Charmed as his life might be (stable and remunerative employment at a daily city newspaper!),  it’s easy to feel sorry for Superman.

Having been around for now the better part of a century, the blue unitard-wearing hero’s name has become almost metonymic with an idealized, impossible conception of “goodness” (see: everything from the ponderous 2010 documentary about charter schools, Waiting for “Superman” to 3 Doors Down’s iconic Y2K-era butt-rock anthem “Kryptonite”). Superman is rarely considered in his own right, rather than as a foil to more earthbound, angsty superheroes such as the Randian vigilante Batman, or to Spider-Man, the idealized boy next door.