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Post by redsycorax on Jun 19, 2023 23:55:52 GMT
One interesting aspect of the 1951-8 Adventures of Superman television series was the almost total lack of the supervillain rogues gallery that characterised the Earth-One Superman's daily crimefighting encounters. Obviously, that was due to budgetary constraints and the primitive condition of special effects otherwise. Still, it makes one think. Apart from a few cameo appearances in Batman '66's comics format, where the Earth-66 Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Perry White and Jimmy Olsen pop up from a window when Batman and Robin are wall-scaling and at news coverage of a battle royale against their rogues gallery, there's been no mention of an alternate Earth based on that particular media property (although perhaps the 1951 Superman series and 1977 Wonder Woman series also take place on that Earth?) (Okay, there were some rare SF elements in AOS: a runaway robot and mole people in Season 1, an asteroid in Season 2, a time machine in Season 3, Mr Zero (an alien) in Season 5, and little else, apart from the sporadic use of kryptonite against Superman. Despite Luthor's prominence in the comics, he is totally absent from AOS- not even Superman's more mundane assailants, like the Prankster or Toyman, put in any appearances, although that could have been more feasible.) Overall, though, this iteration of Superman overwhelmingly faces local non-metahuman criminals. So, what if there is an Earth-151, where the events of the Adventures of Superman take place? How would it respond to the sudden appearance of fully enabled supervillains? And where have they been until 'now?': en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventures_of_Superman_(TV_series) |
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Post by jonclark on Jun 20, 2023 0:51:22 GMT
One interesting aspect of the 1951-8 Adventures of Superman television series was the almost total lack of the supervillain rogues gallery that characterised the Earth-One Superman's daily crimefighting encounters. Obviously, that was due to budgetary constraints and the primitive condition of special effects otherwise. Still, it makes one think. Apart from a few cameo appearances in Batman '66's comics format, where the Earth-66 Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Perry White and Jimmy Olsen pop up from a window when Batman and Robin are wall-scaling and at news coverage of a battle royale against their rogues gallery, there's been no mention of an alternate Earth based on that particular media property (although perhaps the 1951 Superman series and 1977 Wonder Woman series also take place on that Earth?) (Okay, there were some rare SF elements in AOS: a runaway robot and mole people in Season 1, an asteroid in Season 2, a time machine in Season 3, Mr Zero (an alien) in Season 5, and little else, apart from the sporadic use of kryptonite against Superman. Despite Luthor's prominence in the comics, he is totally absent from AOS- not even Superman's more mundane assailants, like the Prankster or Toyman, put in any appearances, although that could have been more feasible.) Overall, though, this iteration of Superman overwhelmingly faces local non-metahuman criminals. So, what if there is an Earth-151, where the events of the Adventures of Superman take place? How would it respond to the sudden appearance of fully enabled supervillains? And where have they been until 'now?': en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventures_of_Superman_(TV_series)To be fair there are no metahumans on that world other than two aliens (Superman and Mr. Zero) so wondering where supervillians are prior to this is like wondering where superheroes were prior to Superman's debut. Not really something that needs explanation. Could be that other Kryptonians arrive, Think Argo City sending out a search party for the baby Jor-El shot off. So another superman or two but less moral and maybe a bit powerdrunk upon reaching Earth Or introduce Lex Luthor with scientically enhanced gang members like Metallo, Parasite, or the brain swapping Ultra-Humanute. |
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Post by johnreiter902 on Jun 20, 2023 1:32:43 GMT
It's a very interesting idea. In most universes, supervillains appear shortly after superheroes. On Earth-3, the villains appeared first, and the heroes emerged in response. On Earth-151, for whatever reason, after the debut of Superman he remained active for years with no other supervillains or even other heroes appearing. By the time he fought his first villain, he would be very experienced compared to most Supermen, but also taken totally by surprise.
Maybe Earth-151 is more like our Earth, where most people do not take the idea of costumed metahumans seriously, and only aliens like Superman have powers. Luthor and other non-powered villains may work secretly, as arms-dealers and businessmen, instead of trying to take over the world.
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Post by redsycorax on Jun 20, 2023 2:59:10 GMT
In some ways, it seems to be a lot like Earth-Two- Superman was never Superboy and there's no mention or time devoted to his life in Smallville, his foster parents, or Lana Lang, nor is there any reference to Superman's Kryptonian heritage, apart from the sporadic aforementioned appearances of kryptonite, used by mundane villains. It might well be that there is no Argo City or Kandor in this universe and that this Superman is the only survivor of Krypton-151.
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Post by dans on Jun 20, 2023 11:37:38 GMT
just because the series didn't show any supervillains doesn't mean there were none. Maybe they all showed up on weekends instead of work days. And just because none of the other heroes appeared on the show, doesn't mean they weren't active. Maybe AOS was set on Earth 2 and it just focused on the more 'normal' days?
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Post by johnreiter902 on Jun 20, 2023 12:11:04 GMT
Maybe AOS was set on Earth 2 and it just focused on the more 'normal' days? This is a good point, and there is a lot of room for untold tale son Earth-2 |
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Post by lawrenceliberty on Jun 20, 2023 15:00:55 GMT
I always thought of it as being set on Earth 2 as well.
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Post by DocQuantum on Jun 20, 2023 16:02:13 GMT
I always thought of it as being set on Earth 2 as well. A few of the radio series episodes are already confirmed to have taken place on Earth-2 thanks to Roy Thomas. World’s Finest Comics #271. Some of the details were different on Earth-2, but the origin of Atoman and the first “official” Superman/Batman team-up (not counting their JSA and All-Stars stories) were first told on the radio series. I think there’s evidence that some of the TV episodes took place there too. Panic in the Sky, in which Superman destroys a giant meteor before it can strike the planet and then gets amnesia and loses his powers temporarily, is later referenced as an untold but important story in the comics. |
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Post by DocQuantum on Jun 20, 2023 20:10:49 GMT
Plus, there’s a lot of days that aren’t covered by published stories in the comics if we take the published dates as when they approximately happened for Earth-2. There are a lot of gaps there for untold stories to have taken place.
It’s a different story for Earth-1, since it has a compressed timeline due to the need to keep the ages of the Teen Titans within reason. Earth-1 Superman’s history has fewer such gaps where untold stories could take place.
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Post by redsycorax on Jun 20, 2023 22:50:20 GMT
Which would make sense, given the fact that AOS was screened in the fifties just before the Earth One/Two demarcation point, but doesn't explain the absence of supervillains like Luthor, even more mundane ones like the Prankster and Toyman who could have been accomodated in the show's budget.
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Post by DocQuantum on Jun 20, 2023 23:25:45 GMT
Just from a fan perspective I liked that it was fairly grounded in reality. Superman was usually the most incredible thing in that reality. Superman comics of the 50s have the same feel, that he’s the only superhero in the world.
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Post by redsycorax on Jun 21, 2023 3:58:46 GMT
Ironically enough, it was Batman that turned out to be a regular forum for fantasy and science fiction elements during the same decade, at decided odds with its own origins as a gritty, grim two-fisted take on fighting street and gang crime in Gotham. Which doesn't seem to have done that character much good- many contemporary fans seemed not to particularly like that era in Bat-History and responded by turning off that stable of titles. If the sixties Batman television series hadn't gone (...) camping (...), it might have even been the case that Batman's comics could have faced cancellation. Superman's milieu and alien origins suited science fiction far more than Batmans did, and it could be argued that Superman's lore benefited from the introduction of Supergirl, Kandor, Argo City and an enhanced Kryptonian background during the late fifties and early sixties, as well as the advent of the Legion of Super-Heroes as Superboy's supporting characters, and the increasing elaboration of their thirtieth century civilisation and culture. Luthor and Brainiac took over as frontline villains, while more 'realistic' protagonists such as the Prankster and Toyman were relegated to the background and faded away. Perhaps due to my own long-term love for science fiction as a genre, I've always loved the "High" Silver Age Superman material from the sixties. I'm not sure Superman works as well as a mundane crimefighter- unless the criminals have access to green kryptonite, the ensuing combat is one-sided and usually in Kal-El's favour. It may explain why the Adventures of Superman has been relatively neglected as a DC media property compared to later series such as the sixties Batman, seventies Wonder Woman, contemporary Green Arrow, Supergirl and Flash series, the first Superman seventies movie, grimmer and grittier takes on Batman from the eighties onward, the excellent Justice League animated series in the Noughties, and so on.
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Post by jonclark on Jun 21, 2023 4:18:54 GMT
Just from a fan perspective I liked that it was fairly grounded in reality. Superman was usually the most incredible thing in that reality. Superman comics of the 50s have the same feel, that he’s the only superhero in the world. It works for some of the episodes, but the problem is that Superman was usually overpowered for whatever opponent he faced. |
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Post by redsycorax on Jun 21, 2023 4:36:29 GMT
And overuse of kryptonite turned into a cliche later on within the comics and animated children's Filmation series.
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Post by dans on Jun 21, 2023 11:05:56 GMT
as a kid I always used to wonder why Superman didn't use his powers very much - most episodes Superman only shows up for like 5 minutes out of the whole half hour. But the stories were interesting enough on their own as well. So in the context of the E2 universe, the people who chose what days of Superman's life to chronicle in AOS chose the more quiet days. No mystery... they figured the days when Superman fought super foes or the other heroes rolled into town were already receiving adequate coverage in the comic books...
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