故事大獲成功。在這個(gè)故事里，超人與洛伊斯·萊恩訂了婚。他為了從一個(gè)怪物手中拯救大都會(huì)而獻(xiàn)出了自己的生命，這個(gè)怪物有一個(gè)不加隱晦的名字——“末日”。

如果說(shuō)這一故事看起來(lái)顯得粗制濫造、不夠成熟的話，那是因?yàn)樗拇_如此。在“超人”漫畫(huà)書(shū)的作者中流傳著一個(gè)“經(jīng)久不衰”的笑話，后來(lái)變成了現(xiàn)實(shí)：為了配合當(dāng)時(shí)同步上演的《洛伊斯與克拉克》電視系列劇的進(jìn)度，“超人”漫畫(huà)書(shū)的作者們需要緊急推遲洛伊斯與克拉克的婚期。但這一做法好像并沒(méi)有影響漫畫(huà)書(shū)的銷(xiāo)量，新的故事打破了原來(lái)的銷(xiāo)售記錄，并且使得超人這一形象比之前數(shù)年（如果不是數(shù)十年的話）更受歡迎。

看來(lái)，最好的超人似乎是那個(gè)死去的超人。

感情豐富的超人

當(dāng)然，超人不會(huì)死得太久。事實(shí)上，不到一年的時(shí)間，他就重新回到《動(dòng)漫》雜志中。

死去、復(fù)活，最終迎娶洛伊斯，進(jìn)入了21世紀(jì)的超人脫胎換骨，第一次開(kāi)始意識(shí)到自己的感情。他這種意識(shí)太強(qiáng)烈了，以至于他焦慮時(shí)握緊的拳頭或者落下的一滴淚已成為一種衡量標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，一看到它們，粉絲們就能分辨出某個(gè)特定故事情節(jié)的嚴(yán)肅度。

不過(guò)，這個(gè)感情豐富的超人的問(wèn)題在于，他過(guò)于忙著去體驗(yàn)感情，而沒(méi)有真正做點(diǎn)什么。就像在2006年首次發(fā)行的漫畫(huà)故事《無(wú)限危機(jī)》中，蝙蝠俠殘酷地對(duì)他說(shuō)的那樣：“你上一次真正打動(dòng)人的時(shí)候是你死去的時(shí)候。”正如你可能料想到的那樣，作家們和藝術(shù)家們嘗試通過(guò)修正超人的方向來(lái)解決這一問(wèn)題。一場(chǎng)激烈的變革勢(shì)在必行了。

再生的超人

2011年，DC漫畫(huà)公司再次將之前的故事全部抹去，在《閃點(diǎn)》漫畫(huà)系列中開(kāi)啟了一個(gè)全新的故事。

作為“新52”系列的一部分，一個(gè)全新的年輕超人又誕生了，他的形象更靠近西格爾與舒斯特最初描述的社會(huì)變革者的形象。

這個(gè)新的超人能多快適應(yīng)現(xiàn)狀、維持現(xiàn)狀，直至最終體現(xiàn)現(xiàn)狀，還有待時(shí)間的檢驗(yàn)。在《超人與正義聯(lián)盟》等系列中，他的確已經(jīng)開(kāi)始朝著這個(gè)方向努力。但如果這個(gè)角色因?yàn)橹厣３至四敲炊嘁稽c(diǎn)鋒芒的話，這也許倒不是一件壞事。

鋼鐵超人

經(jīng)歷了所有這些重新創(chuàng)造與風(fēng)格重塑后，超人是憑借什么成為超人的呢？是憑借他的行頭和能力嗎？嗯，這只是部分原因，但即便是這些元素也發(fā)生了變化。比如，2011年重啟后，超人穿的紅褲衩不見(jiàn)了；幾十年來(lái)，他的能力也在不斷發(fā)生變化。此外，他的個(gè)性也經(jīng)歷了或大或小的修正，所以說(shuō)個(gè)性也不是原因。

相反，超人的識(shí)別度如此之高是因?yàn)樗麅?nèi)在的人生態(tài)度：他相信人性是善良的，要是有什么事甚或所有事威脅到了這種樂(lè)觀的、烏托邦式的價(jià)值觀，他就會(huì)與之斗爭(zhēng)到底。超人希望世界變得更好，并為此不懈努力，這樣其他人就無(wú)需為此奮爭(zhēng)。超人之所以成為超人，在于他心存希望，這也是最新的《鋼鐵之軀》預(yù)告片中所展示的。和其他的超級(jí)英雄不同，超人不想嚇著你，也不想讓你憐憫他多舛的命運(yùn)。他想讓你向上展望，仰望蒼穹。

1. Krypton [?kr?pt?n] n. 氪星，距地球27.1光年，位于南天星座烏鴉座。在超人故事中，超人出生在氪星，本名為Kal-El。氪星即將毀滅時(shí)，超人的父母將還是嬰兒的他放進(jìn)太空船送到了地球。他的太空船降落在美國(guó)堪薩斯州。他隨后被Kent夫婦收養(yǎng)，改名為Clark Kent。

2. alter ego [???lt? ?eɡ?u] n. 另一個(gè)我，個(gè)性的另一面

3. Joe Shuster：?jiǎn)桃痢な嫠固兀?914～1992），加拿大和美國(guó)籍漫畫(huà)書(shū)藝術(shù)家

4. Jerry Siegel：杰瑞·西格爾（1914～1996），20世紀(jì)杰出的超級(jí)英雄創(chuàng)作者之一

5. off [?f， ɑf] vt.〈美俚〉殺死

6. heavy [?hevi] n.〈俚〉強(qiáng)盜，惡棍

7. Kandor：瓶中城，氪星的首都

8. deus ex：殺出重圍，突圍。該短語(yǔ)為拉丁文，源自“deus ex machina”，指古希臘戲劇中的解圍之神，他們通過(guò)解決高難度的戲劇矛盾來(lái)獲得皆大歡喜的結(jié)局。

9. Red Kryptonite：紅氪石。氪石是超人故事里虛構(gòu)的物質(zhì)，是超人的家鄉(xiāng)氪星爆炸后產(chǎn)生的碎片，也是超人和絕大多數(shù)氪星人的終極弱點(diǎn)。紅氪石可令超人出現(xiàn)幻覺(jué)，也可令超人的身體發(fā)生變化。

10. Summer of Love：“愛(ài)之夏”，1967年夏天發(fā)生在美國(guó)舊金山的一場(chǎng)文化與政治運(yùn)動(dòng)，也被稱(chēng)為“嬉皮士革命”。

11. soft reboot：軟重啟，一種技術(shù)用語(yǔ)，對(duì)應(yīng)硬重啟（hard reboot）。軟重啟與硬重啟的區(qū)別在于，軟重啟后機(jī)器內(nèi)存里的資料不會(huì)被清除，而硬重啟后機(jī)器內(nèi)存里的資料會(huì)被全部清除。

12. DC Comics：請(qǐng)參見(jiàn)34頁(yè)注釋19。

13. go for broke：孤注一擲，破釜沉舟

14. Crisis on Infinite Earths：《無(wú)限地球危機(jī)》，DC漫畫(huà)公司于20世紀(jì)80年代推出的一個(gè)全新故事，對(duì)整個(gè)DC宇宙的設(shè)定進(jìn)行重新修改，消除了平行世界，將殘存的來(lái)自不同世界的英雄留在唯一的宇宙。

15. courtesy of：蒙……的好意（或準(zhǔn)許），由于……的作用

16. swath [sw??] n. 長(zhǎng)而寬的一條

17. Lex Luthor：亞歷山大·盧梭，他被引入超人漫畫(huà)時(shí)是單純的瘋狂科學(xué)家的形象，后來(lái)漸漸轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)橐粋€(gè)陰謀家。

18. shoddy [???di] adj. 劣等的，粗制濫造的

19. status quo：現(xiàn)狀